Culloden Moor, Inverness, Scotland
The last battle fought on the soil of Britain took place at Culloden Moor when the redcoats of the British Army destroyed the troops of the Jacobite Rebellion under Charles Stuart – known to history as Bonnie Prince Charlie – in a battle which lasted less than an hour. The Jacobite Army was cut to pieces by an artillery bombardment. The survivors charged the British line, hoping to cut through the Redcoats using their claymores, but the bayonets of the British troops proved too much for the Highlanders to overcome. As the survivors withdrew from the field the British followed, killing anyone of them they could find.
Charles Stuart escaped the slaughter, and for the next five months he moved about the Hebrides eluding the pursuit of the government while the remaining leaders of the Jacobite rebellion were rounded up and jailed to await trial for treason. Charles eventually escaped to France, where he remained in exile, never to return to Scotland. Nearly all who were tried were sentenced to death, with the sentence commuted if the convicted agreed to deportation to the English colonies. For many, their descendants fought the British again during the American Revolutionary War.
The Battle of Culloden Moor was fought on April 16, 1746. On its anniversary each year it is said that the moor is haunted by the spirits of the men who died there. The sounds of battle, of steel clashing against steel, cries of pain, and cries of fear are said to be heard. The sounds of men running for their lives are also reported to have been heard on the moor. Most of the Jacobite men who died in the battle were buried as they lay, and the mounds along the moor are said to be their resting places. An apparition of a tall man in Highlander garb has been reported roaming about the burial mounds.
Locals claim that whenever birds are in the area of the battlefield they do not sing. They have also reported other spectral images moving about the grave mounds, as well as those of some men on the ground, as if just falling in battle. The sounds of soldiers on the march on the road leading to the battlefield have also been reported by locals living nearby. Stories about the ghosts of Culloden Moor are frequently found in British newspapers and magazines, and paranormal investigators have claimed to sense the presence of the dead soldiers when visiting the moor.
It is also a cottage tourist industry, with several businesses scheduling tours of the haunted areas of Inverness. These include not just the moor itself but neighboring wells resorted to by the fleeing Jacobite troops, nearby houses and other structures where some attempted vainly to hide from the pursuing British, and other such locations. Interestingly, Loch Ness, famous for its alleged sheltering of another seemingly supernatural creature, is only about fifteen minutes by car from Inverness, and those wishing to see the Loch for themselves should have no trouble also visiting the haunted Culloden Moor.