As sure as we all are born, we will someday die, and when that day comes, something is going to have to be done with our remains. People are generally content to be interred in a cemetery or to have their ashes occupy a treasured place on a loved one’s mantle.

But sometimes, the deceased want something a little more special done with their carcass. When that happens, we get stories like those below. Read on for ten strangely specific and bizarre instructions left for a deceased person’s earthly remains.

10 Shot Into Space

You might not think that the infinite void of space would be a popular final resting place for anyone, but you would be wrong. Just ask Gordon Cooper, an Air Force pilot and astronaut with 7,000 hours of flight time. After helping humanity reach the stars in Project Mercury, the first manned space program undertaken by the United States, it seems appropriate that a portion of his ashes be flown into the great beyond, not that it was easy getting him there after his death in 2004.

In 2007, some of his ashes (along with those of others) were sent up on a suborbital flight. The capsule fell back to Earth (as was planned in this case), but bad weather meant that it wouldn’t be found for a few weeks. A portion of his remains was sent up on a rocket in 2008 but was lost when the rocket failed two minutes into the flight. Finally, in May 2012, some more of his ashes were sent into space successfully, where they remained for a month before burning up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.^[1]

Cooper is far from the only person to have their remains grace the starry skies above. The ashes of James Doohan, better known as Star Trek ’s Scotty, was on the same 2007 flight with the pioneering astronaut, as were those of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.

9 Carried Into Battle

Robert the Bruce was king of the Scots from 1306 to 1329 and led his people to victory in the First War of Scottish Independence. On his deathbed, the hero king had only one regret: that he had never managed to participate in a crusade in the Holy Land. Knowing that he would never be able to make the journey, he asked his friend Sir James Douglas to carry his heart there instead. Douglas agreed and set out for the Holy Land with the late king’s heart in a casket of silver.

In the end, the heart of the Bruce never quite made it to the Holy Land. During the Battle of Teba, abandoned by his allies, Douglas threw the heart into the chaos of the battle, telling it, “Go first, as thou hast always done.” Douglas would not survive the battle, and the king’s heart would be returned to Scotland to be buried in Melrose Abbey.^[2]

8 Scattered In A Park (After Being Stolen)

How far would you go to fulfill the last wishes of a friend? It sounds like the tagline for a movie, but in 1973, it was the question that Paul Kaufman and Michael Martin had to ask themselves when their friend and colleague Gram Parsons died. While on a trip to Joshua Tree National Park, the 26-year-old singer overdosed on morphine. At a funeral Kaufman and Parsons had attended earlier that year, Parsons had expressed a wish to be cremated and scattered at Joshua Tree. This became problematic, as the body was to be flown to New Orleans for a funeral.

Dedicated to fulfilling their friend’s last wish, Kaufman and Martin impersonated funeral parlor workers and abducted the corpse from the Los Angeles International Airport. They then took the casket to Joshua Tree, poured 19 liters (5 gal) of gasoline inside, and lit it on fire. The pair were ultimately arrested, fined $300, and charged $708 for the cost of the funeral in New Orleans.^[3]

7 Mixed Into Ink

Comic book characters die and are subsequently resurrected all the time, to the point where no one actually believes death is ever permanent in the medium. Sadly, the same cannot be said for their creators, who have but one life to give. Such was the case with comic book author Mark Gruenwald, known for his runs on titles such as Captain America and Squadron Supreme.

In 1996, Gruenwald died of a heart attack caused by an undetected congenital heart defect. Prior to his death, he had made it known to his loved ones that he wished for his ashes to be used as part of a comic book. In keeping with these wishes, his ashes were mixed into the ink used in the first printing of the trade paperback edition of Squadron Supreme.^[4]

6 To Be Forgotten

While many of us want to believe that we will be remembered after we die, some people wish to let their memory be lost to the sands of time. Donatien Alphonse Francois de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade, was one of the people in the latter category. In his will, the writer whose name inspired the word “sadism” forbade his body to be cut open for any reason and stipulated that it be left untouched for 48 hours in the room where he died. After this, he asked that he be placed in a coffin and buried on his property.

Sadly, as the existence of this entry shows, de Sade’s last wishes were not followed. After his death in 1814, he was buried at the Charenton Asylum, where he was imprisoned at the time. His skull was eventually removed so that it could be given a phrenological examination, and it was eventually lost.^[5] As of this writing, the world has yet to forget about the Marquis de Sade.

