The fictional stones in the Starz TV version of Outlander were based on the real-life Callanish Stones on the Isle of Harris, and on Men in Kilts, Heughan and his former Outlander co-star Graham McTavish, who played Dougal Mackenzie, visit the stones on the “Witchcraft and Superstition” episode. “Whatever reason they had for bringing things here, they had a reason,” says McTavish in the video. “It was a reason that was enough for them to drag these a mile and a half. Can you imagine?” The stones have been in place since 2900 B.C., nearly 5,000 years ago. “I don’t know how they did it,” Heughan says. “There’s lots of myths about these stones. They may have been giants that were frozen. Ones that didn’t convert to Christianity. They don’t say what they were used for. Some sort of pagan ritual maybe, maybe a gathering spot. Some people think they were used for cycles of the moon, different times of the years. Every 18 years, I think, there’s a point where the sun hits a certain point.”
Outlander Stones
Are the stones at Craigh na Dun real?
Standing stones are commonly found across Europe, so it was a smart choice on Gabaldon’s part, since people who read her novels and watch the Starz TV series are often convinced the stones at Craigh na Dun are real—in truth, they’re not, but even so, filming with them always has a magical element to it. “We filmed it up in Kinloch Rannoch, where we put the standing stones,” Balfe told Parade.com about one shoot at the stones. “It’s such an incredible location. That day that we arrived on set, there was this Disney-like dusting of snow everywhere. It’s just a really beautiful location and it was a beautiful script. Sometimes everything conspires to make these episodes really special.” Filming Claire at the stones was also a special moment for executive producer Maril Davis, who shared her memories of that day on an Outlander End of Summer series episode. “When we were filming Claire going through the stones for the first time, it called for a gust of wind to come up when she is picking the flowers and we didn’t have a wind machine,” she remembers. “But every single time we did that scene, the wind would come up. It was just kind of spooky and magical. It felt like we were at the right place at the right time.”
What are the stones at Craigh na Dun made of?
The stones at Craigh na Dun were designed by production designer Jon Gary Steele and sculpted by a craftsman to look like actual stone … but the truth is a bit more down to earth: though they are made out of Styrofoam. “You could pick them up by yourself," executive producer Ronald D. Moore revealed on the official Outlander Podcast. “And then we hauled them out to the actual location and we planted them in the ground.” https://parade.com/1079138/paulettecohn/diana-gabaldon-teases-outlander-book-9-go-tell-the-bees-that-i-am-gone-jamie-death/
Can anyone time travel through the stones at Craigh na Dun?
That would be a definite no. In order to travel through the stones, one has to be born with the right DNA, meaning a descendant of someone who could also have been a time traveler. In Claire’s case, we don’t know who that might have been. But Claire’s daughter Brianna (Sophie Skelton) was able to travel through the stones because she has the right genes from her mother; and Roger (Richard Rankin) is a descendant of Geillis Duncan (Lotte Verbeek), whom Claire meets in the first book and in season 1 of the series, who is a fellow time traveler but with wicked intent.
Are there other time travelers?
Yes, there are. In season 4, Claire discovers that Otter-Tooth (Trevor Carroll), who was known as Robert Springer in the future, was a time traveler. He was part of a group called the Montauk Five, who in the 1960s sought to travel to the past to change the future of Native Americans. In book 6, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (depicted in season 5 of the TV series), Claire is abducted by the men from Brownsville and she meets Wendigo Donner (Brennan Martin), who was originally part of the Montauk Five; he desperately wants to return to his own time, but doesn’t have any gemstones.
What role do gemstones play in time travel?
It isn’t 100 percent certain that you need gems to travel through the stones—it is unclear whether Claire had anything on her when she first went through—but, in the ensuing trips made by Claire, Brianna, Roger, and more recently their son, Jeremiah, they’ve always made sure to have gems on their person. Apparently, some quality of the gems adds power to a person’s ability to time travel.
Does the time of the year matter?
There seems to be a connection between times of the year that correspond with Celtic festivals, such as Beltane and Samhain, and the humming of the stones, which only time travelers can hear. If the stones aren’t humming, time travel isn’t possible. https://parade.com/1071717/paulettecohn/outlander-cast-season-6-sam-heughan-caitriona-balfe/
Are the stones at Craigh na Dun the only time-travel stones?
No. In the Outlander universe, there are also stones in two other locations that we know of so far. When Claire and Jamie traveled to the West Indies to locate the kidnapped Young Ian (John Bell), and discovered he was a prisoner of Geillis Duncan, Geillis led them to the cave at Abandawe in Jamaica, where Claire could hear the humming of another set of stones that were submerged in water. Later, Roger discovers a set of stones in the Americas after he is sold by Young Ian to the Mohawk, and is traveling in their company. At one point he escapes and stumbles across the stones. In Season 5 of Outlander, Roger, Brianna and their son attempt to go back to the future (which doesn’t happen in the novels), but wind up right back where they started, still in the 18th century. The journey to reach the stones from Fraser’s Ridge took two weeks, so they’re either in North Carolina or an adjacent state.
Where are there real standing stones in Scotland?
There are a number of standing stones in Scotland. For visitors trying to recreate an Outlander moment, the best substitute for the stones at Craigh na Dun are the Callanish Standing Stones, located on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides archipelago. Dreaming of a trip? While we wait, why not start planning one to all the real-life filming locations used in Outlander.
