Clootie Well = Cootie Hell

Inverness, Scotland

"Circle, circle, dot, dot, now you've had the cootie shot"

In the mystic legends of Inverness (pronounced InverNESS by the locals) is a story of the Clootie Well. The casual traveler will not hear of it, but the seekers know it well. Sara and I are always looking for the off-the-beaten path treasures. So, we asked our local host during crumpets and tea if she knew of anyplace of interest not covered by the brochures. She peered at us to see if we were worthy of the tale, then began promptly. Well, according the stories of old, there was a place close-by called Clootie Well. When someone had a grave sickness, their loved one would bring clothes that belonged to them (something that had been in contact with the stricken) and walk around the spring 3 times. Then deposit the clothe there to allow the spring from the well wash away the sickness. But on to more modern times, the officials of the city of Inverness wanted to “keep up” appearances, so they voted to have the overabundance of articles of clothing removed, as it was becoming unsightly. The problem, said our host with a twinkle in her eye, as legend has it, if one removed any article from the spring, then whosoever shall remove it shall take up that same sickness. We all chuckled, because after all, we knew it would not be one of those casting their vote that would face the consequences of the curse. However, it piqued our interest so we took down the directions and decided to stop by to see it. I must say, this was not the first house we had stayed in with crystals hanging, or who clung to the beliefs of the fairies. We followed the directions, but somehow (maybe as a non-believer) we just could not find the mysterious Clootie Well. So, we stopped to ask directions at a petrol station and a plump, pleasant, cherry-faced man wiped the breakfast crumbs off his shirt and leaned into our window to ask if there was anything he could do for us. Sara smiled politely and with all sincerity asked, “Can you tell us where to find Clootie Well” You could tell he had a little elf-blood in him, by the way he nimbly jumped back away from our car. He briskly stated—That way. Just follow the road around the curve and you’ll see it. And what do you know, there it was. I later told Sara, THAT man is a believer. He was taking no chances on making ANY contact with whatever sickness we had in our car! So now, a little closer to understanding the depth of the belief in the spirits, we parked and slowly approached the well. I kid you not, the very first piece of clothing hanging along the path was the jacket of the City of Inverness Public Work crew. The officials may have tried to wish the well away, but the people had spoken. The Clootie Well was there long before the city officials and it would remain there long after the officials had gone.  There were hundreds of articles of clothing hanging in the trees surrounding the well.  Everything from shirts, pants, socks, baby bib, jacket, blanket etc...

We were very respectful!  We walked, snapped a few photos and made sure not to TOUCH a single item.