5 Poured Into A Pringles Can

As multiple entries on this list indicate, the career one pursues in life can influence what they wish to have done with their mortal remains. Fredric Baur was an organic chemist whose most noteworthy achievement was creating the tubular containers used to package Pringles chips. Upon his death in 2008, his children carried out his wishes and put some of his ashes into one of the cans that he created. The can was placed alongside an urn containing more of his ashes in his grave.^[6]

4 To Have An Autopsy

Sometimes, an individual becomes so disturbed that he starts to believe that the only remedy for his condition is death. Prior to his rampage at the University of Texas, Charles Whitman had noticed himself becoming increasingly irrational, even writing in his suicide letter that, “I do not really understand myself these days.” Tragically, this would come to a head on August 1, 1966, when, after killing his wife and mother, Whitman climbed the Main Building Tower at the University of Texas at Austin and opened fire. He would kill 14 more people and injure 31 before he was killed by police.

In his suicide letter, Whitman requested that an autopsy be performed on his body to determine if there was a biological cause for his irrational behavior. Upon performing the procedure, doctors found a tumor the size of a pecan in his brain. The Connally Commission formed to examine the autopsy findings concluded that while they could not definitively state a connection between the tumor and Whitman’s actions, the tumor could have impaired his ability to control himself.^[7] Whitman was later cremated.

3 Used As A Prop In A Play

Some people want their earthly remains used for the benefit of others after their soul has departed this mortal coil. For some, this might just mean checking the organ donor box on the paperwork at the DMV. But for those who want to go the extra mile, there is always the option of donating their body to be used for medical research. Polish pianist and composer Andre Tchaikowsky went even further than that by not only donating his body to science but also giving his skull to the arts.

In his will, Tchaikowsky asked that his skull be donated to the Royal Shakespeare Company with the hope that it would be used in a production of Hamlet. Though he died in 1982, it would be decades before someone would feel comfortable using the skull onstage. But in 2008, Tchaikowsky’s final wish was granted when David Tennant used the skull in a series of performances. Initially, the press was told that the skull had been swapped out for a fake, only for it to be revealed that the real skull had been used.^[8]

2 Buried Behind The Wheel Of A Car

There are few things people love more than their cars, and for at least one woman, her love for her automobile extended beyond death. Sandra West was the widow of a rich oil tycoon and a socialite living in the wealthy neighborhood of Beverly Hills. Her will asked that she be buried in a nightgown behind the wheel of her Ferrari.

After she died of a drug overdose in 1977, the car was lowered into her grave inside a cement box. Concrete was then poured over the top of the box to protect it from vandals.^[9]

1 Shot Out Of A Cannon

Most of us will be lucky if we ever manage to be half as interesting as Hunter S. Thompson. During his time on Earth, he rode with the Hells Angels and gave birth to Gonzo journalism, among other things. It would take another list to go into all the crazy things Thompson said and did in his life. Sadly, he would take his own life in 2005 at the age of 67. In his suicide note, he expressed that he felt that he had lived longer than he wanted.

But there was no way a man like Thompson was going to be buried or kept on someone’s mantle. He had bigger designs. At a private funeral, he had his ashes fired out of a cannon of his own design. He was also mixed into the fireworks that were detonated over the proceedings.^[10]

A guy, doing a thing, at a place.

Indian burial grounds have long been associated with stories of random people stumbling across them, ultimately causing hauntings and paranormal activity. This trope has been widely used in horror movies with stories about native spirits that haunt and curse those who have disturbed them. This theme has been overused and is factually incorrect, but it has not stopped Hollywood from returning to this theme time after time. At other times, the burial ground is not haunted, but still plays a vital role in the story. Here are ten fictional films that involve Indian burial grounds.

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10 Pet Sematary (1989)

In the 1989 horror movie Pet Sematary, based on the book by Stephen King, the Pet Sematary was a Native-American burial ground used by the tribe known as the Micmacs. The ancient burial ground is next to a present-day animal graveyard which is now cursed. Anything buried in the graveyard returns to life and wreaks havoc on the town and its people.^[1] This trope was seen in several horror movies during the 80’s.

In the film, a cat named Church is killed and buried at ancient Indian burial grounds. Church comes back to life, but this time in a much more evil way. The cat smells worse than ever, it violently rips apart mice and birds, and is no longer vibrant like it was known before. A young child is also killed and is buried at the Indian burial ground by the father in hopes of bringing his son back to life. His wish came true as the child rose from the grave, but like Church, the child was different than before. The viewers quickly learn that sometimes dead is better.

