The Curse of the Campbells of Jura

When Clan Campbell took control of Jura in 1661, their factor Duncan Campbell began steadily raising rents on the island's crofters, driving many families to emigrate to America rather than face ruin. According to island tradition, one of the women evicted in this process — remembered simply as an old witch — turned on the Campbells with a curse before she left: that the last of the Campbell line on Jura would be one-eyed, and would leave the island for good carried to the shore in a cart drawn by a white horse.

The prophecy passed into local legend and was retold for generations as the Campbells' fortunes on the island slowly declined through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, their estate gradually sold off piece by piece.

Remarkably, islanders point to 1938 as the moment the curse came true: Charles Campbell, who had lost an eye fighting in the First World War, sold the last of the family's Jura estate — and, as the old story demanded, his belongings were carried down to the boat in a cart drawn by a white horse. The tale is often told alongside Jura's other great legend, the roaring tidal whirlpool of Corryvreckan off its northern tip, as part of the island's reputation for uncanny goings-on.