WEBVTT - Season 6 Episode 21: The Mask that Eats the Face 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.120 On a stormy night on the small island of Guernsey, 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.720 a young paranormal expert joins a skeptical history teacher to 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.000 record the first in a series of podcasts based on 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:15.880 the island's incredible folklore and paranormal history. As the expert 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:20.239 regales his horrifying stories, the teacher learns that we all 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.800 have our own truth, our own story ghosts that haunt us. 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:30.560 Starring Olivier nominated actor and former Blue Peter legend Peter Duncan, 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:34.400 When Darkness Falls is a spine chilling ghost story that 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.919 delivers a twisted, terrifying and thrilling tale that the Guardian 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.199 said will leave you cowering in your seat. Catch the 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:46.760 brand new UK tour of When Darkness Falls from September 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.480 fifteenth in a town near you. Select nights will also 0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:54.600 feature myself delivering a live episode of Unexplained. For more 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.880 details or to book tickets, visit When Darkness Falls dot 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:05.200 co dot uk if you dare. This episode contains adult 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:09.920 themes that some may find disturbing. Parental discretion is advised. 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:28.520 Southeast Scotland. In sixteen seventy Edinburgh, a dark fairy tale 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.959 of a city sat on a rupture of earth and rock. 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.280 Overlooking the cold steel waters of the Firth of Fourth, 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:43.120 a medieval castle perched high up on volcanic rock, its 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:50.680 sandstone walls stained black by rain. Narrow labyrinthine streets fanning 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:55.640 out like dendrites, each flanked by six and seven story 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:00.720 high buildings, their gables and dormer windows utting out in 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:05.880 strange and unnatural ways, teetering as if forever on the 0:02:06.000 --> 0:02:11.200 verge of collapse, while below them the streets run with 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:16.519 human excrement and urine flung out of windows by the bucketful, 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:23.280 as rats and mice scatter about. One evening in early spring, 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:28.959 sometime around midnight, all is quiet, save for the occasional 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:33.359 sound of someone scurrying off into a distant alleyway. As 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:37.680 two women one the others made make their way home 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:44.120 from Castle Hill under a moonless sky. Their footsteps echo 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.880 along the road as they turn into the steep, winding 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:52.440 confines of West Bow, and a light mist rises up 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:58.000 to meet them. The towering tenements loom high above, crowding 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.840 out the sky as they continued down the bows steep slope, 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:05.960 the maid pushing back the shadows with the soft, hazy 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:11.040 light of her lantern, while somewhere off an animal snorts, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.880 when from out of the darkness they hear a sudden 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:20.600 whooping and clapping, followed by a high pitched cackle of laughter. 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.080 Looking up, they can just make out three oddly shaped 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:30.800 silhouettes in the flickering candlelight of an open window, their 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:37.400 bodies heaving and limbs flailing with each cacination. Turning back 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:40.800 to the street, the women are stopped suddenly in their 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.839 tracks by the sight of a cloaked figure hunched over 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.480 at the base of a narrow, twisted flight of stairs 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.160 that lead up to the property from where the cackling 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:55.640 is coming from. Thinking little of it at first, the 0:03:55.720 --> 0:04:00.040 women staring shock as the figure rose up suddenly to 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.960 its full height, a beguiling ten feet at least, revealing 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.240 a set of unusually spindly limbs. The women stepped back 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:14.960 into the shadows as the strange giant specter burst out 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.760 in a fit of maniacal laughter, and then shot off 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:30.279 into the night. With their curiosity aroused, the two women 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:33.920 attempted to keep pace with the spindly figure, but no 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.960 matter how swiftly their feet carried them, it seemed always 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:42.000 to be the same distance ahead. At a turn in 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.520 the road. The figure then slipped into a narrow lane 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:52.840 known locally as Stinking Close, and disappeared. Hurrying after it, 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:57.160 the women stopped at the lane's entrance and gasped at 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:01.400 the sight beyond. What was you usually nothing more than 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.280 a narrow alleyway connecting Westbow to Cowgate. The next road 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:10.960 across was now lit up along its entire length by 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:17.360 flaming torches, as numerous dark, hooded figures jostled about underneath them. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:22.640 Little of their faces could be seen, save for their mouths, 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.600 which were all stretched wide open and emitting the most 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:34.080 hideous cacophony of hysterical laughter. Terrified, the women hurried on 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:38.640 to the safety of their home. The following morning, the 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.400 streets now bustling once more with people, horses, and carts, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.160 The two women retraced their steps from the night before, 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.760 and soon found themselves at the bottom of the narrow, 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:55.720 rickety stairwell from which the strange, towering figure had emerged. 