ABSTRACT
If ever a valley deserved to be the scene of a massacre it is Glencoe. It has such a dark, brooding atmosphere that if violent events had not occurred there someone would surely have had to invent them! The Massacre of Glencoe is a popular myth of Scottish folk history like Bannockburn, Flodden, and Culloden. It provides the best viewpoint over the area where the massacre took place. Maclain, chief of the Glencoe MacDonalds, left it to the very last minute, presenting himself at Fort William, according to different accounts, on the night of December 30th or on the following day. Because he, his clansmen, and his stronghold at Invergarry were such a tough nut to crack, the government was prepared to negotiate with him in a way in which they would not have done with a smaller, less powerful, more accessible clan like the Glencoe MacDonalds.
