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O chionn ceud bliadhna, dh’fhoillsich Tormod Collie a bheachd gun robh taibhs a’ fuireach faisg air mullach Beinne MhicDuibh. Bha e aig coinneamh de Chlub a’ Mhonaidh Ruaidh ann an Obar Dheathain. Tha an taibhs a-nise ainmeil. Canaidh daoine ‘Am Fear Liath Mòr’ ris.

Bha Collie na Phroifeasair de Cheimigeachd Orgànach ann an Oilthigh Lunnainn. Bha e math mar shreapadair. Bha e a’ dèanamh tòrr sreap anns a’ Chuiltheann san Eilean Sgitheanach. Aig a’ choinneimh ann an Obar Dheathain, thuirt e gun robh e air eagal a bheatha a ghabhail bliadhnaichean roimhe. Bha e leis fhèin, a’ coiseachd thar mullach Beinne MhicDuibh – a’ bheinn as àirde sa Mhonadh Ruadh.

Chuala e fuaim annasach. Bha i ceòthach agus chan fhac’ e dad. Gach trì no ceithir ceumannan a ghabhadh e fhèin, bhiodh aona bhrag mhòr ann air a’ chùlaibh. Bha e mar gu robh cas mhòr a’ bualadh na talmhainn. Bha Collie a’ smaoineachadh gur e famhair a bha ann. Ghabh e eagal. Ruith e sìos a’ bheinn airson ceithir no còig mìle gun stad gus an do ràinig e a’ choille.

Cha b’ e sin a’ chiad turas, ge-tà, a dh’inns Collie mu na thachair dha. Bliadhnaichean roimhe, bha e ann an Sealann Nuadh. Dh’inns e do shreapadairean an sin mun taibhs a dh’fhairich e air Beinn MacDuibh. Chuala an sreapadair is neach-saidheans, Alasdair Kellas, mu dheidhinn. Sgrìobh e gu Collie mun taibhs. 

Rugadh Kellas ann an Obar Dheathain. Bha e aithnichte air feadh an t-saoghail airson rannsachadh a rinn e air comasan daoine a bhith a’ sreap gu h-àrd, gun ogsaidean a bharrachd. 

Bha Kellas dhen bheachd gum biodh daoine comasach dhol gu mullach Beinn Everest às aonais ogsaidean a bharrachd. Chaidh a dhearbhadh gun robh e ceart ann an naoi ceud deug, seachdad ’s a h-ochd (1978) nuair a rinn Reinhold Messner agus Peter Habeler a’ chùis. Co-dhiù, sgrìobh Kellas gu Collie gum fac’ e fhèin am Fear Liath Mòr.

Agus tha barrachd dhaoine na sin air aithris gun do dh’fhairich iad am Fear Liath Mòr. Bheir sinn sùil air feadhainn aca an-ath-sheachdain.

A hundred years ago, Norman Collie revealed his opinion that a spectre was living near the summit of Beinn MacDuibh. He was at a meeting of the Cairngorm Club in Aberdeen. The spectre is now famous. People call it ‘The Big Grey Man’.

Collie was Professor of Organic Chemistry in the University of London. He was a fine climber. He was climbing a lot in the Cuillin(s) on the Isle of Skye. At the meeting in Aberdeen, he said that he had been scared out of his wits years before. He was by himself, walking across the summit of Beinn MacDuibh – the highest mountain in the Cairngorms.

He heard a strange noise. It was misty and he saw nothing. Every three or four steps he would take, there would be a big sharp sound behind him. It was as if a large foot was hitting the ground. Collie was thinking it was a giant. He took fright. He ran down the mountain for four or five miles without stopping until he reached the forest.

That wasn’t the first time, however, that Collie [had] told about what happened to him. Years before, he was in New Zealand. He told climbers there about the spectre that he sensed on Beinn MacDuibh. The climber and scientist, Alexander Kellas, heard about it. He wrote to Collie about the spectre.

Kellas was born in Aberdeen. He was known throughout the world for research he conducted on the abilities of people to climb to great altitude without additional oxygen.

Kellas was of the opinion that people would be capable of going to the summit of Mt Everest without supplementary oxygen. It was proven that he was right in 1978 when Reinhold Messner and Peter Habler achieved that feat. Anyway, Kellas wrote to Collie that he had seen the Big Grey Man.

And more people than that have reported that they have sensed the Big Grey Man. We’ll look at some of them next week.