To the casual visitor, the Isle of Mull appears as a land of eagles, otters, and colourful harbour houses. But if you dig a little deeper into the beul aithris or oral tradition, you find a landscape that a figure far more formidable than any clan chief dominates. She is Dòideag, the great witch of Mull.
While modern storytellers often reduce her to a footnote in the story of the Spanish Armada, Dòideag was a complex character. She served as a protector, a summoner of storms, and a figure who likely predates the arrival of the clans themselves. To understand Mull, one must understand the woman who held its winds in her hands.
The Mystery of the Frizzled One
Unlike the witches of the European witch trials, whom accusers often targeted as poor or marginalized women, Dòideag fits the mould of the Gaelic Cailleach. She appears as a powerful, almost elemental wise woman.
Her name, Dòideag, translates to “Little Frizzle” or “The Frizzled One,” referring to a shock of wild, frizzy hair. In Highland folklore, unkempt or frizzy hair often marked those with the second sight (an Dà Shealladh). This trait was not merely “magic” but a specific ability to see prophetic visions, distant events, and spirits. The community respected and feared this power in equal measure.
No parish records exist of her birth. In many ways, the islanders treat her as an immortal spirit. Some folklorists suggest she is a localized version of the Cailleach Bheur, the blue faced hag of winter who created Scotland’s mountains. Legends speak of the Cailleach bathing in Loch Ba on Mull every hundred years to renew her youth. Dòideag may function as a cultural memory of this ancient deity, shrunk down over centuries into the form of a clan witch.
The Witch of Ben More and Her Coven
Dòideag ruled the high ground. Stories place her dwelling on Ben More, the island’s highest peak. From here, she could look down upon the Sound of Mull and spot approaching threats.
However, she did not work alone. The folklore paints her as the leader of a formidable network of witches across the Hebrides. When her own power proved insufficient, she summoned a “sisterhood” from the surrounding islands to aid the MacLeans. Her known allies included Laorag Thirisdeach of Tiree, Maol Odhar from Kintyre, Cas a’ Mhogain Riabhaich of Cowal, and Gormal Mòr, the Great Blue Eyed witch of Moy in Lochaber. Legends say Gormal possessed even more power than Dòideag herself.
The Duel with Captain Forrest
While the Spanish Armada story remains famous, the legend of Captain Forrest offers a better glimpse into Dòideag’s role as a magical guardian.
Captain Forrest was a privateer who threatened to devastate Mull. The Chief of Clan MacLean realized his swords offered no defence against the ship’s heavy guns, so he climbed Ben More to ask for Dòideag’s help. She agreed to sink the ship but found her standard magic failed. Captain Forrest himself possessed “black arts” and used counter magic to keep his ship afloat.
Dòideag had to escalate the battle. She called upon her coven and summoned the witches of Tiree and Cowal, but even their combined strength failed to break Forrest’s protection. Finally, in a desperate bid, she summoned Gormal Mòr from the mainland. Only when Gormal arrived did the tide turn. She brought a storm so fierce it snapped the ship’s iron cables and vanquished the privateer. This story portrays Dòideag not just as a monster, but as a struggle hardened defender of her people.
The Protector of the MacLeans
Dòideag maintained absolute loyalty to Clan MacLean. She functioned as the supernatural equivalent of the clan’s castle at Duart, a final line of defence.
The most telling example of this occurred in 1675. The Earl of Argyll, Chief of the rival Clan Campbell, attempted to invade Mull with an army of 2,000 men. He never made it to shore. Dòideag raised a tempest that battered the Campbell fleet for days and forced them to retreat in humiliation. She reportedly promised the MacLean chief that no enemy would successfully land on Mull as long as she lived.
The Galleon in the Bay
Dòideag gained the most fame for the destruction of a Spanish ship in Tobermory Bay in 1588. Legend says that to remove a rival for the MacLean Chief’s affection, Dòideag performed a ritual involving a quern stone or hand mill. She tied a rope through the stone’s eye and hoisted it up a rafter. This action sympathetically agitated the waters of the bay until the great ship exploded. Historically, sabotage destroyed the San Juan de Sicilia rather than magic, but the folklore remains the dominant narrative on the island.
An Enduring Presence
Dòideag represents a time when the people felt inextricably linked to the weather, the sea, and the fate of the island. She personified the storm winds that batter Mull’s coast. Today, when you look up at the mist swirling around the summit of Ben More, you can easily imagine the “Frizzled One” still waits up there, keeping a weather eye on her island.
