Cedric Wilson, the wise old professor stood by the gate of a graveyard. Opposite to the graveyard stood a new distillery of Glenrothes. The professor was summoned to investigate a mystery behind reports of ominous sightings of a ghost at the Glenrothes. Standing by the headstones, the professor wondered, “What could be disturbing the dead?”
Speyside is the other name for whisky in Scotland. It perhaps hosts the highest concentration of distilleries in the world. Glenrothes is one of the finest among them.
The graveyard was just across the street from the distillery. It was after the installation of a pair of stills that workers in the distillery began to complain about the regular sightings of the phantom of Biawa 'Byeway' Makalanga. It did not seem menacing but its very presence could throw a spanner in the works.
But, who was Biawa 'Byeway' Makalanga? And why was he a trouble around the distillery?
Interestingly, Byeway's story began in another distillery.
Major James Grant of the Glen Grant distillery in the early twentieth century undertook an adventure ride along South Africa and stumbled across a black child named Biawa Makalaga (the middle name 'Byeway' owed much to the way he was found). He was brought back to Scotland as a servant.
The intelligent boy rose through stringent racial prejudices of the Scottish society and very soon became a darling of the natives. He was even admitted to the village football team, the first black to achieve the merit.
Soon, Byeway earned a repute for his knowledge of the stills at the Glen Grant distillery. His long journey from Africa ended when Byeway breathed his last in 1965. His body was buried at the graveyard opposite the street to the new distillery.
Life around was peaceful until in 1972, when Glenrothes distillery installed a new pair of stills.
A disturbed Byeway now woke from his eternal slumber. People claimed that he was seen standing near the stills.
What did he want! Dram? Nobody knew.
It was then, Cedric Wilson, Professor of Pharmacology at University College, Dublin was called to find the reason behind the mysterious happenings at Glenrothes distillery. The professor had an interest in paranormal activities. Though the distillery authorities were skeptical about the presence of the supernatural, they allowed Wilson to visit their premises. The year was 1981.
After visiting the distillery Professor Wilson walked across the street to the graveyard. A black fungus that thrives on all of Scotland's whisky distilleries had eaten even into gravestones making the scene spookier. He walked to a gravestone carved with the name 'Byeway.'
Using methods that defy all logic, the professor began communicating with the deceased.
The professor had got the answer. He went back to the distillery with a message. Byeway was disturbed because of a few misaligned stills in the distillery.
Work started. The stills were aligned properly. And the phantom of Byeway never came back to the distillery again.
Today people at Glenrothes raise a toast to the ghost before they take their first sip.
(Manu Remakant is a freelance writer who also runs a video blog - A Cup of Kavitha - introducing world poetry to Malayalees. Views expressed here are personal)
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