666

Not an official Blip birthday but I thought my 666th blip deserved a special entry.

Thankfully this months issue of Fortean Times provided me with the perfect opportunity. The front cover depicts "Edinburgh's Most Evil Man" the 17th century warlock, Major Thomas Weir. The editor has STRENUOUSLY denied the accusation that Edinburgh's most evil man exactly resembles my husband. Such a resemblance, should it in fact exist, is entirely co-incidental.

Major Weir had been a Covenanter and a deeply religious man who had a very high standing in society, so that when a woman accused him of bestiality in 1651, she was not believed and was whipped through the streets of Lanark for daring to cast a shadow over the name of Thomas Weir. However, he eventually broke down in a prayer meeting in 1670 and confessed to all sorts of frightful crimes, including the charge of bestiality levelled at him previously but also incest with his sister Jean, and his stepdaughter Margaret. Jean confirmed all of this and added that the Major had been a warlock for many years, consorting with the devil who had once taken them for a ride to Musselburgh in a coach pulled by 6 horses with flaming eyes. They were both sentenced to death. Thomas Weir was strangled and then burned, along with his staff which was said to have magical powers and which apparently writhed among the flames. Jean was not bothered by her brothers death but flew into a rage when she heard the staff had been destroyed. She was hung a day later.

Of course that was not the end of Thomas or Jean and their ghosts haunted the streets of Edinburgh. People avoided the house and spoke of the coach with the six fiery horses which still visited the residence.

The house was said to have been destroyed sometime in the 19th century (various dates given) but Fortean investigator Jan Bondeson has discovered that it may not be as destroyed as all that. This article in the Edinburgh Evening News gives a few more details.