A foul tale of Great Evil from Scotland

Ideally this tale should be told in the evening or night, near the coast amongst the heather close to the opening of a large dark sea cave .


Sauney beane was the son of a good working man but sauney himself was of a evil and idle nature
He lived on the coast of Scotland not that far from Edinburgh, and being wicked he started to rob and murder travellers, he would then hide their bodies in the heather.


As such things work he found a women as evil as himself and they set off together to live in a large sea cave on the proceeds of their thefts.


Soon the people of the district started to notice the number of people who were going missing but hard as they tried they couldn’t find the cause of their disappearance.


Sauney found that because the numbers of singular travellers went down, and that the amount of coin they carried was not great, and to sell the other things of value they carried was to dangerous found it hard to get enough money to feed himself and his women .


So sauney decided to start eating the bodies of the people he killed salting some in brine in the cave and making sausages from their giblets and such.


Anyway this was the turning point for sauney from then on he had plenty to eat and he and his women went on luring and killing travellers and feasting and growing fat on the giblets .


The years went by and sauney had 14 evil children, and those children had children, and they grew strong and cruel on their human food until there were 48 cannibals living in the sea cave.


There had been clues over the years that something bad was happening the many people who went missing and also limbs sometimes prepared in brine that were found washed up from the sea .


But no one had been able to find the true cause, as sauneys clan only attacked small groups and when there was little chance of them being found out .


At most they would attack 5 men on foot and no more than two men on horse generally in the evening or in the night and allways they would set watchers at a distance


There are two version of what happened some say there was riding from a fair a young man and his wife in a coach and that he was a gentleman, some just say he was riding a horse and she was behind him .


In the coach story the coach was attacked and all the people killed but he was able to fight his way to get a coach horse and get is wife behind him on the horse .


In the story where they are both just riding on the same horse he was able to keep the cannibals at bay by using horse and sword


But whatever the case he was said to be a desperate swordsman, and have his wife behind him trying to cut his way to her and his freedom.


but his poor wife let go of his jacket and fell from the horse and had her throat cut by the cannibal women who drank her blood and ripped out her giblets in front of him .


This so incensed him that he fought like a demon and was able to cut his way through the cannibals who pursued him and would have brought him down but just then a band of riders riding home from the fair came upon them .


There was a short battle but the cannibals ran and once the poor husband was able to tell the riders and they found the remains of his poor wife they knew what had been the cause of all the people who had gone missing through the years .


So they rode away taking the remains of the poor lady so the cannibals could not eat anymore of her, and they rode to Edinburgh when they arrived a army was collected of 400 men who came into that wild district to search out the lair of these awful cannibals .


They searched and searched and found nothing.


but then one day as they were about to give up and go home the hounds they had brought with them found a dark sea cave and started braying and stamping, so torches were made and men and dogs were sent through the water into the depths of the cave .


As they moved in they could hear eerie sounds and they could see strange shapes in the flickering reflections off the cave walls and the water .


And one by one the figures that they could see made themselves out clearly, they were the awful heads and limbs of the victims of the cannibals and a number of their bodies cut and hung up like so many sides of beef .


As soon as they saw this sight, a terrible noise of screams and shouts came and before they could stand on dry land the cannibals attacked with swords and knives and axes and guns and bows .


There was a great battle but the cannibals this day faced not a few out numbered and unprepared men but a well armed army and the cannibals were beaten and taken prisoner


The cave was searched and much coin and many valuables that sauney couldnt sell and many weapons and the clothes of both sexes and both adult and children were found .


The cannibals were led off and the cave was burned, and then the cannibals were taken to Edinburgh.

Where they were given no trial but on command of the king the men had their hand and feet cut off and were then hanged and the women and children were burned alive



As a lesson to all cannibals

 

Thanks for the Scottish folklore story JONNY. Being born in Greenock, Scotland it warmed my soul. I lived there until I was nine, then we emmigrated to Canada. I still have many relatives back there. Cheerio the noo!!!!! Peace and Love.

 

scarey stuff jonny

 

I read it years ago in the newgate diarys which was a book made up of cases of murder piracy and such .
there are several sea caves that might be sauneys cave I was thinking of going up to scotland and have a look at them.

I sort of like places like that ,the other place I would like to visit are the ruins of the castle of alumet in the mountains of iran in what used to be known as the valley of the assassins .