Famous Tales

One of Edinburgh's most famous ghoulish stories also involves the mob, but only peripherally, for it was what happened in their absence that was the real "meat" of the story. In 1707 on the night of the signing of the Treaty of Union, Queensberry House, residence of the Duke of Queensberry, played host to an event legendary in Edinburgh's grisly folklore.

The Treaty and the Roast

To say that the Treaty of Union, which passed control of Scotland's political affairs over to England, was unpopular with the Edinburgh Mob would be quite an understatement. The whole event was being pushed through by noblemen like the Duke of Queensberry who were being very highly rewarded for their betrayal of Scotland's desires, with both titles and silver aplenty pouring in. The people of Scotland had not forgotten the past raids by, and wars with, their southern neighbours and had no desire to be in union with them. Thus it was that, when news spread that the treaty was to be signed that night, the Mob took to the streets, roaming the city in search of the signing place, so that they could forcibly put a stop to the event. Knowing this was likely to be the case, Quensberry took his entire house staff with him for protection, bar one young kitchen boy, left to tend to the roast on the fire, which was to be their feast when they returned home, triumphant.

However, what they returned home to, after betraying their nation, was a terrible and macabre sight. For the Duke had an idiot son, long since believed dead, who had been imprisoned in a darkened room since a young age and had grown to a much larger than normal man, described as a "giant". With his normal guard away with his father, the son had escaped his prison and, finding his stomach empty, followed his nose to the kitchen. There, he had discovered the roast and the terrified boy and, deciding the roast itself was not to his taste, he had flung it aside, murdered the boy with his bare hands and was busy feasting on his partially roasted body when his family returned. And they say karma takes its time to get you back…

This is just one of Edinburgh's truly famous stories, of which there are a few. You may for example have heard of the Hellfire Club, but not known from where the name comes. It was in Edinburgh that a group of nobles used to congregate in the depths of the South Bridge vaults and partake of depraved debauchery, drinking and the occult. And of course, there was Maggie Dickson, mentioned in the drinking guide, who was hanged for concealing her pregnancy to the son of her employer and trying to hide the child's death days after his birth. She survived the hanging, but having been pronounced dead, it was deemed improper for her to be hanged again and thus she lived out a long life as "Half-hangit Maggie". Speaking of people with pubs named after them, there is also Deacon Brodie, the upright citizen who took to crime to pay off his gambling debts and to help keep not one, but two mistresses, and who was eventually hanged to death despite many precautions he had taken in advance to "cheat the wuddie", or survive the gallows - he lived on only as the inspiration for Stevenson's "Jekyll and Hyde".

But as our subject here is the macabre and grisly history of Edinburgh, it seems only fitting that we recount in some detail the story of two of Edinburgh's most famous residents:..

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