Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, myths, ancient artifacts, religion, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui, or Am Fear Liath Mòr as he seems to be known in his native Scotland, is a ten-foot-tall creature that ‘haunts’ a very high peek in the Cairngorms. He’s been described as both a physical creature and a ghost of sorts, and many a mountain climber has a story including him.
Whether the Fear Liath is a physical creature or not, those that have encountered him have said they were absolutely overcome with fear – sometimes enough so to cause them to stumble through five miles of mountainous fog just to escape his presence.
The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDhui, as we said, is a ten-foot-tall creature that has been described a few different ways. Some say he’s got a barren skin, while others insist he’s covered in a short brown hair. The Encyclopedia Mythica describes him thusly:
“Fear Liath More, or the Grey Man, is a creature said to have inhabited the vicinity of the summit cairn of Ben MacDhui, one of the six great peaks of the Scottish Cairngorm Mountains, for generations. The Grey Man is identified as a presence encountered both physically and psychically. In its physical form, the Grey Man is most often described as quite large and broad shouldered, standing fully erect and being in excess of 10 feet in height, with long waving arms.
“He is also reportedly olive complected or, alternatively, covered with short brown hair. Because of this, some tend to associate him with the Bigfoot or Sasquatch of North American fame, or the Yeti of the Himalayas. Footprints found on the summit of Ben MacDhui do closely resemble the “typical” Bigfoot imprint. However, this association is misleading, as the Grey Man has far more interesting identifying characteristics than his physical description alone.”
From what we’ve gathered, the chief difference between the Grey man and Bigfoot is that a Bigfoot is generally (we said generally) encountered with your eyes. When you run into the Grey Man you usually don’t see him – but you’re suddenly terrified by him. Encyclopedia Mythica also gives a description of a typical encounter:
“More frequently, the Grey Man is encountered in physical sensation, but without a true physical form. Sensations of this type include vast, dark blurs which obscure the sky, strange crunching noises, echoing footsteps which pursue the listener, an icy feeling in the surrounding atmosphere, as well as a physical feeling of a cold grip on, or brush against, the observer’s flesh. There is also a high pitched humming sound, or the Singing as it is sometimes called, which is associated with Ben MacDhui and the Grey Man.”
The singing sounds pretty spooky. It gets worse – a specific encounter is given on Wikipedia:
“In 1925, the noted climber John Norman Collie recounted a terrifying experience he had endured while alone near the summit of Ben MacDhui some 35 years before. “I began to think I heard something else than merely the noise of my own footsteps. For every few steps I took I heard a crunch, and then another crunch as if someone was walking after me but taking steps three or four times the length of my own.” Collie was unable to make out the source of the noises because of mist, and continued “… [as] the eerie crunch, crunch, sounded behind me, I was seized with terror and took to my heels, staggering blindly among the boulders for four or five miles.””
Here’s another encounter – this one includes gun shots, and was found on Ghostclub.org.uk:
“In 1943 the most sensational account of the Big Grey Man appeared penned by a mountaineer Alexander Tewnion: he claimed he had actually shot at it with a revolver! He described how he had been climbing Ben MacDhui when a thick mist descended so he descended by the Coire Etchachan path. He was disturbed to hear menacing footsteps and recalling Professor Collie’s experience he peered into the mist. A strange shape loomed up in the mist, receded and then came charging towards him. Pulling out his gun he fired three times and then turned and ran reaching Glen Derry in a time I have never bettered since.”
So the Grey Man seems to be physical enough to get shot at, but generally appears as more of a terrified feeling than a face to face meet & greet. Although the beast has never been sighted off-mountain, there are a few other places in this big wonderful world where similar entities are believed to exist – spooking you out as you walk alone through the middle of nowhere.
Wheever they are, we are more than content to just give them their space.
Steve O'Rourke says
The Grey Man is also known for at least one other thing: inspiring thoughts of suicide. Details are in the book Colin Wilson wrote with his son about unexplained mysteries.