9 Scalps (1983)

Scalps was just another horror movie from the 1980’s that used an Indian burial ground as a main focus of the film. Six archeological students head to the California desert to work on a dig together, even though they have previously been warned to not go. As the group begins to dig around an ancient Indian burial ground, they unleash an evil spirit by the name of Black Claw.^[2]

The movie was made on a budget of about $15,000 and depicted Black Claw looking for vengeance across the town. The evil spirit possessed one of the group members and began to slaughter them one at a time. The low-budget film includes several slow scenes of characters being scalped, giving meaning to the movie’s name.

8 Identity (2003)

Pet Sematary featured burials on ancient Indian soil, Scalps was about people digging on burial ground, but Identity features a building that is erected on ancient burial grounds. In this 2003 film, ten strangers find themselves stranded at a small hotel together during a rainstorm. Torrential rain has caused the roads both ways to flood, forcing the group of people to spend the night at the hotel.

An unidentified murder slowly begins to knock off each person at the hotel. The group of strangers discover that the motel’s brochure describes how the motel sits next to where Native Americans were buried, and they start to believe that the supernatural may be causing the murders. The psychological slasher film is based off Agatha Christie’s book And Then There Were None, but you will have to watch for yourself to see if the Indian burial grounds actually play a part in the murders.^[3]

7 Poltergeist (1982)

A family’s home is haunted by a multitude of ghosts in Poltergeist. The ghosts in this 1982 film appear to be friendly to the family at first as they playfully move various objects around the house. The haunting quickly turns from amusing to demonic for the family as the ghosts start to terrorize them. The supernatural energy hits a high when the ghosts “kidnap” the youngest daughter.^[4]

The plot from Poltergeist is often attributed to the Indian burial ground trope, but this is a common mistake made my many people. An episode of Family Guy, Petergeist, even parodied the movie as lead character Peter Griffin discovers an Indian burial ground in his backyard. Poltergeist did feature a cemetery, but it was not an ancient tribal burial ground. Whether there is a connection to the burial grounds or not, the film will always be attached to the overused horror trope of the 1980’s.

6 The Shining (1980)

Jack Nicholson stars in the psychological horror film The Shining, which was based on Stephen King’s book by the same name. The movie, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrik, was about a family that encounters a sinister presence while staying at a hotel. The father, played by Nicholson, is influenced into violence while his son possesses physic abilities that allow him to see horrific views from the past and future.^[5]

The Overlook Hotel from the film was built on the site of a Native American burial ground, and Nicholson interviews for the position of winter caretaker at the hotel. He quickly learns about the hotel’s scary reputation, but he still accepts the position after being impressed with the hotel. The Shining is a staple of pop culture and is widely regarded as one of the most influential movies ever made. The film is one of the most popular movies to date to use the native burial ground trope.

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5 Monsterwolf (2010)

Monsterwolf combines fantasy and horror to create the low-budget film made for TV. The movie did not receive great reviews or ratings, but the predictability and bad acting is entertaining for some horror fans. The science fiction movie is about a group of workers from an oil company that find new land to drill from. Their work unleashes a wolf-like creature that wreaks havoc on the people and town.

You have probably figured it out by now, but the land they drill from is actually ancient Indian burial grounds, and the spiritual wolf is only protecting the land from those who threaten it. The evil oil workers are destroyed by the wolf, and it can only be stopped by the last surviving Native American. The plot falls right in with other Indian lore and legends, but the story of the monster wolf creates a new element for an old story.^[6]

4 Little Big Man (1970)

Many of the movies on this list fall under the genres of horror, sci-fi, or fantasy, but Little Big Man is filled with drama, adventure, and comedy. The 1970 film is about the story of Jack Crabb, who is currently old in the film but tells the story of how he was raised by Native Americans. The Native Americans are depicted sympathetic in the film, while the United States Cavalry are viewed as villains.

Jack tells the story of how he was cared for by the tribal leader, Old Lodge Skins, since he was a ten-year-old boy. After saving another kids life, Jack earns the name “Little Big Man,” because he is short but also very brave. Later in the film, he tells the story of how he accompanied Old Lodge Skins on an Indian burial mound. Old Lodge Skins declared it was a good day to die, and he laid on his spot on the burial ground. Rain began to pour down on his body, and he was revealed to still be alive and said, “Well, sometimes the magic works. Sometimes it doesn’t.” ^[7]

3 Silent Hill: Revelation (2012)

Trying to understand the plot of Silent Hill: Revelation can be more confusing than algebra, but the film is enjoyable for crummy-horror movie fans and fans of the Silent Hill video game franchise. According to Revelation, Silent Hill was originally a prison colony in West Virginia that was erected on stolen Indian ground. It was known as “The Place of the Silent Spirits.”

