Visitors in the Night
If you stay in Room 6, you just might wake in the night and feel a cold, wet body lying beside you in bed. That would be the ghost of the little girl who drowned in the river behind the inn. Or, maybe you’ll not see, hear, or feel anything spooky until you go home and review your photos, only to spot the image of a child who was not there. At the very least, you’ll have captured orbs.
So go the tales of Scotland’s most haunted hotel, The Drovers Inn, at the north end of Loch Lomond. Once you learn the inn has been there since 1705, you aren’t surprised.
The inn is my resting place after a long and hot day of hiking and I am equally relieved and disappointed to be assigned a room in the newer building across the road. Still, I wander the historic property taking photos, reading plaques, searching the faces of people in paintings on the walls.
I don’t feel the presence of spirits nor witness any inexplicable movements or sounds, but I do feel the oppressive sorrow – my own or theirs, I don’t know – of the many animals taxidermied and posed in the lobby and dining rooms. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that ghostly bears, foxes, and deer also haunt these premises.
Giving up my search, I have dinner and a pint in the bar and listen to the many languages and accents of fellow diners, marveling at the variety of people who are visiting today, and have likely visited throughout the years. Ancient swords and targes on the wall remind me that not all visitors were as friendly as the Germans at the next table.
With thoughts of ghosts still on my mind, I ease my tired body into bed and quickly fall asleep. But, before long, I am woken by an unwelcome visitor who relentlessly jolts me awake and torments me throughout the long night. It’s not, however, the ghost of a drowned girl, a hung drover, or a frozen family that haunts me. It is the dozens of midges that sneaked into the room and are now feeding on my flesh.
I would have preferred a ghost.
*From my West Highland Way (Scotland) Collection. Photo taken June 27, 2019.
