Sawney Bean the Ayrshire Cannibal

In his younger days, Sawney Bean was a bit of a layabout. Rather than follow in his father’s footsteps as a hardworking hedger and ditcher, he ran away from home. The young man settled into a life of petty crime with a woman just as cruel as he was. Together, the pair moved to a secluded spot in a hidden cave on the Ayrshire coast.

Sawney and his wife would lay in wait on the roads near their hideout, until just the right prey passed by. A lone rider was perfect, somebody they could be sure wouldn’t escape. They didn’t just rob their victim though; they murdered them and dragged the body back home.

Their lifestyle was fruitful and over the years they produced 8 sons and 6 daughters. Unfortunately, the money made from these travellers wasn’t enough to feed all of them. Instead, they found another way to sustain themselves out of their highway attacks. Sawney Bean and his family had become cannibals.

It’s said that they drank human blood like wine. They chopped off limbs and hung bodies from the cave ceiling on butcher’s hooks. Anything they didn’t gorge themselves on right away was pickled in barrels for later.

Locals knew that people were going missing, but nothing was ever found when they searched the shoreline. Sawney Bean’s cave was well hidden, only accessible for small periods during low tide. Every so often, a hand or foot would wash ashore having been chewed on and people assumed that the disappearances were down to wild animals.

Sawney’s children grew into adults and bred with each other, multiplying into 18 grandsons and 14 granddaughters. Throughout their 25-year killing spree, over 1000 people had fallen victim to the Beans. Then one day everything went wrong for Sawney when his brood attacked a man and wife returned from the county fair.

This man was a champion fighter and with sword and pistol drawn, he was holding off his attackers. His poor wife hadn’t been so lucky but suddenly, a loud group of people appeared on the road. Sawney and his family fled the scene, but for the first time they had left behind a witness and a corpse.

The traumatised husband reported what had happened to the magistrate and his story went right to the top. King James himself arrived in Ayrshire with a large force of armed men complete with trained hunting hounds. They scoured the coast and while their eyes found nothing, the dogs couldn’t miss the stench of human blood.

The King and his soldiers followed the hounds to the cave and at low tide entered to find the grotesque scene. Piles of stolen possessions littered the floor, while the walls were covered in rows of human body parts. At the back of the cave, surrounded by human bones, cowered Sawney Bean and his clan.

There was no escape for them, and the soldiers dragged the family to Edinburgh to meet justice. The men had their hands and feet chopped off, bleeding to death and the women were burned at the stake.

Nobody knows how true the story of Sawney Bean really is, but there’s almost always some truth amongst legends.