The Bodach Glas of Glen Urquhart

Glen Urquhart, Inverness-shire, Scotland

The Blue-Grey Old Man of Glen Urquhart appeared to members of the Grant family before every significant death in the clan — sitting in the corner of the room, saying nothing, gone by morning.

The Bodach Glas — Blue-Grey Old Man — is a family wraith specific to the Grant clan of Urquhart. It functions as a death-warning spirit: it appears, uninvited and unannounced, to a specific family member in the hours before a significant death, and it leaves without explanation. The appearance is consistent across all accounts: an old man, very thin, in grey-blue clothing that is not quite identifiable as any historical period, sitting in a chair in the corner of a room. He is always present when the family member wakes or enters the room. He does not speak, does not move, does not respond to questions. He is gone by morning. Within days of each appearance, a significant death occurs in the Grant family — not necessarily in the household where the Bodach Glas was seen, but within the broader family. The tradition was documented by Walter Scott, who includes an account in his Border Antiquities citing a Grant family source. The account describes the Bodach Glas appearing to a Grant officer in a military billet in the week before the Battle of Sheriffmuir (1715), in which that officer was killed. The figure is not presented in the family tradition as frightening — or rather, it is frightening, but in the way that a letter from a doctor might be frightening. It carries information. Seeing the Bodach Glas gives you time to settle affairs.