Whinny Park, near Cupar, Fife, Scotland — 23 July 1830
Two unknown flashing lights and a beam
As he was travelling from Auchtermuchty to Letham, reverend Alexander Espline noticed a peculiar light hanging in the air above Whinny Park, the property of a wealthy man named James Millie. As he came closer, Espline saw there were actually two lights of unequal brilliance. The smaller one emitted a beam, after which both lights started flashing. Scared by the display, Espline ran away. Two days later, the body of James Millie was found near the site. An extract from the Edinburgh Observer, published as a broadside, related that Millie was a middle aged man living in a remote area in Whin (Whinny) Park near Cupar, and was murdered sometime in June 1830 by his servant, John Henderson. Henderson was arrested on Sunday 25 July, 1830. It is interesting that the light was not considered related to the murder at the time. Indeed, it tells that “the path was so beaten that, but for an accidental circumstance, the discovery would probably never have been made.” Flickering lights, often an ignis fatuus, emerge in many medieval stories to indicate a burial or significant site.
Source: Elliot O’Donnell, Ghosts with a purpose (Rider, 1951); “Horrid murder! A full, true and particular account of that most atrocious and horrid murder…” (1830), National Library of Scotland, NLS F.3.a.l3 (108). Case: W364