Lore 282: Auld

Few cities in the world contain as much darkness, pain, and evil as the capital of Scotland. Join us for a chilling tour—but be careful where you step. Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Jamie Vargas, and music by Chad Lawson. ————————— Lore Resources: Episode Music: lorepodcast.com/music https://www.lorepodcast.com/music Episode Sources: lorepodcast.com/sources https://www.lorepodcast.com/sources Official Lore Merchandise: lorepodcast.com/shop https://www.lorepodcast.com/shop All the shows from Grim & Mild: www.grimandmild.com https://www.grimandmild.com ————————— Sponsors: BetterHelp: Lore is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/LORE http://www.betterhelp.com/lore, and get on your way to being your best self. Squarespace: Head to Squarespace.com/lore http://squarespace.com/lore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using the code LORE. Acorns: Acorns helps you automatically save & invest for your future. Head to Acorns.com/LORE http://www.acorns.com/lore to sign up for Acorns to start saving and investing for your future today! SimpliSafe: Secure your home with 24/7 professional monitoring. Sign up today at SimpliSafe.com/Lore http://simplisafe.com/lore to get 20% off any new SimpliSafe system with Fast Protect Monitoring. ————————— To report a concern regarding a radio-style, non-Aaron ad in this episode, reach out to ads @ lorepodcast.com with the name of the company or organization so we can look into it. ————————— To advertise on this podcast please email: [email protected]. Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/lore ————————— ©2025 Aaron Mahnke. All rights reserved.

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Speaker 01

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• 1:11Aaron Mahnke?

  James had been murdered. That much was certain. He'd been found floating in the river, but it was clear that he hadn't merely drowned. There was the lack of water in the corpse's lungs, for one, plus the bruises around his face and neck. And finally, most damning of all, the deep cut grinning across the dead man's throat, which all led to one very important question. If James Stansfield had been murdered, then who exactly had killed him? To answer that question, authorities gathered Stansfield's next of kin, and then the family was instructed to move the body into its coffin. As Stansfield's son Philip attempted to lift him at the shoulders, something a little messy occurred.

• 1:54Aaron Mahnke?

  To quote a pamphlet from the time, "The blood sprung out upon Philip Stansfield's hand, at which, wiping it upon his coat, and struck with terror and remorse, he cried out, 'Lord, have mercy upon me.'" Philip, you see, had reason to be frightened because he was immediately arrested and executed for the crime of his father's murder. Let me explain. In 1688, they certainly lacked the forensic technology we have today. But authorities did have another way to identify a killer. It was called a beer right. And up until the 19th century, courts all over Europe relied on the practice to dole out justice. It went a little something like this.

• 2:37Aaron Mahnke?

  First, you forced a suspect to touch the corpse. Then you watched to see if the corpse starts to spontaneously bleed. And that's it. That's the whole beer right. If the corpse doesn't bleed, then you're in the clear. But if it does, well, then there's trouble. Because a bleeding corpse means that a suspect is guilty. Which unfortunately for Philip Stansfield, is exactly what had happened. You see, it was believed at the time that a dead body could consciously make itself bleed as a means of communicating and thus pointing out the killer. Think the blinking Christmas lights in season one of Stranger Things, but with a bloody corpse instead. It may seem bizarre to afford so much agency to a dead body.

• 3:21Aaron Mahnke?

  But then again, the lines between life and death have always been thin in the Stansfield family's neck of the woods. That is one of the most haunted cities in the world: Edinburgh, Scotland. I'm Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

• 3:58Aaron Mahnke?

  Edinburgh has always been a city of ghosts. It's impossible to take a step over the cobbled streets of the Scottish capital without walking over history. And I mean that literally. If you've been around long enough to remember our previous Edinburgh episode, you'll know that this is an old city built atop an even older one. That is, there is a labyrinthine, shadowy version of the town hidden beneath the modern streets, sealed away in a series of underground vaults. But the truth is, you don't- You don't need to dig deep to find the dark and dastardly in Edinburgh's past. There is more than enough history above ground looming in plain sight, starting in fact with the city's name. Edinburgh, you see, comes from the ancient Gaelic "din edden", which translates to "forts on the hill",

• 4:43Aaron Mahnke?

