Enjoy a wee drop of whiskey at the cabin for a chat about the infamous Great Grey Man of Ben Macdhui – whether it be a cryptozoological Bigfoot-like creature, or a more mystical being of folklore. The Grey Man is only one of many strange tales told about high elevations. In this episode, we investigate:
-the 1975 Bonighton Everest ghost
-Dan Simmons’ novels ‘The Terror’ and ‘The Abominable’
-1920s mountaineering mania
-Ghosts and hallucinations on Everest
-Frank Smythe’s sighting of weird aerial creatures on Everest
-Isolated high-altitude psychosis
-Early stories of the Great Grey Man of Ben Macdhui
-Mystical encounters with the Grey Man
-The Grey Man speaking Scots Gallic and psychic communication!
IMAGE from Haunted houses by Maple & Myring
SOURCES:
-Haunted Houses, Maple & Myring, 1979
-Howard Bury’s Footsteps episode (beginning of the Yeti myth!)
-Day of the Triffids episode (me talking to Neil from UK Wildlife podcast!)
-The Horror-Horn episode (Yetis in the Alps!)
-The Abominable, Dan Simmons, 2013
-The Secret Lives of Ghosts, Paul Gater, 2013
-The Business Insider article about high altitude hallucinations, Kevin Loria 2018
-Frank Smythe’s hallucination, from The Crystal Horizon, Roger McDonald
-Live Science, Hearing Voices When Climbing Mount Everest, Charles Q Choi, 2017
-Yeti, Graham Hoyland, 2018
-VacationScotland.biz article about the Great Grey Man, David McNicoll, 2018
-The Secret of Spey, Wendy Wood, 1930
-The Big Grey Man: Myth or Monster, Affleck Grey, 1989
-A Brocken Spectre in Ireland