Sawney Beane print   It is reported in the 'Newgate Calendar' that in 15th or 16th Century Scotland, a murderous, cannabilistic family, killed and devoured over 1,000 people. Sawney Beane was reputed to be the leader and elder of the family who lived in a cave on the coast of the shores of Ayr and Galloway. Is there a basis in fact for such a family existing? Could it be an invention for historical propoganda purposes? We at High Strangeness set out to find out what we could. 

Originally a monthly bulletin of executions taking place within Newgate prison in London the 17th/18th century publication the 'Newgate Calendar' became more a chronicle of crime and appealed to a vast number of people and gained wide circulation. Within one edition was the story of Sawney Beane and debate has raged ever since over the authenticity of the character.

Beane was said to be the leader of a 16th century family which ultimately numbered 48 strong and all of whom lived in a cave on the Ayrshire coast. To survive famine and a harsh economic climate the family took to waylaying passing strangers on the rural trails surrounding the area. They would then take them back to the cave, dismember them and eat them. In total it was estimated that over 1000 people perished on those roads and for a long time suspicion had fallen on local barkeepers as they tended to be the ones who saw the victims last. It is even said that several 'innocents' were executed on those grounds alone.

The 48 strong brood were the product of incestuous relationships and to feed such a large number required a large turnover of victims. The attacks became more frequent. It was said that leftovers were pickled and discarded body parts would wash up on nearby beaches.

South Ayrshire - Where Beane devoured his victims.

As the number of those 'disappearing' grew the locals became frantic, and searched almost the entire district attempting to find who or what could be responsible. It was during this period that some innocents were lynched and put to death. The cave had been noted by the searchers but it was believed no one could actually live inside as the tide filled it at its height - it was unknown that the cave had higher levels which remained dry even at high-tide.

On one particular evening a married couple left the nearby village of Girvan only to be set about by the roving band of Beanes - unfortunately for the Beanes the man was a skilled swordsman and pistol shooter and held them off. Not long enough to save his wife however, who was dragged to her gory death but long enough for him to escape and tell the district authorities of what he had encountered.

The entire family but one were rounded up and transported to Glasgow or Edinburgh before being executed without trial. The description of their execution sounds as though hanging, drawing and quartering was the fate of the males whilst the females were bruned to death. The cave the authorities found was littered with body parts of hundreds of victims - leading them to believe the final death toll would have been so much more. Local tradition tells of the surviving Beane moving to nearby Girvan and planting the 'Hairy Tree' from which she was later hanged when her identity became known. But quite where the Hairy tree and what type of tree it is/was remains unknown.

A woodcut of the Beane's at work.

Historians have struggled to find documentation other than what is written in the Newgate Calendar relating to the Beanes from this period. However Scotland as a nation is somewhat bereft of written documentation throughout history by comparison with England due not simply to a lack of literacy skills but also many disruptions, wars and upheavals which saw important documents lost. In their quest however Historians have found documentation relating to Christie-Cleek a 'neer do well' who scaveneged with a band of rogues in the foothills of Perthsire, murdering travellers and eating them during a time of famine. The description dating back to the 14th Century even describes him devouring his victims 'as if he had been a wolf'. Hollinshead's Chronicles (c.1577) reports that:

In the same year (as some do write) or (according unto other) in the year following, there was such a miserable death, both through England and Scotland, that the people were driven to eat the flesh of horses, dogs, cats, and such like unused kinds of meats, to sustain their languishing lives with all, yea, in so much that (as is said) there was a Scottish man, an uplandish fellow named Tristicloke, spared not to steal children, and to kill women, on whose flesh he fed, as if he had been a wolf.

The similarities between Beane and Cleek or 'Cloke' are striking and so whilst Beane cannot be verified as a genuine character from antiquity - it seems Cleek can. Could they be one and the same? Could Beane simply be a re-working of the Cleek account? Whatever the truth may ultimately be - Cannabilism - and a barbaric form of it at that - was no stranger to the land of Scotland.