Ghillie Dhu the Ghillie Dhu was a gentle and kind-hearted mountain spirit, or a "rather unusual nature fairy." The Ghillie Dhu was an individual male modern day fairy described by Osgood Mackenzie, a Scottish landowner and horticulturist, in his memoirs that were published in 1921. The fairy was generally timid, yet he could also be "wild". Residing in the birch woods near Loch a Druing, in the north-west Highland area of Gairloch, he was mainly seen in the latter part of the 18th century. The woods are in a dip alongside a hilly area around from where Rua Reidh Lighthouse was later
Ghillie Dhu to that displayed by the little known Hyter sprite of English mythology. Shortly after the episode with Jessie, a group of Mackenzie dignitaries were invited by the landowner, Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch, to get together to hunt and capture the Ghillie Dhu. The team of five hunters congregated at the home of one of Mackenzie's tenants where they were provided with an evening meal before setting off on their mission to shoot the Ghillie Dhu. Despite searching extensively throughout the night, the hunters could not find their prey; according to Patricia Monaghan, a writer on Celtic mythology, the Ghillie