  because that plot of land was once indeed a fort, multiple forts actually, for when the first crumbled, another was built in its place, and centuries after that, when the second fort had fallen to time, a castle rose in its stead. With a castle came further development, and lo and behold, by 1329, Edinburgh was awarded a royal charter. A city was officially born. And with it came art, music, culture, but also suffering. Like any city, there were the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots struggled to eat, to live, to escape disease. They often lost their homes in fires and a growing population made finding a new home

• 5:24Aaron Mahnke?

  next to impossible, all of which, well, grossed out the upper class. And so Edinburgh's elite built a new part of the city just for themselves. Now they could live in clean, bright, fresh neighborhoods where they wouldn't have to, God forbid, look at a poor person. And thus, New Town and Old Town were born. By the 1800s, the Old Town became known as "Aldriki", for the smoky pollution stinking up the old city. Meanwhile, the New Town, which had become a philosophy hub as Athens once had been, became known as "Aldriki", yeah, the pun is rough, even by my standards. New and old, above and below, rich and poor.

• 6:06Aaron Mahnke?

  Edinburgh had become a city of contrasts, of polar opposites, existing uneasily side by side, and that includes the living and the dead. Take for example the story of Lorristan Castle. Squatting on thirty acres of parks and gardens, Lauriston began as a lavish medieval building belonging to a man named William Lauriston. Over the years, it changed hands again and again, and with each new era, the building's shape shifted as well. The castle might be destroyed or worn down, only to be built up again anew, until finally the property settled into the form of a sprawling stone manor house. Now, it's hard to describe just how Count Orlok-worthy this place looks without seeing it for yourself.

• 6:49Aaron Mahnke?

  But let's just say the gray rock and austere angular turrets make the building resemble some kind of severe boarding school for troubled schoolboys, from which they would never return. It's not exactly inviting. But the most unnerving feature of the house isn't its looks at all. It's actually a secret room. It's known as "The Prophet's Chamber", and it can only be found by those who know where to look. First, you have to swing open an otherwise ordinary-looking window shutter in an old hall. This reveals a hidden stairway so narrow, stepping into it feels like climbing down a monster's throat. Eventually, the stairway leads to an empty stone chamber. Or well, almost empty. It contains a stone platform, a tiny window,

• 7:32Aaron Mahnke?

  and most notably, a spy hole. Through this spy hole, anyone in the Prophet's Chamber could hear and see directly into the castle's main apartment. And to this day, no one knows exactly what was being watched, or even worse, who was doing the watching. Today Lauriston Castle is owned by the city of Edinburgh itself and serves as a museum rather than a residence. Or rather, there are no "living residents", but if the stories are true, there are plenty of dead ones. Visitors to the castle have heard rustling silk and phantom footsteps. Objects move on their own, and finally, a mysterious human figure has been heard shuffling around the castle in a pair of slippers, allegedly, the restless spirit of a former butler.

• 8:17Aaron Mahnke?

  One of the most detailed accounts of this particular ghost comes from a man named John Fairley. Fairley was the curator of the castle during the early 1900s and lived in a detached house elsewhere on the Prophet's Chamber. But one night, the housekeeper happened to be away, and so Fairley decided to spend a night within the castle walls instead. At first, all was well. Fairley got into his night clothes, climbed into bed, and drifted off to sleep. But then, just after midnight, he awoke with a start. Although he was supposed to be the only person in the house, he distinctly heard the sound of footsteps. And not just any footsteps, but the distinct noise of someone shuffling around in a loose pair of slippers.

• 8:58Aaron Mahnke?

  And, to make matters worse, the footsteps were heading his way. And soon enough, the intruder was right outside his door. Fairley held his breath. Stealing himself, he grabbed a flashlight from under his pillow, flicked it on and shined it at...nothing. There was no one there, at all. Writing it off as "the groaning of an old house," Fairley went back to sleep, but it wasn't long before he was awoken again, this time to a very different sound. He described it to a chronicler as, and I quote, "the most appalling crash he had ever heard in his life, as if a bomb had struck the roof and exploded close to his bedside." This time, he lay perfectly still. He didn't dare move, at least not until he had come up with a plan.

• 9:43Aaron Mahnke?