The movie is about Heather Mason who is drawn to an alternate reality in the town of Silent Hill. She thinks she is on the run with her father who murdered a man in self-defense. On the eve of her 18th birthday, she discovers that her dad has actually been protecting her from an evil cult called the Order of Valtiel. Once she learns about who she really is, she falls into the demonic world of Silent Hill with little hope of escaping.^[8]

2 The Amityville Horror (1979)

The Amityville Horror, released in 1979, was about a couple that moves into a large home with a horrific history. The home haunts them in strange ways that eventually drives them to move away. The story was based on the true accounts of the Lutz family that claimed supernatural things were happening to them in the home ranging from strange visions to physical transformations.

The connection to an Indian burial ground comes from the Lutz’s book which sort of claims the house was built on ancient burial grounds. They said the home was erected on a sanitarium-like property where sick and dying Indians were taken to die a horrible death. The facts given by the Lutz family have been questioned, and there may not be any connection at all to a Native American burial ground. True or not, the movie has always been tied to the trope as it presented scares for millions of viewers.^[9]

1 The New Daughter (2009)

Spanish screenwriter Luis Berdejo got his feature directorial debut with the horror movie The New Daughter. The movie was based on the John Connolly short story by the same name. The film is about a recently divorced novelist who moves into an old home in South Carolina with his two children. On the first night after moving into the new home, the daughter begins to hear strange noises outside of her bedroom window.^[10]

While exploring the property the following day, the children discover that their new home is next to an Indian burial mound. The father then learns that his new home is famous around town for the disappearance of a woman who previously lived there. He then returns home to find his daughter’s cat mutilated. The family is continuously haunted by the supernatural throughout the movie as the ancient Indian burial mound plays a major role on the outcome of the film.

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About The Author: “I’m just another bearded guy trying to write my way through life.” www.MDavidScott.com

It’s getting pretty close to Halloween, isn’t it? Then (and I whole-heartedly agree with this), it’s the perfect time to sit down and creep yourself out. And what better way to do it than to read about horrible things done in the past to our fellow man.

Here, you will find the stories of some disturbing burial sites from days gone by. There are sites for vampires, witches, gladiators, and one just for heads.

Enjoy your journey six feet under the ground with the buried bones of history!

Related: Top 10 Shocking Shallow Grave Discoveries

10 Mass Grave of Shackled Young Men

The upsetting sight of 80 skeletons, a significant number of them shackled, were uncovered by archeologists in an ancient Greek graveyard called the Falyron Delta Necropolis in 2016. However, what was most disturbing about the corpses was that their jaws were left hanging open, almost as though they were screaming as they were slaughtered.

A great deal of uncertainty surrounds their demise, but one plausible theory for their execution is that the skeletons were once supporters of the Athenian noble Cylon. Cylon endeavored to overthrow the government or the Archons of Athens with his followers in 632 BC but failed wretchedly. Although he got away, verifiable records disclose that every one of Cylon’s supporters was sure to be executed, and these remains seem to give the evidence needed to solidify that theory.

Archaeologists later determined that the bodies had died from blows to the back of their heads. They were also dated back to sometime between 650 and 625 BC. The skeletons were deemed to have died young and healthy before being buried. The way they were buried in an orderly fashion suggests that they were buried with respect, even though they had supposedly revolted against their king. ^[1]

9 Vampire Burials in Bulgaria

Archeological unearthings have found that Bulgaria is home to about 100 vampire burial sites. In the Balkans during the Middle Ages, vampire superstitions were spread far and wide and were widely feared. On account of these convictions, individuals sometimes took safeguards to protect themselves, even after someone’s death. For the bodies of individuals who endured unusual and disturbing deaths, especially when it was by suicide, certain precautions were taken to ensure that their bodies would remain dead.