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.720 The maid grabbed a passing tanner, his foul smelling leather 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:05.839 apron streaked with blood, then pointed up to the window 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.799 where they'd seen the three figures clapping and laughing together. 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:16.119 Pray tell us whose house is that, she asked, why, 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:21.039 replied the Tanner, That is the home of Major Thomas Weir. 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:28.400 Of course you're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard mc 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:40.719 lane Smith. Thomas Weir was born sometime around fifteen ninety 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:47.479 nine near Carluke in Lanarkshire, just southeast of Glasgow. By 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:52.920 sixteen fifty he'd managed to successfully navigate an extraordinarily complicated 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:56.320 tide of events to become the head of the Edinburgh 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:02.360 Town Guard, the city's fledgling police force. Twelve years previously, 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.360 in sixteen thirty eight, a number of the leading powers 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:12.320 in Scotland signed the National Covenant, a public declaration opposing 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.880 King Charles the First's plans to reform the Presbyterian Church 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:21.840 of Scotland. Charles the First, who was an Anglican, was 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.200 King of Scotland, England and Ireland at the time, and 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.760 was keen to restructure the fiercely independent and powerful Church 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.320 of Scotland in such a way that would make it, 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:37.080 and by extension, the nation, easier for him to subdue 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:42.520 and control. Those who signed the National Covenant or were 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:47.960 sympathetic to its aims called themselves Covenanters, and King Charles 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:54.480 naturally hated them. By then, any English and Scottish monarch, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:58.760 although still very much the head of state, was increasingly 0:07:58.760 --> 0:08:02.560 reliant on supply aught from the lawmakers of Parliament to 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:06.920 wield their power. When Charles asked them for military support 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.400 to force the Church of Scotland to back down, they refused, 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.200 and so the first of a series of wars were 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:21.000 ignited between various forces in England, Scotland and Ireland that 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:25.000 would collectively become known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:31.600 This complex matrix of belligerents was made especially complicated by 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:36.840 the respective ambitions of each division of power. The Scottish 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:40.960 Covenanters opposed King Charles the First and his proposals for 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:47.800 the Church of Scotland, while English parliamentarians also opposed the king. However, 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:53.760 the Covenanters also opposed the parliamentarian's plan to dispense with 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:58.800 the king altogether, and all three parties had interests in Ireland. 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:03.280 In the course of the next ten years, all would 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:07.840 clash in a bloody scramble for supremacy of ideas, which 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:12.319 by sixteen fifty had resulted in the defeat and execution 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:16.400 of Charles the First and an uneasy alliance between Oliver 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:21.920 Cromwell's parliamentarian forces and the Covenanters of the Church of Scotland, 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.000 as laid out in the sixteen forty three Solemn League 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:30.920 and Covenant Agreement. As the son of a wealthy landed couple, 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:35.520 the strict Presbyterian, Thomas Weir was a man of some 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.920 political status, and as such was one of the signatories 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:44.120 of the Solemn League and Covenant Agreement. Having fought in 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:50.080 numerous battles alongside the Parliamentarian forces, he'd somehow survived it all, 0:09:50.800 --> 0:09:54.640 earning himself the title of Major in the process, and 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:58.440 settled in Edinburgh to take up his position as the 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:09.800 commander of the town Guard. On first arriving in Edinburgh, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:14.160 Weir and his younger sister, Jean, who accompanied him everywhere, 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:18.360 lived in Cowgate, one of the main thoroughfares of the city, 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:23.120 at the home of one grizz Old Whitford. By sixteen 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.240 fifty he and Jean had moved into a house on 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:30.880 West Bow, an especially steep section of road which ran 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.760 in a Z shaped pattern all the way down from 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:37.440 Castle Hill at the base of Edinburgh Castle to the 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:41.400 grass Market at the bottom, where the city's largest market 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:46.520 space was located. They lived there with their servant, Bessie Waymes. 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.920 Thomas Weir was tall, with a distinctively large nose and 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:58.040 a commanding, brooding presence, who could often be seen stalking 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.960 the streets of Edinburgh where a long black cloak and 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:07.319 clutching a thick ornate staff in his hand. The staff 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.719 was a curious thing, engraved all along its body with 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:16.720 pictures of centaurs and strained symbols, while its top comprised 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:21.319 a crooked head of thornwood, all of which only served 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:27.079 to amplify his imposing countenance. His was a life of purity, 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.400 bound to the good Book and the Word of God, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.920 which he was never shy of spreading himself at any 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:38.240 given opportunity, and he was good at it too, being 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:43.239 a compelling and authoritative public speaker with a ferocious intellect 0:11:43.600 --> 0:11:47.000 and a prodigious memory when it came to quoting scripture, 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.520 who never missed an opportunity to stick the boot in 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:56.480 when others fell short of his own puritanical standards. And 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.400 so it was with some alarm to those who were 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.720 gathered there when late one evening, he burst angrily into 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:07.320 an ale house next to the Nether Bow, the eastern 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:11.200 gateway into the city, on the lookout for several guards 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:16.679 who deserted their post. Finding them tucked away drinking merrily 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:20.160 at a small table in the corner, we Are stormed 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.880 over to them and demanded they returned to their post immediately. 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:30.040 The men, startled by weird sudden appearance, apologized for their 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:34.160 lack of judgment, explaining that they'd merely wanted to join 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.960 a friend for a drink who was in town for 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:41.320 the night. They pointed to the stranger sat among them 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:46.920 and introduced him as a mister Burne. Then something strange 0:12:47.200 --> 0:12:51.280 came over Major Weir, as all his confidence and authority 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:55.920 seemed to suddenly drain from him, and the blood rushed 0:12:55.960 --> 0:13:00.200 from his face. He stepped back in the grip of 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:05.760 some unnatural terror, quietly repeating the name to himself over 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:16.959 and over again, Burn Burn Burn, he said. The guards 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:21.240 stared on in confusion as were then turned quickly on 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:26.599 his heels and fled hastily from the building. It is 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.000 said that Were was not seen outside his home for 0:13:30.080 --> 0:13:41.000 a good two weeks after this incident. Not long After 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.760 his peculiar turn at the Ale House, Major Weir was 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.480 out walking in the hills with a friend when they 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.760 approached a narrow stream. On being informed that it was 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:57.160 called Liberton Burn, Weir became suddenly distressed and refused to 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:02.000 cross it. It seemed clearly that something in that word 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:08.360 brought him immediate distress. By sixteen fifty one, we as 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.600 time as commander of the Edinburgh Guard had come to 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:16.920 an end. Effectively retired, he quickly found his place among 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:24.160 the more powerful acolytes of the local Presbyterian community. Thomas's sister, Jean, meanwhile, 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:28.239 developed a reputation of her own for being a formidable 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:33.200 spinner of yarn, producing it at a rate seldom seen before. 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:38.600 The West Bow, whether we As lived, was known for 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.560 being home to some of the most pious individuals in 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:46.120 the city, among them the many tinsmiths who resided there, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:51.680 who were known collectively as the Bowhead Saints. Thomas Weir 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.760 was quick to prove their equal, and, with his passion 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.880 for prayer, soon found himself being invited to speak at 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.440 the homes of his neighbors whenever the occasion called for it. 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:05.960 He could often be found at the bedside of the 0:15:06.040 --> 0:15:11.280 old and infirm, dispensing reassuring pearls of biblical wisdom to 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:16.040 aid their suffering. The effect or the more reassuring, due 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.760 to Weir's confident air, and for being so well known 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:23.440 as a man whose own devotion to God and rejection 0:15:23.520 --> 0:15:29.800 of sin was unquestionable. And soon people were traveling from 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.200 as far as forty to fifty miles away just to 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:38.200 hear him speak. And speak he did, always with that 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.920 peculiar staff by his side, his magnetic words full of 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:46.320 such gravity it was as though they had come from 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:51.280 the very mouth of God themselves. Now hear this, he 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:55.920 would say, as he leant heavily on his staff. Galatians, 0:15:56.480 --> 0:16:01.480 chapter five, verse nineteen. Now the works of the flesh 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:24.520 are manifest. Which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:28.240 and such like of the witch. I tell you before, 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.720 as I have also told you in time past, that 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:37.560 today which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:44.920 of God. This podcast is supported by Morgan Stanley. What 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.480 do you get from the Morgan Stanley client experience Listening 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:52.000 more than talking, and a personalized plan to guide you 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.120 through a changing world. To learn more, visit Morgan Stanley 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.280 dot com, slash y us investing in VOS risk Morgan Stanley, 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:06.159 Smith Barney Llc. One morning, a woman arrived at the 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.720 home of John Knave, a Presbyterian minister, in New Mills, 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:16.280 a village located about fifty miles west of Edinburgh. The 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:20.000 woman was clearly in some distress as she wrestled with 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:24.240 what it was she wanted to say. After Knave told 