  Finally, he gathered his courage, and he sat up. Shining his flashlight around the room once more, the beam struck on something in the darkness. It was a heavy picture, and it had fallen off the wall, crashing to the floor below. Satisfied with this explanation, Fairley rolled over once more and went back to sleep. He wasn't interrupted, again. Later, when asked if he thought the picture had fallen due to "supernatural interference", Fairley adamantly denied it. "It was only a nail," he insisted, "rusted through with age." But as for the fellow in the slippers, well, even John Fairley himself had no explanation.

• 10:37Aaron Mahnke?

  In a city as old as Edinburgh, almost every building contains a secret former life. Perhaps that apartment on the corner was once a plague hospital. Or maybe the local Sainsbury's with its glassy grocery store windows once served as a gathering place for philosophers. Yes, we expect castles and dungeons to be full of stories, but sometimes, the most extraordinary tales are hiding in the most ordinary of places. And what could be more ordinary than that place where so many land at the end of a long day to chat with friends, to have a drink and shirk off the burdens of the day, your friendly neighborhood bar? If you happen to live in the area of Edinburgh called Cannongate, your local watering hole might be a spot called the Tollbooth Tavern.

• 11:22Aaron Mahnke?

  And the Tollbooth Tavern earned its name because centuries before it was a pub, it was, you guessed it, a tollbooth. Now, as much as it would delight me to describe some sort of 15th century easy pass glued to a horse's forehead, that is not what we're dealing with here. The word "tollbooth" in medieval Scotland referred to the civic buildings where your taxes would go. They also hosted council meetings, served as courthouses, and even transformed into prisons when the need arose. And it's this last usage that would earn the Tollbooth Tavern a rather unseemly reputation. You see, normally the ground floor of a Cannongate tollbooth would only house minor criminals, people who failed to pay their taxes, that sort of thing.

• 12:03Aaron Mahnke?

  But sometimes, they would catch a bigger fish, and at least once, that fish was a witch. According to local records, a man accused of witchcraft was being held in the Tollbooth jails when the area's justice clerk had an idea. This clerk, a man named Sir Lewis Bellenden, was determined to cure the prisoner of his demonic ways. How? Why, with an exorcism, of course. And so, one gloomy Scottish day, Sir Bellenden got to work. Now, maybe it involved torture. Perhaps he forced the prisoner to live out his worst nightmares. In truth, we don't know what methods were used. But they couldn't have been pretty. Because it's said that the experience terrified the accused so much that he died.

• 12:47Aaron Mahnke?

  That's right, in the very room where today you might down a pint, a city justice clerk literally scared a man to death. And then there's the Banshee Labyrinth, named of course for the screeching female spirit who in Irish and Scottish lore appears as an omen of death. This spot bills itself as being the most haunted pub in all of Scotland, and based on its past, it's easy to see why. Located on Nidri Street in the centre of Old Town, the tavern sits right next door to the former home of one of the wealthiest men in 16th century Edinburgh, Lord Nichol Edwards. Edwards was Lord Provost of Edinburgh during the reign of King James VI, and as such, lived a life of absolute luxury.

• 13:29Aaron Mahnke?

  His home was as opulent as you might expect for a man of his status. He loved to play host, even welcoming royalty to visit. In fact, in 1591, King James himself came there to stay. But this house also had a secret, because hidden in the back of a remote little closet was a hidden trapdoor. Lifting that trapdoor, you would find a staircase leading deep beneath the house, and after descending those stairs, you would find yourself in a dungeon. You see, Lord Edwards and King James had a shared interest. Both of them not only believed in witches, but they absolutely despised them. There were rumours that Lord Edwards imprisoned innocent women in his dungeon and tortured them for the alleged crime of being a witch.

• 14:14Aaron Mahnke?

  And when the king came to call, well, some accounts claim that the king himself may have used the cellar dungeon as a base for interrogating accused witches so far beneath the surface of the earth that no one would ever hear their screams. Edwards died in 1610, and in 1785, the entire neighbourhood was demolished to make way for the construction of Southbridge. What had once been Edinburgh's richest neighbourhood was now one of the poorest, and as Southbridge rose, new shops and businesses opened alongside it, including the Banshee Labyrinth, right against the former residence of Lord Edwards. I can't tell you which came first. Maybe the pub got its name and the visitor came second, or maybe the banshee appeared first and the tavern owners couldn't help but name the place in her honour.

