Christmas time is here again, and
I have delightful chunks of coal for all your players. At the intersection of
Victorian Fiction and Christmas, lurk ghost stories. For December, we’re
looking at dolorous hauntings of the British Isles and their weird, wonderful,
uses in role-playing games. As before, my primary source is “Gazetteer of
British Scottish & Irish Ghosts” by Peter Underwood, a ghostly guidebook
full of interesting facts and folklore ready to be plugged into a Victoriana
scenario.
Choosing exile over
excommunication for causing the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne, the missionary St.
Columba sailed from Ireland to the Inner Hebrides islands of Scotland. He and
his twelve followers reached the small island of Iona in 563 AD and built a
monastery. St. Columba’s zealous devotion to writing and transcribing books
made Iona’s monastery the literary center of
Northern Britain, and a key abbey from which the Christian faith spread
through Ireland and Scotland.
In 795, Viking raiders reached
Iona’s shores for the first time. For the next 30 years, the Vikings stole and
killed on the island. In 806, they slaughtered 68 monks and burned the abbey,
causing many of the remaining islanders to flee to Ireland. The abbey was
rebuilt in 818, but the new stone walls did not discourage the pillaging
Vikings. After years of plunder, Iona Abbey’s remaining artifacts, relics, and
St. Columba’s remains were given to Kells in Ireland and Dunkeld Cathedral in
Perthshire to keep safe.
In 1203, the construction began
of a Benedictine monastery, and Augustine nunnery, on the site of St. Columba’s
monastery. The abbey grew, regaining some of the island’s lost reputation for
learning, but the Scottish Reformation took a lot of prestige and influence
from the Scottish Catholic church. Iona Monastery was left to become a ruin in
the mid 1500s.
Iona’s ruins do not quietly lie,
however. Figures dressed in monk’s robes walk silently among the ruins
accompanied by glowing blue lights. Many eyewitnesses claim more violent visitations.
A fleet of square sailed longboats appear on the waves north of the island,
sailing for the shore. Once ashore, the Vikings rampage to the abbey (appearing
as it did in the 800s). They slay phantom monks and set fire to the lost
monastery, loading their boats with plunder before disappearing on the waves.
Columns of smoke occasionally waft from the bare ground, like a reminder of the
islands violent history.
The Abbey’s remains consist of
St. Augustine’s nunnery, St. Mary’s cathedral and St. Oran’s chapel. All
remained awe-inspiring if degraded ruins until the abbey’s reconstruction in
1938.
Adventure Ideas
I think we can all agree ghost
Vikings are a welcome addition to any adventure, but there are a ton of weird
bits and pieces to their haunted isle. Holy relics, sigil carved crosses,
illuminated manuscripts, Viking treasure, and who knows what else wait on Iona
ready to taken, protected, or destroyed.
The Argyll Quarry Company mines
green swirled marble on the island’s south side. The company had to stop its
operations because of difficulties shipping to the mainland. Might the ghost
Vikings have anything to do with their “difficulties”?
Because of its religious
importance, the graveyard of Iona Abbey holds many kings. Four Irish, eight Norwegian,
and 48 Scottish kings lay in rest, including Shakespeare’s Macbeth. There may be another reason Kings are dying
to get in.
According to legend, St. Columba
was unable to finish his abbey until he buried a man alive in the foundation.
His close friend, St. Oran, volunteered to be entombed. A few days later,
Columba thought of his friend and requested to see his face one last time. When
the stones were removed, Oran was alive, but gave such a blasphemous
description of heaven and hell Columba ordered him covered up again. Is it possible the dirt of Iona rejuvenates
the dead? Do Scottish kings lay awaiting their return?
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