The old grey dog of Meoble

Near Morar, there is an old settlement called Meoble, associated with an old Clan Donald legend telling of the ghost of a large shaggy grey dog with an unearthly wail which appears at the hour of their death to any of the MacDonalds of Meoble of Clann Mhic Dhùghaill (the descendants of chief Dugall of Morar).

The tale started with a young Mac Donald of Meoble leaving his beloved deerhound bitch behind as he went away to the Peninsular Wars. Distrought, the hound went to live wild on a small island in the middle of a small loch nearby where she brought up four pups.

Months later, MacDonald returned and the first thing he did was to swim to this island to be reunited with his hound. But it was her pups he found first, and they went for him, savaging him to pieces. Seeing her master dead as she returned, the deerhound let out howls of agony which brought the people of Meoble to the scene. The pups were killed, and their mother began a lone vigil on her master’s grave at Meoble, until one day she was found dead, stretched over it.

Years later, as MacDonald’s brother was laying ill in his bed, the ghost of the Old Grey Dog appeared, giving a terrible howl. It was not long until the man died. The loch is called Lochan Tàin Mhic Dhùghaill (the little loch of Dugall's cattle) the island in its middle ominously dark with wild heather.

As told by Donald John Campbell, Waternish

More information on visiting the area can be found here.