Real stag party! Deer joins party in youth hostel

By Elizabeth Hunter

Pictures show a real "stag" party where the wild animals used to join the guests in a youth hostel.

Loch Ossian Youth Hostel in Scotland has released an archive of images as it celebrates its 95th anniversary.

It shows guests enjoying lively parties, while curious stags wander through the common rooms.

Pictures show guests hand-feeding the deer and posing next to them as the stags explore their surroundings.

The deer learned to tilt their heads to fit through the doors, which would "completely amaze" the guests inside.

The hostel's stag visits are often attributed to former warden Tom Rigg, who was said to have formed an "extraordinary bond" with the nearby deer.

Jan Robinson, the current hostel manager, has worked at Loch Ossian for over ten years, and has many of her own fond memories of encounters with the stags - in particular, one named Damh.

She said: “People absolutely loved the deer.

"There’s no doubt that being in close proximity to a huge wild stag is pretty impressive and quite surreal, really.

“In the old days, the stags used to come right into the hostel.

"Somehow, they learned to tilt their heads to get through the doors and people would just sit there completely amazed by them.

“There can be absolutely nobody around here for miles in winter and it gets dark around three o’clock, so actually it was really rather nice having a stag around. It felt like company.

“He was called Damh, after the Gaelic word for stag.

"I used to ask him what kind of day he’d had at the office and sometimes I’d open the stable door at night and play him a Van Morrison track. I think he quite liked it.

“We don’t have stags coming into the hostel anymore and, obviously, people should always treat wild deer with respect, but wildlife is still a huge part of the experience here.

“We have black-throated divers, ravens, and deer around the area, and people feel very connected to nature when they stay here.”

Several guests have also reminisced about the hostel-visiting deer from the 1960s, including Windswept, The Chief and Old Fettercairn, which became part of hostel folklore over generations.

One guest, Vincent Visser, wrote on Facebook: “The stags visiting the common room were magic.

"So calm, regal and impressive. Windswept, The Chief and Old Fettercairn. They had to tilt their head to fit through the door.”

The hostel first opened on May 24, 1931, and is one of the UK's most remote hostels - only accessible by bike, foot, or train.

Situated near the iconic Corrour Station, made famous by its appearance in Trainspotting, the hostel has welcomed generations of hillwalkers, travelers, and Munro-baggers.

Manager Jan, who is originally from Sheffield and moved to Ossian after living near Ullapool, continued: “People are really longing for tranquillity now.

"They arrive here and suddenly there’s no traffic, no continual notifications on your phone, no feeling that you constantly have to be switched on.

“It’s silent here and at night it’s properly dark.

"Then people discover what it feels like to slow down a bit, and they want more of it.”