Clava Cairns

Clava Cairns is an exceptionally well-preserved Bronze Age cemetery complex near Inverness, consisting of three large burial cairns surrounded by standing stones and dating to approximately 2000 BCE. The site includes two passage graves and one ring cairn, all aligned astronomically to the midwinter sunset. The cairns are encircled by standing stones, creating a sacred landscape of death and ritual that has remained largely intact for 4,000 years. The site’s atmospheric woodland setting, sophisticated design, and clear evidence of ancestor veneration have contributed to its reputation as one of Scotland’s most spiritually charged and actively haunted prehistoric monuments. The cairns also gained modern fame as inspiration for the stone circle in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series.

The most frequently reported paranormal phenomena at Clava Cairns involve apparitions of ancient peoples conducting funeral rites and ancestor ceremonies. Witnesses describe seeing robed or cloaked figures processing around the cairns and standing stones, particularly during twilight or mist. Some report seeing phantom funeral processions carrying bodies into the passage graves, while others describe seeing groups of people standing in ritual formations among the standing stones. These spectral figures are most commonly seen during the winter solstice, when the astronomical alignment focuses sunset light into the passage chambers—a phenomenon believed to symbolize the journey of souls into the afterlife. Several visitors report hearing chanting, wailing, or drumming when the site appears empty, and some describe the sounds as mournful, as if ancient mourners still grieve their dead.

Beyond the funeral apparitions, Clava Cairns produces powerful physical and emotional effects on visitors. Many people report feeling overwhelming sadness or experiencing spontaneous crying when entering the passage chambers, as if absorbing residual grief from millennia of death rituals. Others describe feeling a profound sense of peace or spiritual connection to ancestors. The cairns and standing stones are said to emanate energy that sensitive individuals can feel as warmth, tingling, or electromagnetic sensations. Some visitors report altered states of consciousness, vivid mental imagery, or experiencing time distortions—spending what feels like minutes only to discover significant time has passed. Mysterious orbs, lights, and mists are frequently photographed, particularly around the standing stones during dawn and dusk. Dowsers detect powerful energy lines converging at the site, and the astronomical alignments suggest Clava was designed as a portal between the world of the living and the dead. Modern druids, pagans, and spiritualists consider Clava Cairns one of Scotland’s most powerful sites for ancestor work and death rituals. Whether haunted by genuine spirits of Bronze Age peoples, charged with residual emotional energy from thousands of funerals, or possessing natural energetic properties amplified by its sacred design, Clava Cairns remains one of the Highlands’ most mysteriously active and deeply haunted prehistoric cemeteries.