• 14:59Aaron Mahnke?

  Whatever the case, a banshee is indeed said to haunt the former grounds of Edwards' home, comprised of the discontented ghosts of the many women he tortured beneath the ground. In one tale, the pub was being renovated when one of the workmen spotted a woman in a gray dress weeping into her hands. When he drew near to her, she raised her head, revealing not a woman's face, but that of an eyeless, toothless corpse, and then she screamed. Or perhaps it wasn't a scream at all, but a telephone ring. Because just then, a call came in, announcing that one of the workmen's family members had died. And there are other ghosts as well that plague the Banshee Labyrinth: a little girl, a faceless black-cloaked man, a creep named Old Jock who slams doors in the women's restroom.

• 15:44Aaron Mahnke?

  But I'll save their legends for another time, because we still have one more accursed pub to visit: a spot that happened to be a hunting ground for famed murderers Burke and Hare. We've told their story in full before, but as a brief recap, William Burke and William Hare were Irish immigrants who came to Edinburgh to find work at the canals, only to start a body-snatching racket instead. Over a single year, the duo murdered sixteen people and sold their bodies to an anatomy professor at the University of Edinburgh. They preyed on the elderly, the homeless, immigrants, anyone who would vanish without a trace. In other words, the kind of folks who hung out at the White Hart Inn.

• 16:25Aaron Mahnke?

  In operation since 1516, the White Hart is located in Edinburgh's grass markets and, unsurprisingly, hosts a bunch of uneasy spirits. There is the Woman in the Red Dress, said to be a former sex worker and pub regular while alive. Whether or not she was a victim of Burke and Hare, though, no one seems to know. There's also a specter that appears only as a shadowy form behind the bar. Sometimes it trails down toward the cellar, but when the bartenders have followed it, the figure vanishes, leaving the cellar empty. Doors have been known to slam by themselves, and barrels sometimes roll from one end of the room to the other. Beer taps turn on unprompted, much to the bartender's chagrin. But my favorite has to be a ghost that dwells in the cellar.

• 17:09Aaron Mahnke?

  Or well, half a ghost. You see, this one takes the form of nothing more than a pair of legs.

• 17:31Aaron Mahnke?

  In the central part of Edinburgh's old town lies West Bow Street, one of the most picturesque spots in the whole city. From its cobbled stones to its colorful shop fronts punctuated by arched windows, this winding, narrow road practically screams whimsy. But there was a time when Bow Street echoed a very different kind of screaming. The year was 1670, and as a woman and her maid walked home along Bow Street, they saw something rather strange. In one home, then another, then another, women stood at the windows laughing and shouting with manic glee. Some of them were clapping. Finally, the travelers arrived at the home of a well-respected general named Thomas Weir, and there, a final woman appeared.

• 18:15Aaron Mahnke?

  She was a giant, twice the size of a human being, and no matter how fast the travelers fled, the figure was somehow always one step ahead, cackling. At last, the spectre turned down an alley, and there was swallowed by the wild lights of countless flaming torches. At the time, the woman and her maid could make no sense of the vision, but little did they know they had just witnessed a premonition of a fiery downfall of none other than Major Thomas Weir himself. You see, while all of this had been going on outside his house, Major Thomas Weir lay on his bed within, deathly ill. Through his labored breaths, he looked back over his life, a full seventy years on planet Earth, and what a life it had been.

• 18:59Aaron Mahnke?

