Back in spring I received an email through the community website contact page from Drew Hannush, a U.S. ‘Travel and Whisky Influencer / Podcast Host.’ He was looking for information on the ghostly black hound mentioned on the presentation box of Cù Bòcan whisky. He wanted to come to Tomatin and record a podcast about it. I arranged a contact with the distillery but he got back in touch to say they hadn’t been able to help him much.
Well, if someone is interested enough in our neck of the woods to want to record a podcast about it, it seems a shame to send them away empty handed, so I mentioned, just mentioned mind, that perhaps there was a connection to the Witch of Laggan story, that some versions reckoned she was chased over the hills by the devil’s hounds and just in time reached the sanctuary of Dalarossie graveyard which the devil couldn’t enter, and just perhaps the hounds still roam the area waiting to catch her if she leaves. As evidence for this theory I quoted Pedlar’s version of the story from his book “A Journey through Tomatin & Strathdearn.”
Then I shared Drew’s appeal on the Strathdearn Group facebook page. No more information was forthcoming, but Duncan Bryden offered to meet him when he visited Strathdearn.
Fast forward to October when Duncan spent the day showing him the sights and telling him the tales.
Fast forward to today and a further email from Drew thanking the folk of Strathdearn for their help and hospitality and linking to the finished podcast. It’s only fair that I also include his disclaimers about pronunciation and dramatic voiceover. Drew says :
“One of the episodes I’ve released is this one, “Cù Bòcan and the Haunting of Tomatin.”
https://www.whiskey-lore.com/episodes/season-one/cu-bocan-and-the-haunting-of-tomatinYou can listen to it with the player on the website, or the podcast is now available on Apple Podcasts, Google, Alexa and most podcast outlets. This is episode 5.
I had a lot of fun with this and I really enjoyed the walk and conversation Duncan. I will most likely have some clips can use in future episodes as well. You gave a wealth of information and I greatly appreciate your time.
I hope you both enjoy the episode and feel free to share it. I went a little over the top with the drama, but on purpose to kind of play up the fable aspect. It was fun interpreting the Witch of Laggan story and hopefully I got all the pronunciations close. Thanks Duncan for giving me some help there.”
So without further ado, let’s hear Drew’s telling of “Cù Bòcan and the Haunting of Tomatin.” [click the play button below]
{mp3}Cu_Bocan{/mp3}
