Grassmarket: Covenanters' Memorial, the Gallows and Maggie Dickson

Edinburgh, Scotland · United Kingdom · Execution site

Grassmarket: Covenanters' Memorial, the Gallows and Maggie Dickson — Edinburgh, Scotland · United Kingdom · Execution site

The Grassmarket was Edinburgh's place of execution for more than a century.

The gallows stood at the foot of the West Bow, and more than a hundred Covenanters were hanged here during what is known as the Killing Time. A memorial to them stands here today. But the strangest fate of the square belongs to Maggie Dickson. On 2 September 1724 she was hanged, aged around 22, and her body was placed in a coffin for the journey home. During a rest stop the party heard sounds from inside. Maggie was alive. Since the sentence was considered carried out she could not be hanged again, and she lived a further forty years. After her, the courts added the words until dead to every sentence of hanging.

There is no single ghost here, but the whole square is saturated with stories: screams at dawn, a female figure near the pub that carries Maggie's name. Most of it is folklore. What is certain is that the old White Hart Inn is said to have been one of the hunting grounds of Burke and Hare. Raise a glass to Maggie Dickson, the woman who was hanged and still walked away alive. Here your walk through the shadows of Auld Reekie comes to an end.

FAQ

Where is Grassmarket: Covenanters' Memorial, the Gallows and Maggie Dickson located?

Grassmarket: Covenanters' Memorial, the Gallows and Maggie Dickson is in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

More haunted places in Scotland

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Stephencdickson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons