Canisfamiliaris

This story was recounted by AW in The Northern Fells.

'This is no legend.
This is the solemn truth, as attested on oath before a magistrate by 26 sober and respected witnesses. These good people assembled on the evening before Midsummer day 1745 at a place of vantage in the valley to the east to test incredulous reports that soldiers and horsemen had been seen marching across the top of Souter Fell (Soutra Fell was probably its name in those days). They saw them all right: an unbroken line of quickly moving troops, horses and carriages extending over the full length of the top of Souter, continuously appearing at one end and vanishing at the other - and passing unhesitatingly over steep places that horses and carriages could not possibly negotiate, as the bewildered observers well knew. The procession went on until darkness concealed the marching army. Next morning the skyline was deserted, and a visit to the summit was made by a party of local worthies, fearful that the expected invasion from over the border had started (this was the year of the '45 Rebellion). There was not a trace of the previous night's visitors. Not a footprint, not a hoof mark, not a wheel rut in the grass. Nothing.

There was no doubting the evidence of so many witnesses, and yet it was equally certain that the marching figures had no substance. Scientists and students of the supernatural had no solution to offer. The only explanation ever given was that some kind of mirage had been seen, probably a vapourous [sic] reflection of Prince Charlie's rebels, who (it was discovered on enquiry) had that very evening been exercising on the west coast of Scotland ... This beats radar!

The Northern Fells Souther Fell p. 7

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THE PICTORIAL GUIDES

The Eastern Fells
The Far Eastern Fells
The Central Fells
The Southern Fells
The Northern Fells
The North Western Fells
The Western Fells

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