In this exploration of family history, Annie and Jenny speak to Jean: Annie’s granny. It’s a wonderful and touching discussion of Jean’s childhood, family and what life was like growing up in rural Ayr during the Second World War. We learn about rationing, everyday life on a dairy farm, Ayr Gaiety Theatre, and prisoners of war working on nearby farms and their attempts at escape.

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The first of a five-part series from a Scottish grandparent’s living room. Annie and Jenny speak to Annie’s grandfather, Jimmy, about his childhood during the second world war. This sets them off to uncover weird and wonderful rationing tales, where they discover a most peculiar egg collector.Jimmy tells us about his joy in growing up close to the natural world, and we delve into the language of Juniper.

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This episode looks at witchcraft and witch-purging in early modern Scotland. We hear the extraordinary confessions of Isobel Gowdie and learn about her initiation into sorcery and her incantations.Jenny and Annie look at the curious profession of witch-pricking, learning about two famous prickers: John Kincaid and crossdressing Christian Caldwell. A very surreal and magical episode for Halloween/Samhain!Warning: This episode contains descriptions of torture.

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This podcast explores the Scottish Zoo of our mythologies, glens, and islands. It begins by wondering why the unicorn is Scotland’s national animal. Annie and Jenny discover mysterious wildcat of the Highland hills and explore Gaelic legends of the Cat Sìth.Then they look at the wonders of the puffin and the various hardships puffins experienced on the abandoned island of St Kilda. Finally, they look at the realities of managing land with such high numbers of deer and think about the significance of deer and stags to Scottish culture.

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Jenny and Annie go away with the fairies to explore the mythology of Tomnahurich Cemetery in Inverness. This episode looks at folk legends of giants, fairy parties and fiddlers lost in the night. It also examines the curious relationship of Tomnahurich hill and Oliver Cromwell’s control of Scotland during the 17th Century. We go into detail on the life of Alexander Mackenzie, a Highland Historian who was involved in the Highland Land League and whose gravestone is missing from Tomnahurich Cemetery. This weird and wonderful episode weaves in and out of imaginative folklore and the genuine history of the Fairy Hill of Inverness, Tomnahurich.

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Jenny and Annie stay inside on a dreichy day to talk about the environmental and cultural significance of rain. We discover the mythology and superstition of rain for fishermen of Shetland and try to make sense of the black rain prophecies of the Brahan Seer. We look at the geography of Scotland to understand why this place gets such an impressive amount of rain and discuss the wonders of the Celtic Rainforest. This episode examines how a wet climate shapes nature, beliefs and people.

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This episode brings a guest host, Sara Boussaikouk, who talks to us about Victorian theatres in Inverness. We read original documents found in the Highland Archive Centre which describe the venues and performers of the Northern Scottish theatre scene. We dip our toes into romanticisation of the Scottish Highlands through the Sir Walter Scott effect. This episode also looks into the life of a powerhouse of Scottish Theatre: actress and theatre manager Jessie Fraser.

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Jenny and Annie have a look at a group of artisan weavers who inspired a strike of sixty thousand people in Glasgow and the industrial central belt. This episode looks at the “Radical War” of 1820 and examines the causes of this civil uprising and the bloody aftermath.

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In the second of a two-part adventure at Covesea caves, we look at the rumours of the Wizard of Gordonstoun who was said to have sold his soul for sacred knowledge. This episode discovers that Covesea caves were used by smugglers; who feed into a covert Jacobite network. We learn about Scottish Indigenous Travellers who passed through Covesea and think about the magic of stories in the caves. With thanks to Davie Donaldson.

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In the first of a two-part exploration of Covesea caves, Jenny and Annie crawl into the Bronze Age to ponder why these caves were used for the curation of human bodies. Why did different people over different eras use the caves as a place of decapitation?We look at Pictish carvings on the walls and admire the special ambience of the caves throughout time.Stories of Scotland is a multi-award winning Highland podcast, proudly recorded in Inverness in North of Scotland. We research our Scottish history, heritage, and mythology podcast using archives, books, museum objects, and oral histories from across Scotland.

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