6 SEP 2021
Uncle told me rumours that the Cunninghams of old were shipwreckers somewhere up on the north coast of Scotland.
At night, they'd light fires on the rocky shores to attract lost and desperate sailors, fooling the seamen into believing they were headed for small settlements or lighthouses. When the sailors set their bearing towards the light, they were wrecked upon the jagged shores. Mostly, in their highjacked bid for safety, they drowned.
Can't you picture the ripped sails and splintered hulls set against the indigo-crimson sky?
The Cunninghams would then loot the wreck and collect the flotsam, trading it onwards into history. I don't know what truth lies in this tale, but it's unpleasant to think that one's rellies might've been up to such grim pursuits.
There are other, later rumours that our great grandfather went awol on our great grandmother, leaving her to occasionally couple with old Gregory from the neighbouring farm. If this is true, I'm not a Cunningham at all. That could be a relief. But then, the times were brutal, and I expect the Gregories got up to grievous misbehaviours too.
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