In Perperikon, one man in his 40s was found to have an iron pole pounded into his chest to keep him from moving. In addition, his leg had been cut off and placed beside this body to immobilize him. The placement of the iron poles was done by pounding the plowshare into a broken shoulder, popping off one’s collarbone in the process, as was done to this mystery man. However, different skeletons have been found with metal items lodged in their ribcages close to where their hearts ought to be or even through the solar plexus as another method to keep the dead, well, dead.

Of course, the most famous vampire execution was to have a stake pounded through their chest and perhaps a clove of garlic around the gravesite. This method was a superstitious way of restraining the dead from reemerging as a demonic vampire intent on terrorizing the town.

Another man who was deemed a vampire was Krivich, the savage leader of the Sozopol Fortress, who was found with an iron bar puncturing his chest to keep him from threatening the town after his passing. Basically, if there were any place to find a real vampire in the world, this would be the place to go. But don’t start packing yet—at least not until you finish the rest of this list, of course!^[2]

8 Remains of 100 Dead Babies

One of the more disturbing findings was a pit filled with infant skeletons. Around 100 of them were found by archeologists in a sewer in 1988.

The sewer was under a Roman bathhouse in Ashkelon, an old seaport on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. A mass infant grave is something you ought to never need to find out about, but unfortunately, life is sometimes quite cruel. Tragically, this unnerving archeological find was the biggest uncovering of dead babies in one location.

The newborns’ bones were forensically tested, and it was discovered that these infants all died when they were under one week old yet had been healthy when they were thrown into the sewer, meaning that it was most likely right after the child was born. Simply thrown into the sewer without a second glance. DNA testing revealed that most were males, an unusual finding, as generally male babies are preferred over girls.

It is theorized that these were the unwanted children born to prostitutes who worked at the bathhouse; however, this is not definitive. Were these courtesans forced to get rid of their child or did they believe they would not be able to take care of them properly? This seems an extreme practice with the prevalence and knowledge of birth control, even in its more primitive forms. And why mostly boys? Were the girls kept to be raised to work at the bathhouse? Horrifically, babies were not seen as totally human in Roman times until a naming ceremony about eight or nine days after birth, leading to the babies being thrown carelessly into the sewers without any consequences.^[3]

7 Slaughter Pit at Sacred Ridge

At a Native American settlement called Sacred Ridge in Colorado, archeologists were studying the ancient artifacts when they suddenly realized that the 22 pit homes were shrouded in bits of scattered, ravaged human bodies. Piles of crushed bones lay around the site, and human limbs were found tossed into the ripped-off roofs of the pit homes. The causes of these deaths were quickly attributed to the pile of bloodied double-headed axes found nearby.

Around 1200 years ago, the residents—estimated at 35 people—had been hobbled and beaten, had their faces crushed, were scalped, and then slashed into pieces and burned. This unexpected slaughter was suspected to be carried out by the village’s neighbors due to their lower position and lack of resources.

There is also a large belief that the residents of Sacred Ridge were practicing witchcraft and that, by absolutely pulverizing the victims’ bodies, they could drive away the evil spirits. Through further examination of the crushed remains, it was found that the attackers had purposely crushed the heels and toes of the victims’ feet in order to hobble them and prevent them from escaping the massacre, disregarding gender or age, as it was thought children were more susceptible to evil spirits.^[4]

6 Human Petrifaction

Italian Girolamo Segato traveled to Egypt around 1820, where he became fascinated with mummification. He was fixated on techniques for saving the human body. He even came up with his own strategy, which was never recorded. His work in the artificial petrifaction of bodies—mineralization of human remains leaving their original color and elasticity—was effective to the point that the skin and bones he chipped away at seemed to have turned to stone. Perhaps he could be considered a real-life Medusa?

Unfortunately, he got his bodies through grave-robbing. To do his petrifaction process, he secretly went out with a shovel and a lot of upper body strength to obtain the corpses without the family’s consent.
Segato’s nearly perfectly preserved works can be seen the University of Florence. An exception is a scagliola table he gifted to the Grand Duke Ferdinand III made out of petrified human remains—liver, heart, uterus, tongue, various cancers, all preserved and arranged in attractive patterns.

On his own burial chamber in Florence is recorded: “Here lies decayed Girolamo Segato from Belluno, who could have been totally petrified if his art had not died with him.”^[5]

5 The Underground Labyrinth of Death

Labyrinths can take years to discover all the twists and turns and, in this case, the bodies that lay inside of them.

