Witches Stone, Pittensorn, Murthly

Image: © Paul McLennan Taken: 15 Feb 2023

A low lying stone beside a very old road linking Strathbraan in the west, through the Obney Hills with the old Boat of Caputh. A few years ago someone scraped off a thick mat of vegetation to expose a dozen cup marks, previously unrecorded. Local folklore has it covering a pile of treasure, and this story was dutifully recorded in the OS Place Names Book (Vol. 50, page 63, 1859-62, if you're interested): "it is said that some years ago a man commenced to excavate the soil around the rock in order, if possible, to secure the hidden treasure, while so employed, a small dog suddenly appeared on the top of the rock and desired the man to desist, assuring him at the same time that the reputed treasure was really there, but it was never intended that the eye of mortal should behold it. There are some marks on the rock which the superstitious tell you are the prints of this very sagacious dog’s paws." Nevertheless, someone else has tried:There is a hole about 20cm deep drilled into the stone. Sometime about the 1850s, the sons of the local dominie, John Cameron, got hold of some blasting powder (then widely used to help break up bigger stones while reclaiming farming land from the Muir of Thorn) and drilled the hole. Their father appeared and skelped their lugs, however, before the dog got in on the act.

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