  He'd been a loyal military man, fighting on behalf of the Covenanters to defend the Presbyterians' religious freedom. He'd been a friend, a soldier, a dedicated member of the Church, which was all the more selfless, given that he'd been born into wealth and could easily have kicked off this moral calling for a life of leisure and luxury. Instead of frivolous pleasures, Thomas had chosen to dedicate his life to the people of Scotland. Townsfolk frequently went to his house just to hear the man pray. Clutching the walking stick that he was never seen without, Thomas would slip into a fervid state of prayer, so pure that many considered him, to quote one scholar, "more angel than man." Heck, he'd become such a pillar in the community,

• 19:42Aaron Mahnke?

  he even earned the nickname "Angelical Thomas." In other words, by the time Thomas Weir reached the end of his life, he had become one of the most beloved and respected men in all of Edinburgh. But that was all about to change, because only days after the traveling women saw the flaming vision outside his home as he writhed on his sickbed, Thomas began to confess. At first, witnesses thought that it must be his illness talking. Surely it had affected his mind, because the sins he was confessing to, they were too horrible, too shocking, to possibly be true. And yet, when physicians were frantically called to examine him, they found him to be chillingly, damningly sane. It seems that for all those decades,

• 20:26Aaron Mahnke?

  the pious Thomas Weir had been living a double life. Weir insisted that although he had never married, he had committed countless acts of adultery and even bestiality with a mare and a cow. Worst of all, he'd been sexually abusing his own sister for years, with whom he had lived most of his life. And all of this, Weir claimed, represented not even a hundredth of the crimes he had committed. Thomas's sister Jean corroborated his confessions, admitting that she had been a victim of incest from the age of sixteen all the way to the age of fifty, when the pious major grew tired of her. But not all of Thomas's crimes were quite so human. He also admitted to being a witch and a necromancer. Jean attested to this too.

• 21:09Aaron Mahnke?

  That walking stick that he was never seen without, which sported an eerie human face by the way, Jean claimed that it was a gift from the devil himself, and it was no ordinary cane. No, it had magical powers. Take this quote from Sir Walter Scott, which I particularly love. He wrote, "It was noticed that when the stick was taken from him, his wit and talent appeared to forsake him." And it didn't end there. Jean said that their mother had also been a witch and had trained them both in the dark arts. She described rides in a flaming demonic coach and even told of having a spirit as a familiar. Although, I have to say this last detail doesn't seem too sinister, because according to Jean, her familiar mostly spent its time being helpful,

• 21:53Aaron Mahnke?

  spinning, and I quote, "a prodigious amount of yarn." But suffice to say, 17th-century Scotland wasn't stoked about this litany of sins, and so Thomas and his sister were both arrested. Their trial began on April 9th of 1670, and ultimately he was condemned as a devil worshipper, while his sister Jean was convicted of incest and sorcery. In mid-April of 1670, the Weir siblings were executed. Jean was simply hanged. Thomas was hanged and then burned at once. When Thomas ascended the gallows, he was told to beg the Lord for mercy, but he refused. "Let me alone," he said. "I will not. I have lived as a beast, and I must die as a beast."

• 22:36Aaron Mahnke?

  As fire rose around his body, his walking stick was flung into the flames beside him. There, doomed with its master, it seemed to twist and writhe in pain, as if it too were alive. For a century after his death, Major Weir's Bow Street home lay abandoned, at least abandoned by the living. Ghosts, on the other hand, seemed to fill every nook and cranny. Passersby often saw the home full of lights and revelry, howling ebb through the cracked windows. The major himself had been seen wandering the midnight streets and even galloping on a black, headless horse engulfed in fire. Others have seen Thomas and his sister board a spectral coach, which, according to legend, carries them down to hell.

• 23:21Aaron Mahnke?

  Of course, sneaking up to the house was a common dare among local children. Sir Walter Scott himself wrote: "Bold was the urchin from the high school who dared approach the gloomy ruin at the risk of seeing the major's enchanted staff parading through the old apartments." In other words, the once angelical Thomas Weir would be forever known as the devil.

• 24:00Aaron Mahnke?

  There's something eternally fascinating about double lives. It's why creatures like werewolves and shapeshifters entice us, why we pore over news articles in which seemingly ordinary men turn out to have bodies hidden beneath their floorboards. And that's why cities like Edinburgh, a city of opposites, will always keep us coming back for more. We can't walk away from the possibility that everything we thought we knew might just be a lie. Setting aside the claims of witchcraft, Thomas Weir was, without a doubt, a monster. He spent a lifetime abusing his own sister, not to mention animals, maids, and more. And whether you believe in the supernatural or simply the cruelties of humankind,

• 24:43Aaron Mahnke?