Jim says
You missed out the best ever story of the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui. He is said to approach climbers who have found themselves lost in the dense mountain fog. He stares at them in an intense, hypnotic fashion, beckoning with his long, spindly hand and uttering the soothing words, “come…come” over and over again. The lost climber becomes so entranced with the ghostly grey vision with the calming voice that he obeys the instruction, believing that he is being led to safety, only to be led over a cliff to a plummeting, horrendous death. It’s true.
alanborky says
The olive complexion, particularly, (not to mention the inferrentially abnormally long arms), would seem to put him in the same zoo as some of John A. Keel’s menagerie of Ultraterrestials. Like them, he would seem to be a source of highly ambiguous guidance.
For that matter, the tag ‘Grey Man’ isn’t that far from ‘Man in Black’.
The fur, not to mention the type of location, and the fact he seems to be a source of irrational fear clearly associates him with the god Pan, (the derivational source of the term ‘panic’), as does the strange ‘song’ – but then, Keel’d class Pan as just another Ultraterrestial.
Going purely by personal experience, I’d have to say Ultraterrestials do exist, (they seem to be what The Koran refers to as Jinn – our ‘genies’).
Most of them, like the Grey Man, seem to be one trick ponies which literally live off energy they derive from inducing negative emotions in humans.
AliEnosDesch says
Well, alanborky. I’m a Muslim, and I could tell you a few things about the Islamic beliefs concerning the jinn. But it might make you scared to enter your own bathroom.
Basically they exist in our realm. They see us but we can’t see them – usually that is. Every now and then we are able to. They have families and even religions as we do… Well, some are “believers” (in Islam) and some are not. But the creepy thing is that there is likely one sitting next to you while you’re reading this.
We are told to leave them alone. They are sometimes able to possess you and other nasty stuff. But like humans, some (most I like to think) are good natured, and some (few I like to think) are bad (evil?).
So if we think of Grey Man as a jinn type being, all I’m really trying to say is that you don’t need to climb a mountain in Scotland to see one. There right in your house.
*The reason why I mentioned bathroom specifically earlier, is because, since they can see us, they might want some distance. So if they’re in your house, they will be in the places which are least occupied by us: Basement, bathroom, attic, etc.. You know, creepy horror movie places. :)
Hope you found it interesting.
Mike says
Interesting!
Iceni says
Surely this is the same phenomena that ‘haunts’ the alps, known as the Brocken.It is a natural occurrence, caused by certain atmospheric conditions. A mixture of water droplets,or ice crystals, sun and fog, which often acts as a giant magnifying glass,this can throw a person’s shadow from one mountain peak to another which looks like a gigantic figure of monstrous proportions.
It is rather like the effect of sun dogs.
Sarah says
Holy shit.
stuart says
Went for my last training run before this years mont blanc marathon in the cairngorms, from Glenmore lodge to Ben Mcdhui, via cairngorm(for those who know the area) and did experience something of note heading towards the summit of Ben Mcdhui, maybe bout half mile from summit, go a bit disorientated, and felt as though Id lost my sense of direction, even though I was still aware that I was heading south to the summit of Ben Mcdhui, also felt as if Id entered a place where time had no meaning, it only lasted for about a minute and only over a distance of about 200-300 metres, then experienced the same thing again heading back from the summit towards Cairngorm in the exact same place and for the same short time period and distance. Didnt find it disturbing in any particular way, but what I experienced at a greater intensity could be very disturbing and when it happened I just thought, well this must be this big grey man thing I’ve heard about. Feel quite priveledged to have encountered it really. Personally I think its probably just something thats induced by the earths magnetic field. The cairngorms is a very unusal environment, all that hard granite, the highest peaks and deepest mountain pass in Britain, the Lairig Ghru, could just be a weird magnetic field that exists on Ben Mcdhui due to the geography of the area. magnetism and changes in it will of course affect our brains, as a result,some people experience the big grey man, but I’m open to other ideas