The Horrific Crimes of the Sawney Bean Familey

Girvan, Scotland—If you have ever seen The Hills Have Eyes (1977) or Wrong Turn (2003) then you have some background knowledge as it relates to the contents of this post. Why? Because it features a deranged family, murder, and cannibalism in the form of the Sawney Bean Family.

I first became aware of such a horrific folk/true crime tale from the excellent book Strange Tales by Alex Hamer. A short chapbook of legends, myths, and folktales. Hamer wrote about the Sawney Bean family along with other crippling tales of murder and violence. One story included a butcher who killed people in his town and turned them into sausage.

The tale of the Sawney Bean family is documented as follows.

History of the Sawney Bean Family

Bean’s Lazy Impetus

It was the Ayrshire coast of Scotland in the 15th century, and times were tough. The Scottish people were poor and famished and lawlessness ruled. Money and food were hard to come by, but Sawney Bean had a plan to correct these deficits.

Sawney had been the son of a hedger and a ditcher near Edinburgh. Sawney disliked working and so ran away from his family’s trade. He met a woman named Agnes Douglas and ventured off into the wilds with her. They either wanted to live in rustic fashion or to take advantage of the locals. Fortunately, they ran into the border area of Scotland, which had its share of rogues and scoundrels at every turn.

Surely, Sawney Bean and Agnes Douglas’s crimes would fit right in with the rest.

Murder Spree in the Hills

More specifically, Sawney and Agnes moved to the Scottish hills between Girvan and Ballantrae and on the Galloway shores. He and Agnes established themselves as a cutthroats and robbers. They collected the purses of the dead after braining them on the countryside road. As well, they took the bodies back to their abode, which was a cave of degenerate squalor. They picked the bones with the rest of his family. A family that was manufactured through inbreeding.

It seems that if you could commit a sin, Sawney Bean would pursue it to its fullest, and there they sinned for 25 years. In those years, they reared a clan of children and grandchildren. According to lore, Bean and family killed more than 1,000 people. Many, if not all, were ambushed and slaughtered for the satisfaction and nourishment of the murderous family.

The Beginning of the End for Sawney Bean

Two of the victims, however, were a young couple returning home from a festival. The Beans killed the woman first, which drove the man to frenzy. Either through adrenaline, combat skills, or pure vengeance, the man was able to drive the Bean family back and into the hills.

A crowd had formed and many bore witness to the family’s depraved appearance. Soon enough, stories of the murder and of the vile family spread. King James of Scotland came to investigate, led by bloodhounds and 400 men. The search party discovered the cave, where money, personal items, and body parts lay scattered across the floor. The gruesome site forever etched itself into the minds of those attendees.

Capital Crimes

After the Bean family was discovered, a fight took place, which drove liberating forces back. However, they returned with much vigor and apprehended the family of maddened cannibals and murderers. They were brought to Edinburgh where they were kept in a tolbooth. After their trial, authorities dispatched the Bean family by burning the women and children and cutting off the hands and feet of the men so that they would bleed to death.

Conclusion

There is no proof that Sawney Bean or his crazed family ever existed, but his story is definitely a memorable one. As with all folklore, there are a few ways to interpret the Bean legacy. One way is on the surface, as Bean and his clan were historic figures and a dark time had plagued Scotland. After all, stories of violence and murder are often of national interest; that is to say, ghost stories in Washington are just as interesting as ghost stories in Michigan.

The other way to read the Sawney Bean story is to read it as an “anti-Scottish story,” and as some have posited, it does seem to be a good piece of propaganda against the Scots.

“The English and Scots had no love for each other,” writes Tom Doran in “In the Lair of the Cannibal King.” “The English considered the Scots horrible barbarians who couldn’t even speak English–so pushing their contempt one step further into cannibalism seem not much of a stretch.”