Wandering Willie's Tale: A Scottish Gothic Ghost Story (Unabridged‪)‬

A haunting tale from the Scottish Borders, Wandering Willie’s Tale is one of the most celebrated supernatural stories by Sir Walter Scott.

First published in 1824 as part of Redgauntlet, one of Scott’s Waverley Novels, the story unfolds in a time of political unrest and religious division in 18th-century Scotland. When Steenie Steenson goes to settle a debt with the fierce Sir Robert Redgauntlet, he finds himself pulled into a ghoulish gathering, leaving with a debt he can never repay.

Told in vivid Scots, Scott brings the voices of his characters to life with sly humour, lively rhythm and a shiveringly uncanny atmosphere. The familiar world gives way to something darker, where the boundaries between the living and the dead begin to blur.

Wandering Willie’s Tale is a classic of Scottish Gothic fiction, perfect for listening aloud, and republished here with Scots language footnotes. The narrator is Scottish writer Jules Horne, who narrates the story in Border Scots.