The Witches' Bowster - the pillow or bolster of the witches - is the chosen designation for the fifth hole. It is situated alongside Loch-an-Eerie, and suggests a resting place such as might be chosen by the night-hags who are credited with nocturnal escapades while riding astride broomsticks to "the annoyance of the lieges," as the Scots legal documents phrase it. The lower terrace at the green is the "bowster," the green itself forming the pillow.

During the reign of ignorance and superstition in Scotland everything that could not be immediately traced to other causes was, without hesitation, ascribed to some supernatural agency, hence we have on certain trees Witches' Knots - matted bunches of twigs resembling the nests of birds, most frequently seen on thorns and birches, and supposed to be caused by stoppage of the sap. Then Witches' Thimbles was a name given to foxglove, and so the Witches' Bowster is not without precedent in romantic lore.

A reference to "bowster " occurs in the quaint lines -

When time has had the best o' me,

An' I am lyin' deid, It's no' a feather bowester,

I'll hae aneath my heid.

But I will no' be carin'

For whit may happen then, For though my bowster's hard as rock,

I'm sure I winna ken.

A favourite chant or bridal song in former times accompanied a peculiar dance and marching of couples in a ring. The wedding guests joined hands, male and female, alternately, forming a circle which continually revolved round one of the guests who was blindfolded with a bolster slip. The dance is designated "Bab at the Bowster," and is usually the last "ploy" at Scottish country weddings and merrymakings.