In Peru, archeologists working at Chavin de Huantar used tiny remote-operated robots to find 36 underground passages resting underneath a 3,000-year-old temple. The dark tunnels contained the still intact remains of three people that may have been sacrificed in “rituals [involving] drugs, noise, and light manipulation.” These rituals seemed to have been performed in the New Temple found nearby that had a U-shaped ceremonial design center found nearby.

The bodies were deemed of lower social status based on being buried face down among the rocks. This position was not considered an honorable position and left a dark and ominous feeling in the air. Not only this, but the burials were quite simplistic, with the bodies being buried in simple cotton clothes and placed in shallow pits.

The tombs also contained precious metals, colorful textiles, and other valuable historical artifacts, including pottery, scrolls, and drawn images of animals on the walls.^[6]

4 Pits Full of Heads

Archeologists working along the Great Wall of China published new discoveries that depict a formerly obscure early society, the Shimao nation. While the archeologists found beautiful artifacts made of jade, among other items, specialists also made the grisly discovery that human sacrifice was a significant component of early society. Six pits had been filled with beheaded young women who were uncovered at the site. It is thought that they were sacrificed to the gods.

These heads were found in a massive pyramid and were used to create an offering to the gods for good fortune in building their site. When first discovered, the pyramid was thought to be a part of the Great Wall of China but was later deemed to have been built earlier.

The Shimao site is found along the Yellow River in an area called the “Northern Zone.” The pyramid was 70 meters tall and housed the Shimao rulers and the “elite.” It could be seen throughout the entire local area and was thought to be a reminder and representation of the “social pyramid” of the time.^[7]

While the pyramid is a massive achievement in early Chinese history, this discovery may persuade you to not visit the location. Or perhaps it will tempt you even more?

3 Beheaded Gladiators

These beheaded corpses found in York belonged to men who may have been Retiarii, warriors who battled with a net and lance or pike.

A large number of skeletons found in York, England, were described as tall men who died before the age of 45. What makes them grislier is that every one of them had been decapitated. Their bodies were buried with their heads—sometimes, they were placed on their chests, between their legs, or even between their feet.

While not much more is known about them, the bodies have been dated to between the second and fourth centuries A.D, when the territory was very important for the northern Roman Empire. Since the vast majority of the skeletons were especially tall and gave indications of trauma, they might be the bones of numerous gladiators. It is also possible that they may likewise have been military men or criminals used to fight for sport. The origin of the bodies remains unknown even to this day.^[8]

2 Toothy Tumor

The 1,600-year-old skeleton of a Roman woman was discovered by Spanish archaeologists, who, looking at her hips, noticed a calcified ball of bone containing four twisted teeth sticking out.

This disturbing discovery was an ovarian teratoma, a sort of tumor that emerges from germ cells. Germ cells are the antecedents of human egg cells, so they can shape body parts like teeth and bones. It is the first time that such a medical condition has been found in ancient remains. The woman was described as being of low social class, found in a simple grave under tile called tegulae, a common practice at the time.

The tumor measured 1.7 inches at its longest length, and, probably, the tumor might have never resulted in any discomfort or symptoms. However, it is possible that the tumor could have caused the woman’s death by displacing her organs as it grew, later causing an infection, hemolytic anemia, or pregnancy complications. It is seemingly impossible to truly know how the woman died, but the toothy discovery most definitely shocked archaeologists. It was almost like a scene straight out of the movie Alien.^[9]

1 Remnants of a Witch Chase

While no remains were found here, this fifteenth-century church in Aberdeen, Scotland, horrifies viewers because of what it represents and the scenario that you may imagine in your mind. The house of prayer contained a stone column set with an iron ring, which may have been utilized to restrain accused witches in 1597 and keep them from escaping.

Aberdeen facilitated witch trials in that year known as the “Great Witch Hunt.” Around 400 individuals were tried, and roughly 200 were executed in an eight-month time frame. The executions were absolutely despicable. Executions included drownings, burnings, beheadings, among other atrocities.

Quite possibly, the most acclaimed case is of Jane Wishart, who was sentenced alongside her child Thomas Leyis. Jane Wishart was accused of 18 points of witchcraft, and 30 charges were brought against her. The earliest being attributed to when five men had seen her leave her house unpermitted at two in the morning and went to tell someone, resulting in two of the men drowning later that day.

The second major charge was attributed to the fact that her husband had hit her, and every day after that, a brown dog came into their bedroom and attacked the husband but never the wife. Her son was accused of three points of witchcraft and was thought to be the leader of several witches in the area. Both were strangled and then burned.^[10]