Speaker 1: On a stormy night on the small island of Guernsey,
Speaker 1: a young paranormal expert joins a skeptical history teacher to
Speaker 1: record the first in a series of podcasts based on
Speaker 1: the island's incredible folklore and paranormal history. As the expert
Speaker 1: regales his horrifying stories, the teacher learns that we all
Speaker 1: have our own truth, our own story ghosts that haunt us.
Speaker 1: Starring Olivier nominated actor and former Blue Peter legend Peter Duncan,
Speaker 1: When Darkness Falls is a spine chilling ghost story that
Speaker 1: delivers a twisted, terrifying and thrilling tale that the Guardian
Speaker 1: said will leave you cowering in your seat. Catch the
Speaker 1: brand new UK tour of When Darkness Falls from September
Speaker 1: fifteenth in a town near you. Select nights will also
Speaker 1: feature myself delivering a live episode of Unexplained. For more
Speaker 1: details or to book tickets, visit When Darkness Falls dot
Speaker 1: co dot uk if you dare. This episode contains adult
Speaker 1: themes that some may find disturbing. Parental discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: Southeast Scotland. In sixteen seventy Edinburgh, a dark fairy tale
Speaker 1: of a city sat on a rupture of earth and rock.
Speaker 1: Overlooking the cold steel waters of the Firth of Fourth,
Speaker 1: a medieval castle perched high up on volcanic rock, its
Speaker 1: sandstone walls stained black by rain. Narrow labyrinthine streets fanning
Speaker 1: out like dendrites, each flanked by six and seven story
Speaker 1: high buildings, their gables and dormer windows utting out in
Speaker 1: strange and unnatural ways, teetering as if forever on the
Speaker 1: verge of collapse, while below them the streets run with
Speaker 1: human excrement and urine flung out of windows by the bucketful,
Speaker 1: as rats and mice scatter about. One evening in early spring,
Speaker 1: sometime around midnight, all is quiet, save for the occasional
Speaker 1: sound of someone scurrying off into a distant alleyway. As
Speaker 1: two women one the others made make their way home
Speaker 1: from Castle Hill under a moonless sky. Their footsteps echo
Speaker 1: along the road as they turn into the steep, winding
Speaker 1: confines of West Bow, and a light mist rises up
Speaker 1: to meet them. The towering tenements loom high above, crowding
Speaker 1: out the sky as they continued down the bows steep slope,
Speaker 1: the maid pushing back the shadows with the soft, hazy
Speaker 1: light of her lantern, while somewhere off an animal snorts,
Speaker 1: when from out of the darkness they hear a sudden
Speaker 1: whooping and clapping, followed by a high pitched cackle of laughter.
Speaker 1: Looking up, they can just make out three oddly shaped
Speaker 1: silhouettes in the flickering candlelight of an open window, their
Speaker 1: bodies heaving and limbs flailing with each cacination. Turning back
Speaker 1: to the street, the women are stopped suddenly in their
Speaker 1: tracks by the sight of a cloaked figure hunched over
Speaker 1: at the base of a narrow, twisted flight of stairs
Speaker 1: that lead up to the property from where the cackling
Speaker 1: is coming from. Thinking little of it at first, the
Speaker 1: women staring shock as the figure rose up suddenly to
Speaker 1: its full height, a beguiling ten feet at least, revealing
Speaker 1: a set of unusually spindly limbs. The women stepped back
Speaker 1: into the shadows as the strange giant specter burst out
Speaker 1: in a fit of maniacal laughter, and then shot off
Speaker 1: into the night. With their curiosity aroused, the two women
Speaker 1: attempted to keep pace with the spindly figure, but no
Speaker 1: matter how swiftly their feet carried them, it seemed always
Speaker 1: to be the same distance ahead. At a turn in
Speaker 1: the road. The figure then slipped into a narrow lane
Speaker 1: known locally as Stinking Close, and disappeared. Hurrying after it,
Speaker 1: the women stopped at the lane's entrance and gasped at
Speaker 1: the sight beyond. What was you usually nothing more than
Speaker 1: a narrow alleyway connecting Westbow to Cowgate. The next road
Speaker 1: across was now lit up along its entire length by
Speaker 1: flaming torches, as numerous dark, hooded figures jostled about underneath them.
Speaker 1: Little of their faces could be seen, save for their mouths,
Speaker 1: which were all stretched wide open and emitting the most
Speaker 1: hideous cacophony of hysterical laughter. Terrified, the women hurried on
Speaker 1: to the safety of their home. The following morning, the
Speaker 1: streets now bustling once more with people, horses, and carts,
Speaker 1: The two women retraced their steps from the night before,
Speaker 1: and soon found themselves at the bottom of the narrow,
Speaker 1: rickety stairwell from which the strange, towering figure had emerged.
Speaker 1: The maid grabbed a passing tanner, his foul smelling leather
Speaker 1: apron streaked with blood, then pointed up to the window
Speaker 1: where they'd seen the three figures clapping and laughing together.
Speaker 1: Pray tell us whose house is that, she asked, why,
Speaker 1: replied the Tanner, That is the home of Major Thomas Weir.
Speaker 1: Of course you're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard mc
Speaker 1: lane Smith. Thomas Weir was born sometime around fifteen ninety
Speaker 1: nine near Carluke in Lanarkshire, just southeast of Glasgow. By
Speaker 1: sixteen fifty he'd managed to successfully navigate an extraordinarily complicated
Speaker 1: tide of events to become the head of the Edinburgh
Speaker 1: Town Guard, the city's fledgling police force. Twelve years previously,
Speaker 1: in sixteen thirty eight, a number of the leading powers
Speaker 1: in Scotland signed the National Covenant, a public declaration opposing
Speaker 1: King Charles the First's plans to reform the Presbyterian Church
Speaker 1: of Scotland. Charles the First, who was an Anglican, was
Speaker 1: King of Scotland, England and Ireland at the time, and
Speaker 1: was keen to restructure the fiercely independent and powerful Church
Speaker 1: of Scotland in such a way that would make it,
Speaker 1: and by extension, the nation, easier for him to subdue
Speaker 1: and control. Those who signed the National Covenant or were
Speaker 1: sympathetic to its aims called themselves Covenanters, and King Charles
Speaker 1: naturally hated them. By then, any English and Scottish monarch,
Speaker 1: although still very much the head of state, was increasingly
Speaker 1: reliant on supply aught from the lawmakers of Parliament to
Speaker 1: wield their power. When Charles asked them for military support
Speaker 1: to force the Church of Scotland to back down, they refused,
Speaker 1: and so the first of a series of wars were
Speaker 1: ignited between various forces in England, Scotland and Ireland that
Speaker 1: would collectively become known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Speaker 1: This complex matrix of belligerents was made especially complicated by
Speaker 1: the respective ambitions of each division of power. The Scottish
Speaker 1: Covenanters opposed King Charles the First and his proposals for
Speaker 1: the Church of Scotland, while English parliamentarians also opposed the king. However,
Speaker 1: the Covenanters also opposed the parliamentarian's plan to dispense with
Speaker 1: the king altogether, and all three parties had interests in Ireland.
Speaker 1: In the course of the next ten years, all would
Speaker 1: clash in a bloody scramble for supremacy of ideas, which
Speaker 1: by sixteen fifty had resulted in the defeat and execution
Speaker 1: of Charles the First and an uneasy alliance between Oliver
Speaker 1: Cromwell's parliamentarian forces and the Covenanters of the Church of Scotland,
Speaker 1: as laid out in the sixteen forty three Solemn League
Speaker 1: and Covenant Agreement. As the son of a wealthy landed couple,
Speaker 1: the strict Presbyterian, Thomas Weir was a man of some
Speaker 1: political status, and as such was one of the signatories
Speaker 1: of the Solemn League and Covenant Agreement. Having fought in
Speaker 1: numerous battles alongside the Parliamentarian forces, he'd somehow survived it all,
Speaker 1: earning himself the title of Major in the process, and
Speaker 1: settled in Edinburgh to take up his position as the
Speaker 1: commander of the town Guard. On first arriving in Edinburgh,
Speaker 1: Weir and his younger sister, Jean, who accompanied him everywhere,
Speaker 1: lived in Cowgate, one of the main thoroughfares of the city,
Speaker 1: at the home of one grizz Old Whitford. By sixteen
Speaker 1: fifty he and Jean had moved into a house on
Speaker 1: West Bow, an especially steep section of road which ran
Speaker 1: in a Z shaped pattern all the way down from
Speaker 1: Castle Hill at the base of Edinburgh Castle to the
Speaker 1: grass Market at the bottom, where the city's largest market
Speaker 1: space was located. They lived there with their servant, Bessie Waymes.
Speaker 1: Thomas Weir was tall, with a distinctively large nose and
Speaker 1: a commanding, brooding presence, who could often be seen stalking
Speaker 1: the streets of Edinburgh where a long black cloak and
Speaker 1: clutching a thick ornate staff in his hand. The staff
Speaker 1: was a curious thing, engraved all along its body with
Speaker 1: pictures of centaurs and strained symbols, while its top comprised
Speaker 1: a crooked head of thornwood, all of which only served
Speaker 1: to amplify his imposing countenance. His was a life of purity,
Speaker 1: bound to the good Book and the Word of God,
Speaker 1: which he was never shy of spreading himself at any
Speaker 1: given opportunity, and he was good at it too, being
Speaker 1: a compelling and authoritative public speaker with a ferocious intellect
Speaker 1: and a prodigious memory when it came to quoting scripture,
Speaker 1: who never missed an opportunity to stick the boot in
Speaker 1: when others fell short of his own puritanical standards. And
Speaker 1: so it was with some alarm to those who were
Speaker 1: gathered there when late one evening, he burst angrily into
Speaker 1: an ale house next to the Nether Bow, the eastern
Speaker 1: gateway into the city, on the lookout for several guards
Speaker 1: who deserted their post. Finding them tucked away drinking merrily
Speaker 1: at a small table in the corner, we Are stormed
Speaker 1: over to them and demanded they returned to their post immediately.
Speaker 1: The men, startled by weird sudden appearance, apologized for their
Speaker 1: lack of judgment, explaining that they'd merely wanted to join
Speaker 1: a friend for a drink who was in town for
Speaker 1: the night. They pointed to the stranger sat among them
Speaker 1: and introduced him as a mister Burne. Then something strange
Speaker 1: came over Major Weir, as all his confidence and authority
Speaker 1: seemed to suddenly drain from him, and the blood rushed
Speaker 1: from his face. He stepped back in the grip of
Speaker 1: some unnatural terror, quietly repeating the name to himself over
Speaker 1: and over again, Burn Burn Burn, he said. The guards
Speaker 1: stared on in confusion as were then turned quickly on
Speaker 1: his heels and fled hastily from the building. It is
Speaker 1: said that Were was not seen outside his home for
Speaker 1: a good two weeks after this incident. Not long After
Speaker 1: his peculiar turn at the Ale House, Major Weir was
Speaker 1: out walking in the hills with a friend when they
Speaker 1: approached a narrow stream. On being informed that it was
Speaker 1: called Liberton Burn, Weir became suddenly distressed and refused to
Speaker 1: cross it. It seemed clearly that something in that word
Speaker 1: brought him immediate distress. By sixteen fifty one, we as
Speaker 1: time as commander of the Edinburgh Guard had come to
Speaker 1: an end. Effectively retired, he quickly found his place among
Speaker 1: the more powerful acolytes of the local Presbyterian community. Thomas's sister, Jean, meanwhile,
Speaker 1: developed a reputation of her own for being a formidable
Speaker 1: spinner of yarn, producing it at a rate seldom seen before.
Speaker 1: The West Bow, whether we As lived, was known for
Speaker 1: being home to some of the most pious individuals in
Speaker 1: the city, among them the many tinsmiths who resided there,
Speaker 1: who were known collectively as the Bowhead Saints. Thomas Weir
Speaker 1: was quick to prove their equal, and, with his passion
Speaker 1: for prayer, soon found himself being invited to speak at
Speaker 1: the homes of his neighbors whenever the occasion called for it.
Speaker 1: He could often be found at the bedside of the
Speaker 1: old and infirm, dispensing reassuring pearls of biblical wisdom to
Speaker 1: aid their suffering. The effect or the more reassuring, due
Speaker 1: to Weir's confident air, and for being so well known
Speaker 1: as a man whose own devotion to God and rejection
Speaker 1: of sin was unquestionable. And soon people were traveling from
Speaker 1: as far as forty to fifty miles away just to
Speaker 1: hear him speak. And speak he did, always with that
Speaker 1: peculiar staff by his side, his magnetic words full of
Speaker 1: such gravity it was as though they had come from
Speaker 1: the very mouth of God themselves. Now hear this, he
Speaker 1: would say, as he leant heavily on his staff. Galatians,
Speaker 1: chapter five, verse nineteen. Now the works of the flesh
Speaker 1: are manifest. Which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings,
Speaker 1: and such like of the witch. I tell you before,
Speaker 1: as I have also told you in time past, that
Speaker 1: today which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom
Speaker 1: of God. This podcast is supported by Morgan Stanley. What
Speaker 1: do you get from the Morgan Stanley client experience Listening
Speaker 1: more than talking, and a personalized plan to guide you
Speaker 1: through a changing world. To learn more, visit Morgan Stanley
Speaker 1: dot com, slash y us investing in VOS risk Morgan Stanley,
Speaker 1: Smith Barney Llc. One morning, a woman arrived at the
Speaker 1: home of John Knave, a Presbyterian minister, in New Mills,
Speaker 1: a village located about fifty miles west of Edinburgh. The
Speaker 1: woman was clearly in some distress as she wrestled with
Speaker 1: what it was she wanted to say. After Knave told
Speaker 1: her forcefully to spit it out, the woman explained finally
Speaker 1: that she was certain she'd just seen a man in
Speaker 1: a secluded field having sex with a horse. The man,
Speaker 1: she insisted, was Major Thomas Weir. The accusation was, of
Speaker 1: course ludicrous, and, at a time when the fate of
Speaker 1: Scotland and the Covenanters was still very much in the balance,
Speaker 1: an extremely dangerous one too, and so there was only
Speaker 1: one course of action. The following day, the woman was
Speaker 1: paraded through the town and flogged mercilessly by the local
Speaker 1: hangman for her false accusation. In sixteen sixty, after ten
Speaker 1: years without a king, the monarchy was restored across Scotland,
Speaker 1: England and Ireland, with Charles the First son Charles the
Speaker 1: Second taking the throne. The Church of Scotland succeeded in
Speaker 1: retaining its power and independence, however, only after it was
Speaker 1: agreed to abolish the reforms made by the Covenanters. As
Speaker 1: a result, many Covenanters were persecuted as they sought to
Speaker 1: maintain their influence in the country. Strangely, Thomas Weir avoided
Speaker 1: any such complications and for the next ten years continued
Speaker 1: to be widely celebrated for his powers of prayer. But
Speaker 1: as the years passed and age up with him, we
Speaker 1: began to slow down somewhat, and by sixteen seventy, as
Speaker 1: he approached his seventieth birthday, he seemed to have become
Speaker 1: gripped by a heavy melancholy that left him weary and
Speaker 1: lacking his usual enthusiasm for praying. Then, early in the
Speaker 1: spring of sixteen seventy were invited four of the most
Speaker 1: eminent men from his circle of Presbyterian friends to gather
Speaker 1: at his home, including among them mister John Sinclair, a
Speaker 1: local Presbyterian minister. With darkness already falling, the men made
Speaker 1: their way to West Bow and up the rickety staircase,
Speaker 1: passing through the courtyard beyond, as the sound of Gene
Speaker 1: Weir's spinning wheel could be heard echoing throughout. Then on
Speaker 1: into the house they went, where they were greeting by
Speaker 1: a fragile looking Thomas, leaning heavily on his staff under
Speaker 1: the gentle flicker of candle light. He bid them welcome
Speaker 1: as he sat wearily on a chair and gestured for
Speaker 1: them to do the same. The men looked about, unsure
Speaker 1: as to why exactly they had been summoned. Then Weir
Speaker 1: finally spoke. It was no use, he said, it was
Speaker 1: time to come clean. What Major Thomas Weir told the
Speaker 1: men that night has never precisely been ascertained, only that
Speaker 1: had apparently included a confession to a series of unspeakable
Speaker 1: acts that he'd committed throughout his life, and that for
Speaker 1: over twenty years he'd been a servant of the devil.
Speaker 1: That night, the stunned men left the Weir's home. They
Speaker 1: made a pact never to reveal anything of what they'd
Speaker 1: just heard, in fear that they might be tainted by
Speaker 1: their association with the Major. However, mister John Sinclair was
Speaker 1: so disturbed by it all he felt obligated to inform
Speaker 1: Sir Andrew Ramsey, who, as Lord provesed, was the city's
Speaker 1: administrative head. Believing the crimes that Weir had confessed to
Speaker 1: too inhumane and horrid for any human to have been
Speaker 1: capable of, Ramsey promptly sent to physicians to Weir's house
Speaker 1: to assess his mental health. Perhaps he thought the man
Speaker 1: was merely going senile in his old age, but to
Speaker 1: his horror, the doctors found nothing wrong with Weir's cerebral faculties.
Speaker 1: The man, they said, was perfectly sane. The following night,
Speaker 1: two Baileys tasked with the resting Major Weir and his
Speaker 1: sister Jean, whom he'd also implicated in his confession, burst
Speaker 1: into their home. As they grabbed the then sixty year
Speaker 1: old Jean, she cried out to them to first confiscate
Speaker 1: the Major's staff before he used it to drive them
Speaker 1: out of the house that she said was where he
Speaker 1: derived his power. Sure Enough, the staff was secured, and
Speaker 1: the Major, who was found shortly afterwards, offered no resistance
Speaker 1: to his arrest. The Baileys then asked if there was
Speaker 1: any money kept in the house, and were directed to
Speaker 1: a series of cloth bundles full of coins that were
Speaker 1: dotted about the place. After locking the Weir siblings up
Speaker 1: in the Old Tollbooth prison, the Baileys retired to a
Speaker 1: local inn to get a drink by the fire and
Speaker 1: count the money they'd taken. After pulling it all together,
Speaker 1: they threw the cloths into the fire and were amazed
Speaker 1: to see them whip and dance about strangely in the flames,
Speaker 1: before finally burning In one of the bundles. They were
Speaker 1: also said to have found a strange root of some sort,
Speaker 1: which they too tossed onto the fire. The moment it landed,
Speaker 1: it sparked and crackled like gunpowder, then emitted a huge
Speaker 1: cannon like bang and shot up into the chimney like
Speaker 1: a firework. Meanwhile, up in the Old Tollbooth, Maister Sinclair
Speaker 1: paid a visit to Major Weir and begged him to repent,
Speaker 1: but we Are refused, telling Sinclair to leave him alone
Speaker 1: and that there was no saving him, and so Sinclair
Speaker 1: turned his attention to his sister Jean, Still not quite
Speaker 1: able to believe all that Weir had confessed to Sinclair
Speaker 1: needed answers, but first Jeanne denied it all until finally
Speaker 1: she confessed too. It was all true, she said, and
Speaker 1: this was how it began. It was sometime one night
Speaker 1: in August sixteen forty eight, in the early hours, when
Speaker 1: there was a knock at the door at Thomas and
Speaker 1: Jean's home in Westbow. Having been woken up by the knocking,
Speaker 1: Jean was then told by Thomas to join him in
Speaker 1: the street, where, to her amazement, six black horses and
Speaker 1: a large stagecoach that appeared to be almost entirely on
Speaker 1: fire was waiting for them. Nervously, Jean followed her brother
Speaker 1: into the burning coach and together they were whisked away
Speaker 1: to dal Keith, a small town just south of Edinburgh,
Speaker 1: where she claimed Thomas had a meeting with an unknown
Speaker 1: man who she understood later was the Devil. Thomas returned
Speaker 1: from the meeting clutching the Strange staff for which he
Speaker 1: was so well known. Weir was said to have made
Speaker 1: a pact with the devil, who told him that from
Speaker 1: that point on he could do whatever he wished, and
Speaker 1: that only a burn could stop him. He was also
Speaker 1: gifted strange magical powers, which he appeared to draw directly
Speaker 1: from the peculiar staff, as if to prove this to himself.
Speaker 1: The following day, he was said to have told anyone
Speaker 1: that would listen that King Charles's army had been beaten
Speaker 1: in the Battle of Preston, something which he couldn't possibly
Speaker 1: have known at that time. Soon after, Jeanne too had
Speaker 1: a run in with the devil when she was visited
Speaker 1: by a strange, tall lady who appeared at her door
Speaker 1: with three children strapped to her body. The woman urged
Speaker 1: jean to do battle with the Queen of the Fairies
Speaker 1: and take her place as the Devil's wife. She then
Speaker 1: asked Jeanne to give her all the silver she possessed,
Speaker 1: which she did. Ever since that day, Jeanne found she
Speaker 1: could produce more yarn on her spinning wheel than she
Speaker 1: ever thought possible, as though she too had been given
Speaker 1: a magical gift. Another time, she was visited by an
Speaker 1: unusually short woman who gave her a strange route, telling
Speaker 1: her that as long as she kept it safe, she
Speaker 1: would have the power to do whatever she chose. The
Speaker 1: woman then threw down a cloth on the floor of
Speaker 1: her house and told Jean to stand on it, while saying,
Speaker 1: all crosses and cares go out of this house now,
Speaker 1: and Jean obliged. Mister John Sinclair listened on aghast, recognizing
Speaker 1: immediately another pact with the devil. Jean then explained that
Speaker 1: her and Thomas's mother had been a witch who bore
Speaker 1: the devil's mark, just like her brother did. Here, said Jean,
Speaker 1: as she pulled up the headdress that she was wearing.
Speaker 1: I have the devil's mark too. The god fearing Sinclair
Speaker 1: refused to see it at first, but his curiosity eventually
Speaker 1: got the better of him. Jean pulled off the head
Speaker 1: dress and furrowed her brow, where a small horseshoe shape
Speaker 1: emerged in her skin, another clear indication, thought Sinclair, that
Speaker 1: she too, had sold her soul to the devil. The
Speaker 1: minister shuddered at the sight of it. The Weir's trial
Speaker 1: took place on April ninth, sixteen seventy, during which the
Speaker 1: full extent of Major Thomas Weir's confession was revealed. The Major,
Speaker 1: as it turned out, had been raping his sister Jean
Speaker 1: for the best part of fifty years, having once been married.
Speaker 1: Shortly after the death of his wife Weir also impregnated
Speaker 1: his step daughter, most likely as the result of rape, too,
Speaker 1: but had managed to have her married off to a
Speaker 1: man in England before anyone found out. He was also
Speaker 1: found guilty of multiple counts of fornication, having sex with
Speaker 1: married women as well as his maid. The degree to
Speaker 1: which these acts were consensual is unclear. Weir was also
Speaker 1: found guilty, having finally admitted to it, of numerous counts
Speaker 1: of bestiality with dogs, cows, and a horse, vindicating the
Speaker 1: woman who had been whipped so mercilessly for accusing him
Speaker 1: of the exact same thing. Weir was eventually convicted of
Speaker 1: perpetrating incest and adultery and sentenced to death. Unlike her brother, Jean,
Speaker 1: was not only accused of incest but also sorcery and witchcraft. However,
Speaker 1: it was only for the crime of incest, for which
Speaker 1: she was deemed to have been an equal party two,
Speaker 1: that she was convicted. She too, was sentenced to death.
Speaker 1: On Monday, April eleventh, Major Thomas Weir, too old and
Speaker 1: infirmed to walk himself, was dragged on a sled to
Speaker 1: Greenside in Leith, a town just north of Edinburgh. There,
Speaker 1: he was tied against a post and had a rope
Speaker 1: placed around his neck, which was gradually tightened by the executioner.
Speaker 1: As the rope bit into his throat, Weir's bodies squirmed
Speaker 1: underneath as his face went purple, Saliva foamed at his mouth,
Speaker 1: and he evacuated his boughs. When he was finally stilled,
Speaker 1: Weir and the post he was tied to was set
Speaker 1: on fire. Then the staff was tossed onto the flames.
Speaker 1: The crowd shrieked at the sight of it, as it
Speaker 1: seemed to writhe and twist in the fire, as though
Speaker 1: something alive inside it were trying to escape. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, screams rang out from within the flames. Thomas
Speaker 1: Weir was still alive, and then all went quiet, save
Speaker 1: for the spit and crackle of burning flesh. When Jean
Speaker 1: Weir was informed of her brother's death, she at first
Speaker 1: refused to believe it. When she was finally convinced that
Speaker 1: both he and his staff had been destroyed, she is
Speaker 1: said to have become enraged, shouting, I know he is
Speaker 1: with the devils, for with them he lived. For her
Speaker 1: own execution, which took place on April twelfth, sixteen seventy
Speaker 1: jean was led down to the grass market, barely a
Speaker 1: stone's throw from her home, where she was greeted by
Speaker 1: a large and vicious crowd, eager to see her hang
Speaker 1: for her so called crimes. As she made her way
Speaker 1: up the ladder to the gallows, she stopped suddenly and
Speaker 1: began hurriedly to take off her clothes, much to the
Speaker 1: shot of all who had gathered there. At once. The
Speaker 1: executioner was ordered by the law men to put her
Speaker 1: clothes back on, angered by what they saw as the
Speaker 1: indecency of her naked body, but Jeanne pushed the executioner away,
Speaker 1: punching him hard in the face before he was finally
Speaker 1: able to subdue her and put her clothes back on,
Speaker 1: after which she was hauled onto a stool and had
Speaker 1: the noose placed around her neck. It was a final
Speaker 1: act of defiance, perhaps from someone who, after a lifetime
Speaker 1: of abuse and being made to feel ashamed of her
Speaker 1: own body, wanted to display it finally without shame and
Speaker 1: on her own terms. And then the stool was kicked
Speaker 1: from under her feet. It is said that so fearful
Speaker 1: were people of what had transpired inside the weirs that
Speaker 1: it lay empty for over a hundred years, all the while,
Speaker 1: strange shapes could be seen flitting about behind its broken
Speaker 1: window panes, and the ghostly sound of Gene Weir's spinning
Speaker 1: wheel creaking and whirring could be heard echoing through the
Speaker 1: courtyard below it. In eighteen seventy eight, the house was
Speaker 1: demolished entirely, as the upper part of West Bow was
Speaker 1: effectively removed and the rest of the road joined on
Speaker 1: to what is now Victoria Street. Some say, if you
Speaker 1: ever find yourself walking through West Bow in the early
Speaker 1: hours just before dawn, the thundering of hoofs can sometimes
Speaker 1: be heard, followed by the appearance of a fiery coach
Speaker 1: pulled by six black horses, and if you are brave
Speaker 1: enough to look, you might just catch a glimpse of
Speaker 1: the gurning face of Major Thomas Weir behind its flaming windows.
Speaker 1: If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us,
Speaker 1: you can now do so via Patreon. To receive access
Speaker 1: to add free episodes, just go to patron dot com
Speaker 1: forward slash Unexplained Pod to sign up. Unexplained. The book
Speaker 1: and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been
Speaker 1: covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide.
Speaker 1: You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones,
Speaker 1: among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music,
Speaker 1: are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and
Speaker 1: rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel
Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
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