BRITAIN’S highest peak is at the centre of a spooky mystery after a strange figure emerged from the fog and showed two climbers a discarded gravestone.
Brothers James and Alex Robbie lived on 4,409ft Ben Nevis for a week earlier this month to raise money for charity,
The pair were camping near the ruined observatory at the summit of the mountain on Friday, August 7 when they had what they described as “by far the most spooky element of our stay”.
The stranger turned over a stone which appeared to be a headstone which included the words “Wilson 1810”. He then disappeared into the fog.
James and Alex described the experience as “disturbing”.
But one old mountain hand advised against jumping to ghostly conclusions, saying it could be a hoax and that there was a tradition of leaving mementos on the hill.
Alex Robbie, 35, a technician for Volkwagen, said he and brother James, 27, who is a carpenter in the Royal Engineers British army regiment, were both shown the stone by the mystery stranger
He said: “We only had about two days left on our trip.
“This guy came up quite early, about 10 or 11am. He described the observatory and he said “I’ll show you something.” and he went to look for the stone.
“We could tell he knew where it was but could see he was playing for time.
“He actively used the word “gravestone”.
“There was this amazing inscription on it. He let us take a couple of photographs and then he disappeared into the mist, down the hill.”
The brothers, who are raising cash for children’s charity The Archie Foundation, also wrote on their Ben Nevis Big Sleepover Facebook page:
“Quite disturbing stuff, and I spent the final two nights wondering if some reprobate would come forth from his tomb, dressed in the garments of the grave, and visit us in our hut.”
A former Ben Nevis mountain rescue worker and tourist guide, who asked not to be named, was sceptical.
“I’ve never heard of this,” he said. “If it was a gravestone, surely you would put date of birth and death.
“I think there was a guy called Wilson who worked on the observatory there so it’s maybe a doodle he did. There were any number of harebrained stunts on Ben Nevis.”
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