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Scottish history is steeped in tales of murder, torture and brutality. From witchcraft and sorcery to cave-dwelling cannibals, we look at fi ve characters you can meet at the Edinburgh Dungeon who have shaped the city’s dark past.
THE TORTURER RER
Torture was rife in fe in dden Edinburgh’s hidden nnels underground tunnels from and chambers from gh to about the 1400s through to about used by the 1850. Devices used by the e the tongue torturer include the tongue trument that tearer – an instrument that efore being was heated before being on the tongue, clamped down on the tongue, times several several twisting times it straight out. before pulling it straight out. were also a Thumbscrews were also a d of torture popular method of torture rip i ngers which would grip i ngers tening the and toes, tightening the screws to crush and break the bone. Butchers hooks were often used to punish traitors, hooked into the base of the neck to lift them off the ground. it
ELIZABETH ELPHINSTONE (THE GREEN LADY)
One of Edinburgh’s greatest ghost stories is set in 1715 in Morningside, one of the city’s more prestigious areas at the time. Sir Thomas Elphinstone had bought a home here after his wife passed away, but it wasn’t long before his new wife, young Elizabeth Pittendale moved in. Elizabeth had previously fallen in love with a young army ofi cer called Jack Courage, but the couple had ended things when Jack was placed overseas.
Not long into their Not long into their marriage, Thomas told Eliza Thomas told Elizabeth that they would be they would be getting a visit from his visit from his son who was returning h was returning home after ssssessssssssssssssss rvrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ing in th serving in the military ovverseas. Rum overseas. Rumour has it that the son wh that the son who appeared at the door at the door was Jack Courage, the Courage, the man who Elizabeth had Elizabeth had fallen in love with. It w love with. It wasn’t long before their r before their relationship picked up wh picked up where it left off, and Thom off, and Thomas realised
what was going on. In an argument with his son, Thomas accidentally murdered Elizabeth and heartbroken, took his own life not long after. Jack moved out of the house and rented it to a new tenant and it was then that the ghost of The Green Lady appeared. AGNES FINNIE
feeling in the feeling in the There are several accounts that link the Edinburgh shopkeeper and moneylender Agnes Finnie to witchcraft. Agnes lived and worked in Potterrow, and it was in this neighbourhood where most of the allegations son of William Fairlie passed took place. The son of William Fairlie passed eet one day and shouted her Agnes in the street one day and shouted her s Winnie!’, which led Agnes nickname ‘Agnes Winnie!’, which led Agnes licly in the street. The next to curse him publicly in the street. The next no day, the boy had no ody left side of his body way and he passed away eek, the following week, icians physicians which ult of said was the result of auses. causes. supernatural ases, Agnes After several cases, Agnes June 1644 was arrested in June 1644 witchcraft on 20 counts of witchcraft she was and sorcery, and she was Castle executed on Castle the h in March Hill the following year.
HARE BURKE AND HARE
William Burke and William Hare were the culprits behind the infamous Burke and Hare murders which took place in Edinburgh in 1828. When a resident of Hare’s lodging house passed away in 1827, the pair sold the body to reclaim money owed by the resident. Doctor Robert Knox bought the body for dissection at his anatomy lectures, as few corpses were being allocated to his medical school at the time. From then on, body snatching (cid:4) ourished, and Burke and Hare stopped waiting for their victims to die of natural causes, and so began the series of murders. The situation became so worrying for families with recently buried relatives, that the bodies would be watched 24 hours a day until they were no longer of any use to the body snatchers.
even even Many of Edinburgh’s nburgh’s graveyards walls installed high walls wers, and watchtowers, berts like St Cuthberts he the Church at ’s top of King’s Stables road.
AN SAWNEY BEAN
ehind The story behind wney’ Alexander ‘Sawney’ clan of 48 Bean and his clan of 48 the m o r e one of m o r e the is one of cannibals gruesome tales of Scotland’s past. Sawney Bean was born in East Lothian during the 1500s, but later moved to Ayrshire with his wife and settled in a coastal cave in Bennane Head. The couple began robbing passers by, murdering the victims and butchering the bodies to feed on. As their family grew, so did their appetite for human (cid:4) esh, and they oups of people. started to target larger groups of people. ace Eventually, the clan’s place led of residence was revealed ins and they were taken in chains ow to Edinburgh and Glasgow ted where they were executed storians trial. Some historians without of the question the authenticity of the d others Sawney Bean legend and others he even struggle to believe that he even o myth, existed, but myth or no myth, dwelling the story of the cave-dwelling fy. cannibal continues to petrify.
1 Feb–31 Mar 2018 THE LIST 35