  that house on Bow Street surely held its fair share of evil. In 1830, Major Weir's house was finally demolished. At last, the people of Edinburgh would be able to move on from the crimes that had shocked an entire city. Or at least, they thought the house had been demolished. But it seems that, just like its former owner, the Weir House had a secret life of its own. Because, you see, unbeknownst to the residents of Bow Street, the home actually wasn't torn down completely. Instead, a new building rose up around it, obscuring it from view. It seems that for decades, Weir's House of Horrors hid silently within the walls of a modern Quaker meeting house. Worshippers gathered for prayer and reflection,

• 25:26Aaron Mahnke?

  unaware of the once-loathed residents hiding in their midst. In fact, it wasn't until recently that researchers discovered the old house. But luckily, the Quakers seemed to be treating it with the respect it was due. That is, not very much. In the words of Anthony Buxton, the meeting house's manager, "Weir's house is in our toilet," which seems appropriate. Oh, and by the way, Major Weir's double life ended up immortalized in more than just architecture, because his tale is believed to have made an impression on a particular Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of a little story called "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

• 26:18Aaron Mahnke?

  I hope you've enjoyed this wander through the cobbled streets of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. You might not have been able to see it, but the stories we've covered today still paint a powerful and haunting picture. Our tour isn't over yet, though. If having a Scottish pub named after you sounds like a dream come true, think again, because there's one Edinburgh pub where the trouble might not be worth it. Stick around through this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Men today face immense pressure to perform, to provide, and to keep it all together. So it's no wonder that 6 million men in the US suffer from depression every year, and it's often undiagnosed. It's okay to struggle, but if you're a man and you're feeling the weight of the world,

• 27:02Aaron Mahnke?

  talk to someone, a friend, a loved one, a therapist. I know how important and helpful therapy can be, and it isn't just for folks who have experienced major trauma. Therapy is helpful for learning positive coping skills and how to set boundaries, and it can empower you to be the best version of yourself. With over 35,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. And it works, with an App Store rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars based on over 1.7 million client reviews. It's convenient, too. You can join a session with a therapist at the click of a button, helping you fit therapy into your busy life. Plus, switch therapists at any time. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp.

• 27:46Aaron Mahnke?

  Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com/lor. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P, dot com slash lor. This episode was also sponsored by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need all in one place. As a former graphic designer, I know firsthand how tough it can be to craft a brand and a website around who you are and what you do. But Squarespace makes it so incredibly simple. Squarespace gives you everything you need to offer services and get paid all in one place. From consultations to events and experiences, showcase your With a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. Get paid on time with professional on-brand invoices and online payments.

• 28:31Aaron Mahnke?

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• 29:16Aaron Mahnke?

  Squarespace: Build something beautiful. This episode was also sponsored by Acorns. Did you know that nearly half of all people between the ages of 55 and 65 have nothing set aside for retirement? Listen, it is not too late for them, but you can make things way easier on yourself if you start planning for your golden years now. And thankfully, Acorns is here to help. Acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easy to start saving and investing for your future. You don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you get started with the spare money you've got right now, even if all you've got is spare change. You'd be surprised what just $5 a day could do. And you don't need to be an expert. Acorns recommends a diversified IRA portfolio that can help you weather all of the market's ups and downs. Plus, sign up for Acorns Gold

• 29:59Aaron Mahnke?

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• 30:44Aaron Mahnke?

  View important disclosures at acorns.com/lore. And finally, this episode was sponsored by Simply Safe. You know that moment at night when you're locking up, turning off the lights and you just want to feel completely safe before heading to bed? That's what Simply Safe gives me. I've been using it for years now and it's honestly changed how I think about home security. Whether I'm stepping out for the day or settling in for the night, Simply Safe gives me peace of mind. I can focus on what matters, rest easy and go about my day knowing Simply Safe has my back in a crisis and I want you to have that same confidence as well. Most security systems only take action after someone breaks in. That's too late. Simply Safe's new Active Guard outdoor protection helps stop break-ins before they happen. Their AI-powered cameras and live monitoring agents detect suspicious activity around your property.

• 31:26Aaron Mahnke?

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• 32:09Aaron Mahnke?

  Things were not looking good for Maggie and by that I mean, she was dead. It had all started when her fisherman husband went away to sea. This was the early 1700s and a woman without a husband was in pretty dire straits. She had nowhere to live and no way to access any money. And so, in exchange for a place to stay, Maggie got work at an inn. And it was there that Maggie found herself pregnant, but not by her husband. No, the innkeeper's son was to blame, and so fearing the stigma that would come from such a pregnancy, Maggie kept it hidden. Now, to be fair, she didn't do a great job of that. It was pretty obvious to just about everyone around her that she was very, very pregnant.

• 32:51Aaron Mahnke?

  But still Maggie denied it, all the way up until the very moment she went into labor. The truth is, we don't know exactly what happened next. Perhaps the baby was stillborn, perhaps it died of natural causes shortly after birth, or perhaps Maggie herself, racked with shame and fear, ended the child's life herself. Whatever the case, we do know this: after giving birth, young Maggie Dixon ran to the River Tweed, intent on letting the current take a tiny corpse away. But she lost her nerve, and instead left the infant on the riverbank, where it was soon discovered. It was obvious to everyone who the baby belonged to, and so Maggie was arrested and taken to the toll booth in Edinburgh to await her trial.

• 33:35Aaron Mahnke?

  Her child was sent to a surgeon for autopsy, and after placing its lungs in water, it was determined that the baby had indeed taken a breath, meaning that it was born alive. That was everything the all-male jury needed to hear: Maggie was convicted of murder. On September 2nd of 1724, Maggie Dixon was hanged at the Grassmarket Gallows. She was only 22 years old. Now, you might think that this is the end of Maggie's story, but it's not. Apparently there was something of a scuffle between her friends and some local medical students. Her friends wanted to take her home and bury her, the students wanted to dissect the poor girl for their studies. Ultimately, her friends won out, and it's lucky they did too, because as her coffin

• 34:20Aaron Mahnke?

  was conveyed to her hometown of Musselburgh, Maggie came back from the dead. As the story goes, the men who were in charge of transporting her stopped along the way for a drink. As they sipped their libations, one of them stood up with a start. He could have sworn that he saw, but no, it was impossible. Still, to be safe, the man approached the coffin, lifted its covering, and sure enough, the lid moved. Suddenly Maggie Dixon's corpse sat up and climbed out of the coffin. Apparently the hangman hadn't done such a thorough job after all. Inconveniently for her, the whole "rising from the dead" thing scared off her carriage drivers. But that wouldn't stop Maggie. She got dressed, laced up her shoes, and walked the rest of the way home.

• 35:04Aaron Mahnke?

  Suffice to say, the authorities were stymied. For one, no one knew how she survived. Some rumors swirled, claiming that she had seduced the hangman into loosening the rope, but there's no evidence for that. All that was certain was that Maggie, who was supposed to be dead, was very much alive. And since a physician had pronounced her dead after the execution, her sentence had technically been carried out. According to Scottish law, Maggie was free to go. Maggie Dixon went on to live another forty years. The only lingering evidence of her strange ordeal was a lifelong stiff neck and a new nickname: Half-Hang-It Maggie. Oh, and if you're wondering what happened when her husband finally got back, things were a little, well, complicated.

• 35:48Aaron Mahnke?

  But not because of the affair and the baby. No, it turns out Maggie dying had legally dissolved their marriage, and so the two had to get married again. So if you ever stop for a drink at Maggie Dixon's pub, raise a glass in her honor. And then, of course, raise it again.

• 36:22Aaron Mahnke?

  This episode of Lore was produced by me, Aaron Mahnke, and was written by Jenna Rose Nethercot, with research by Jamie Vargas, and music by Chad Lawson. Don't like hearing the ads? I've got a solution for you. There is a paid version of Lore, available on Apple Podcasts or Patreon, that is 100% ad-free. Plus, subscribers get weekly mini-episodes called Lore Bites. It's a bargain for all of that ad-free storytelling, and a great way to support this show and the team behind it. Lore is, of course, more than just a podcast. There's the book series available in bookstores and online, and two seasons of the television show on Amazon Prime. Information about all of that and more is available over at lorepodcast.com. And you can also follow this show on platforms like Blue Sky and YouTube.

• 37:05Aaron Mahnke?

  Just search for Lore Podcast, all one word, and click that follow button. And when you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.

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