Dirleton Witches
A short day's ride from Edinburgh, sixteenth century Dirleton boasted fine lodgings and splendid formal terraced gardens. It was a perfect retreat for the king when pestilence broke out in the wynds of old Edinburgh in 1585. The young James stayed in quarantine at Dirleton that May, feasting and play-acting until his host 'fell deadle sick'. The Devil himself turned up on the green beneath the castle wall in June 1649, taking the form of 'a greate black man'. Several of his servants were held in Dirleton's pit prison, where the Devil's marks were found upon them by the witchfinder John Kincaid. They remained in the pit until the order for their execution by strangling and burning came through from Parliament.
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