The Arthur's Seat coffins: The strange Edinburgh mystery linked to Burke and Hare and witchcraft

Almost 200 years ago, miniature coffins were discovered on Arthur’s Seat – becoming the Capital’s most fascinating mystery.
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"Satanic spell-manufactory!" "Our own opinion would be – had we not some years ago abjured witchcraft and demonology – that there are still some of the weird sisters hovering about Mushat’s Cairn [sic] or the Windy Gowl, who retain their ancient power to work the spells of death by entombing the likenesses of those they wish to destroy." The Scotsman, 1836

The discovery

On a warm, balmy summer morning in June 1836, a group of young boys headed out to Arthur’s Seat to catch some rabbits, when they made a bizarre discovery. Situated on the north-east side, a small cave, blocked off by a rock, held 17 tiny coffins. Within them were small, carved figures, wearing small, custom made clothes, glued onto their wooden bodies. Delicate and detailed, made with precision and care, carefully placed out of sight.

The Arthur's Seat coffins: Edinburgh’s most beguiling mystery. Credit: kim traynorThe Arthur's Seat coffins: Edinburgh’s most beguiling mystery. Credit: kim traynor
The Arthur's Seat coffins: Edinburgh’s most beguiling mystery. Credit: kim traynor

The newspapers

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‘Witchcraft’ screamed the local press, including the Edinburgh Evening Post and The Scotsman, alleging they were designed to cause harm and distress. Replicas of locals who would soon begin to feel the ill effects of the spell – though no such local ever appeared. The Scotsman, a good five years after the find, reported that a local business was sometimes frequented by a man – described in the cruel and outdated language of the time as ‘daft’. This man had, on one occasion, sketched out a series of small coffins, with dates written underneath them. The newspaper believed that it was possible he was the architect of this mystery, though tacitly added that this could all just be an odd coincidence.

The Serial Killers

William Burke and William Hare are two of Edinburgh’s most famous serial killers, brutally murdering 16 people in order to profit from selling their body to the medical school at Edinburgh University. They murdered at least 16 people between 1827 and 1828 when they were finally caught. Hare turned on Burke, giving evidence against him in exchange for his own freedom. Burke was hanged on January 28, 1829. Including the now dead Burke, that makes 17 deaths. 17 deaths and 17 coffins.

William Burke and William Hare are two of Edinburgh’s most famous serial killersWilliam Burke and William Hare are two of Edinburgh’s most famous serial killers
William Burke and William Hare are two of Edinburgh’s most famous serial killers

The link has been made many times, that these coffins some sort of memorial, though all the figures are dressed as men, and 12 of Burke and Hare’s victims were women. However, in 2014, the museum received another small coffin through the post, containing again, a small figure. With the package, came a note.

It said: "XVIII? To the National Museum of Scotland. A GIFT. “And as Fettes took the lamp, his companion untied the fastenings of the sack and drew down the cover from the head. The light fell very clear upon the dark, well-moulded features and smooth shaven cheeks of a too familiar countenance, often beheld in dreams of both of these young men. A wild yell rang up into the night; each leaped from his own side into the roadway; the lamp fell, broke, and was extinguished; and the horse, terrified by this unusual commotion, bounded and went off toward Edinburgh at a gallop, bearing along with it, sole occupant of the gig, the body of the dead and long-dissected Gray”. The quote is from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Body Snatchers, which was part inspired by the Burke and Hare murders.

The museum

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Fast forward to the 1970s, the coffins made the news yet again. Walter Hävernick, the Director of the Museum of Hamburg History, puts forward his own theory. Rather than the malicious occult, and desire to cause mischief, they were lucky charms for sailors to take to sea, and they would offer protection.

The Arthur's Seat coffins: Edinburgh’s most beguiling mysteryThe Arthur's Seat coffins: Edinburgh’s most beguiling mystery
The Arthur's Seat coffins: Edinburgh’s most beguiling mystery

Changing hands

Eight of the coffins were donated to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1901, and then to the National Museums of Scotland, where they can be seen today. The rest were thought to have been destroyed by the boys who found them, though there is no evidence of this. They could just have easily fallen into private hands, now hiding neatly in someone’s attic or garage.

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