Janet was well known locally for her supernatural powers, which included having a premonition about her love Benjamin Garrioch being lost at sea. Years later a sailing ship got into difficulties near Westray during a storm. Janet rowed out to the ship and succeeded in instructing the crew on how to sail her to safety in Pierowall Bay where she dropped anchor. Just a few days after Janet had saved the lives of the crew she was arrested, sent to Kirkwall and tried for witchcraft. She was sentenced to be hanged at Gallows ha’ (where the top of Clay Loan is today). However, her long lost love Garrioch appeared miraculously immediately after her sentencing, and that night managed to break her out of jail. Some say Janet and Ben were seen years later in Manchester, but in recent years researchers have discovered she was indeed executed for witchcraft and the folktale had been given a falsely happy ending.
Listen to storyteller Tom Muir telling the full story here:
