UKC

South of Meanach Bothy on the other side of the river the stands the remains of the old stalkers' lodge Luibeilt. It hasn't been possible to stay there for many years and is now little more than a ruin.

I visited the place on a handful of occasions in the seventies and had some unforgettable experiences. On the third visit in the summer of 1975 it was clear from the scribblings on the walls and ceilings that other folk had suffered difficult nights there too. I am trying to trace anyone who has stayed there and experienced anything unusual or perhaps difficult to explain, probably pretty scary too I should have no doubt.

Love to hear from anyone with a story to tell.

Thanks

Phil Macneill 

Hi Phil, I remember you telling us about this in 1976 or so 

Could you provide some details? I've only spent a handful of nights in bothies and never anything remotely supernatural happened. There was once something odd occurred to me in a Dales shooting hut though ....

I'd also be interested in hearing about your experiences too.

Not Luibeilt but not far away. It was a late Dec afternoon and myself and two friend had walked from the Lairig Leagach bothy to Stanaig bothy. We set ourselves up in the right hand room. The other two went to get water from the burn whilst I laid the fire. Looking back across the room towards the window I noticed something moving left to right across the hillside above the bothy. Casually I went over to the window to get a better look. What I saw was a man in tweeds traversing the heathery slopes. To my eye he looked like a gamekeeper. I could see that he was slowly dropping down the hillside but away from the bothy. Thinking he'd probably drop down a couple of hundred yards west of the bothy and then he'd call in, they often do in my experience. Thinking nothing of it I turned away and got on with the fire. A few seconds later the other two came back from the burn. I asked if they seen the game keeper on the hillside. They looked at me blankly and said they seen no one. This surprised me. They must have been looking at the same bit of hillside as me and at the same time. I went outside to look. No sign of anyone. To this day I'm unsure as to what went on that day.

I had a weird experience at Strathchailleach bothy near Sandwood bay. All night I kept  getting awoken during the night with noises at the bottom of the room. In the morning I discovered with some relief a dog belonging to a nearby camper. I took the dog back to its owner. He thanked me by saying he let the dog out for he thought it needed the toilet. He heard the bothy door open and shut and assumed I had let him in for the night. It was raining quite heavily. The door was latched shut in the morning. My mate in the other room had slept solid the whole night. Would be interested to hear your experiences of Luibeilt.

I've been to that place, but only in it's ruinous state, camped outside it in 89 but nothing to report. I did once meet a group of RAF blokes who'd fled Steall Hut in the middle of the night, hearing banging and crashing with no explanation after investigation.

Me and my ex spent a night at Sourlies years ago. In the night I was woken by dark shadowy shapes, whispering and flickering lights. It was a bunch of people coming in late.

I stayed there one night to myself. The following day about 30 germans turned up as a party  I was on the single bench by the fire. They occupied every inch of floor space. They spent the night each one standing on the sleeping platform giving speeches in German. Some were getting quite emotional and I had no idea what was going on and was hiding behind my book 

I remember camping outside Meanach a few years ago and seeing a tree doubled over just outside Luibeilt. One of the guys with us mentioned that this was an old technique they used to ward off witches and evil spirits but I never delved any deeper than that, be interesting to know if there's any truth behind this?

The disappearing person thing seems surprisingly common - I've heard a few stories, most recently from a friend who had an incident in the Cairngorms along those lines just last week. He doesn't think he saw a ghost or anything like that, but he also doesn't have any idea where the person went. I've mentioned in a previous thread here about an incident in the Ochils 25 or so years ago that still puzzles me - someone was there, clear as day, approaching along a narrow glen path - then, after expecting them to emerge round a small bluff that hid them for just a few seconds, they'd gone. I looked back up the glen for ages from further down, but still no sign of them. All very odd, and like you I'm unsure to this day quite what happened.

I met a woman in a bothy who told a story about clanking and banging in another bothy (can't remember where). I asked her if she was afraid and she said not at all, I then asked if that was because she'd worked out a rational explanation. She replied that she knew from the word go that it was supernatural but that the supernatural did not frighten her. This was not at all what I was expecting, I don't believe in the supernatural but I'd have shat myself with that and might have expected someone who did believe to be similarly or more afraid. She was an interesting character all round.

I think it's a rowan at Lubeilt in which case it's the fact that it's a rowan that's important as they ward off witches. I'm not sure what extra the arch offers unless passing through it was thought to give protection to an individual? Or perhaps the rowan arch was beside the door so the only way into the building was through it?

Pretty rational and methodical characters when under pressure, I'd have guessed.

Were they planning to nab your spot on the bench next day?

RAF? Probably fleeing in terror after finding out it wasn't a 4 star hotel 😉

Someone once told me his story of a winters night in Glen Pean. Him and his mates were in a room with the fire going when they heard the door open to the outside. They heard noises of people coming in to the other room and boots being stamped, like you would to get the snow off. Then it went quiet. On entering the other room, they saw no one and the snow outside was undisturbed. 

Can't say I was thrilled to hear the story as I was going to visit, but nothing happened when I was there. 

There was a story published in a MBA journal years ago regarding an incident in a unspecified bothy somewhere off 'desolation road'.  Really grim. A man enters the bothy after leaving his soaking coat hanging over a beam in an outhouse. He wakes feeling cold in the night and goes to retrieve his coat, he has no torch. Gropping blindly in the dark he feels a knee at about chest height where he hopes to find his coat. Needless to say, he runs off. In the morning he gets his coat and noticed a rope hanging from a beam. Getting to the road, he goes to nearest house seeking some sustenance. On hearing of the mans experience the farmer says a man hung himself in the outhouse. 

In the same general area there is a house where there was a murder in the 19th century. The place has creeped out quite a few folk over the years.  I have seen folk who are not there in a bothy, but that’s just the brain doing it’s thing with patterns. Nothing weird. Now noises… that would really be unsettling.  So far, just mice with unfeasibly loud footsteps… 

Around 35 years ago my partner and I were at Shenavill bothy on Halloween. Didn't give it a second thought. After a night round the fire we settled down to sleep in one of the upstairs rooms and drifted off to sleep. Later on our Border Collie started to growl and wouldn't stop. I put my headtorch on checked my watch. It was midnight, I mean it really was midnight! Aside from the dog I could hear nothing else. The dog continued to growl for a couple of minutes and wasn't reassured by me patting her. Then she started barking and we heard front door downstairs open, followed by voices. Two very bedraggled students fell through the door. It turned out they only had one inadequate torch between. They lost the path and stumbled along in the general direction of the bothy in the dark. The dog then made a big fuss of them.