Author: Dee Lawlor
Release date: 2026
The Blurb: We don’t normally associate Scotland with vampires, but there is a hidden history of folklore surrounding the undead – if you only know where to look.
From the Pagan baobhan-sith of the Highlands and a sixteenth-century stranger that was suspected of being a vampire in Galloway, to a vampire that was terrorising wildlife in Lochmaben in the 90s, the vampire is alive … or rather, undead … and well in Scottish history and culture. This is a unique exploration of Scottish history and of a horror hero.
The Review: An interesting whistle stop through the highlands and lowlands and the vampires associated with them. Not everything in this volume is exactly vampire related (in the very traditional sense) as some are more faery related and others are revenants, but it is nice to see the Scot vampire getting some attention.
The baobhan-sith we have come across before but other creatures like the ganconer are more obscure and is a type of fae who causes a woman to pine for him and waste away and red-caps are a little more goblin like and blood is used in the dying of their caps but they are of interest. When it comes to revenants I was quite excited when the idea that the hundeprest (or dog priest) was said in some versions of the tale to turn into a bat – but a quick search myself revealed the earliest publication of the tale that suggested the bat transformation was the Stories of the Border Marches by John and Jean Lang and published in 1916, which means it was post-Stoker and the Langs were adding a vampire element to the revenant story, even using the V word. It would have been nice if that was clearer.
Great fun is to be had with the vampire caterpillar of Princes Street, and it was good to see the Gorbals Vampire getting some coverage. There is a small bites section that covers some general lore – I would have liked to see the section on mirrors, which associated the idea that silver backing causes a lack of reflection, to have been very much identified as a modern interpretation as there is nothing in folklore that I am aware of that would lead to that conclusion (indeed very little to suggest a folkloric lack of reflection) there was enough folklore about the dangers of mirrors and the dead as it was.
The book is brief and the style very chatty, which honestly wasn’t unwelcome, but it does have references and this is important as I would see this as a starting point if one wanted to research some of the things within. Nevertheless, as I say, it is good to see Scotland getting some love and this volume will allow the reader a point to start a deeper dive. 6 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
From the Pagan baobhan-sith of the Highlands and a sixteenth-century stranger that was suspected of being a vampire in Galloway, to a vampire that was terrorising wildlife in Lochmaben in the 90s, the vampire is alive … or rather, undead … and well in Scottish history and culture. This is a unique exploration of Scottish history and of a horror hero.
The Review: An interesting whistle stop through the highlands and lowlands and the vampires associated with them. Not everything in this volume is exactly vampire related (in the very traditional sense) as some are more faery related and others are revenants, but it is nice to see the Scot vampire getting some attention.
The baobhan-sith we have come across before but other creatures like the ganconer are more obscure and is a type of fae who causes a woman to pine for him and waste away and red-caps are a little more goblin like and blood is used in the dying of their caps but they are of interest. When it comes to revenants I was quite excited when the idea that the hundeprest (or dog priest) was said in some versions of the tale to turn into a bat – but a quick search myself revealed the earliest publication of the tale that suggested the bat transformation was the Stories of the Border Marches by John and Jean Lang and published in 1916, which means it was post-Stoker and the Langs were adding a vampire element to the revenant story, even using the V word. It would have been nice if that was clearer.
Great fun is to be had with the vampire caterpillar of Princes Street, and it was good to see the Gorbals Vampire getting some coverage. There is a small bites section that covers some general lore – I would have liked to see the section on mirrors, which associated the idea that silver backing causes a lack of reflection, to have been very much identified as a modern interpretation as there is nothing in folklore that I am aware of that would lead to that conclusion (indeed very little to suggest a folkloric lack of reflection) there was enough folklore about the dangers of mirrors and the dead as it was.
The book is brief and the style very chatty, which honestly wasn’t unwelcome, but it does have references and this is important as I would see this as a starting point if one wanted to research some of the things within. Nevertheless, as I say, it is good to see Scotland getting some love and this volume will allow the reader a point to start a deeper dive. 6 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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