Old Petty Church is no longer in use. It lies just behind Castle Stuart on the road into Ardersier from the Inverness side. It seems to have a gained a reputation for ghosts and good old fashioned Scottish folklore.

The church was built in 1839 but it is believed a church has been located here since 1769 and perhaps even further back. There is more on the ARCH website but this piece was extracted from it.

In the churchyard there is also a surviving Watch House dated to 1825. In the 19th century, corpses were stolen and sold to people interested in anatomy. The Rev. W. Fleming in West Calder wrote in 1821: ‘Few burial grounds in Scotland, it is believed, have escaped the ravaging hands of resurrection men; and it is reported that with respect to a church-yard not far from Edinburgh, that, till within three years ago, when the inhabitants began to watch the graves, the persons interred did not remain in their graves above a night, and that these depredations were successfully carried on for nine successive winters.’ (quoted on the Echoes of the Resurrection Men website). In response to this threat, many graveyards erected watch houses, so that the graveyard could be guarded. Other deterrence elsewhere included placing heavy stones (mortstones) on top of graves, which would be removed at a later stage, coffin collars and mortsafes (iron structures enclosing the grave).

Also, while researching this piece apparently “Highland Paranormal” attended a night there to witness any activity (August 2012) but instead this piece from a search under Moray Churches is a bit more charming.

There was at one time a strange funeral custom at Petty. It came to be known as “the Petty Step.” It was the custom if the people of Petty to run (not walk) at funerals. It appears it was given up owing to some of the bearers having tripped when carrying the coffin of an old reputed witch-woman to the churchyard. It was feared that her curse might fall upon them! The origin of the custom is traceable to the weird superstition that the spirit of the last person interred had to keep watch and ward at the kirkyard gate until relieved by the subject of the next funeral! When two funerals took place on the same day, it was lucky to be the first to cross the threshold, hence the haste at Petty funerals. The custom seems to have been given up by 1841.