The mysterious death of Netta Fornario

Loch Staonaig on Iona is a fairy hill on the road to the Machair, a well-known grassy knoll which island legend says is inhabited by fairies who play music to entice people into the fairy world. On 17 November 1929, the body of a young Egyptian-born occultist was found there, laying across a cross cut into the earth, naked except for a black cloak enveloping her and a blackened silver cross around her neck. The dagger with which she had cut the turf was still in one hand, the other clutched a sheaf of incomprehensible letters.

Thirty-two year old Netta Fornario, a familiar figure in the 1920s London occult scene, had allegedly come to Iona to stay for ever, practice magic rituals and contact the fairy elementals. Three months into her stay, she tried to leave the island on a Sunday, fearing that she was victim of psychic attacks, but of course there are no Sunday ferries on Iona and the young woman took off instead to the hill of the fairies where according to her death certificate, she died of exposure.

Some have attributed the blackening of her jewellery to the medical condition of acidosis which can cause confusion and even death. Whatever the cause of her untimely death, Netta Fornario now rests in peace in the small graveyard near St Oran's Chapel. Her death was the topic of a play by Chris Lee of the award-winning Mull Little theatre, 'the mysterious case of Netta Fornario on the isle of Iona in the 1920s'.

Contributed by Chris Merchant, Iona Abbey

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