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:28.680 her forcefully to spit it out, the woman explained finally 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.280 that she was certain she'd just seen a man in 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:37.840 a secluded field having sex with a horse. The man, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:45.280 she insisted, was Major Thomas Weir. The accusation was, of 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:48.800 course ludicrous, and, at a time when the fate of 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.960 Scotland and the Covenanters was still very much in the balance, 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:58.280 an extremely dangerous one too, and so there was only 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:02.560 one course of action. The following day, the woman was 0:18:02.600 --> 0:18:06.520 paraded through the town and flogged mercilessly by the local 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:13.680 hangman for her false accusation. In sixteen sixty, after ten 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:17.840 years without a king, the monarchy was restored across Scotland, 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.280 England and Ireland, with Charles the First son Charles the 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.679 Second taking the throne. The Church of Scotland succeeded in 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:32.119 retaining its power and independence, however, only after it was 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:37.320 agreed to abolish the reforms made by the Covenanters. As 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:41.840 a result, many Covenanters were persecuted as they sought to 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:47.680 maintain their influence in the country. Strangely, Thomas Weir avoided 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:52.800 any such complications and for the next ten years continued 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:57.359 to be widely celebrated for his powers of prayer. But 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:01.600 as the years passed and age up with him, we 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:06.840 began to slow down somewhat, and by sixteen seventy, as 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:10.639 he approached his seventieth birthday, he seemed to have become 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.840 gripped by a heavy melancholy that left him weary and 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:21.160 lacking his usual enthusiasm for praying. Then, early in the 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.800 spring of sixteen seventy were invited four of the most 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:30.119 eminent men from his circle of Presbyterian friends to gather 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.919 at his home, including among them mister John Sinclair, a 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:42.280 local Presbyterian minister. With darkness already falling, the men made 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:46.240 their way to West Bow and up the rickety staircase, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.119 passing through the courtyard beyond, as the sound of Gene 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:56.600 Weir's spinning wheel could be heard echoing throughout. Then on 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:00.399 into the house they went, where they were greeting by 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.800 a fragile looking Thomas, leaning heavily on his staff under 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:09.520 the gentle flicker of candle light. He bid them welcome 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.600 as he sat wearily on a chair and gestured for 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:18.360 them to do the same. The men looked about, unsure 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.399 as to why exactly they had been summoned. Then Weir 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.919 finally spoke. It was no use, he said, it was 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:39.119 time to come clean. What Major Thomas Weir told the 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:44.840 men that night has never precisely been ascertained, only that 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:49.200 had apparently included a confession to a series of unspeakable 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:53.000 acts that he'd committed throughout his life, and that for 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:56.959 over twenty years he'd been a servant of the devil. 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:03.520 That night, the stunned men left the Weir's home. They 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:07.160 made a pact never to reveal anything of what they'd 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.320 just heard, in fear that they might be tainted by 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:17.240 their association with the Major. However, mister John Sinclair was 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:21.320 so disturbed by it all he felt obligated to inform 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.680 Sir Andrew Ramsey, who, as Lord provesed, was the city's 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:31.640 administrative head. Believing the crimes that Weir had confessed to 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.280 too inhumane and horrid for any human to have been 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:39.920 capable of, Ramsey promptly sent to physicians to Weir's house 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:44.600 to assess his mental health. Perhaps he thought the man 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:48.919 was merely going senile in his old age, but to 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:54.440 his horror, the doctors found nothing wrong with Weir's cerebral faculties. 0:21:55.200 --> 0:22:01.280 The man, they said, was perfectly sane. The following night, 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:05.359 two Baileys tasked with the resting Major Weir and his 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:10.080 sister Jean, whom he'd also implicated in his confession, burst 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:14.680 into their home. As they grabbed the then sixty year 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:18.880 old Jean, she cried out to them to first confiscate 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:22.920 the Major's staff before he used it to drive them 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.679 out of the house that she said was where he 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:32.320 derived his power. Sure Enough, the staff was secured, and 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:36.800 the Major, who was found shortly afterwards, offered no resistance 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:41.399 to his arrest. The Baileys then asked if there was 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.600 any money kept in the house, and were directed to 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.199 a series of cloth bundles full of coins that were 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:53.160 dotted about the place. After locking the Weir siblings up 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:57.320 in the Old Tollbooth prison, the Baileys retired to a 0:22:57.400 --> 0:23:00.760 local inn to get a drink by the fire and 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:05.120 count the money they'd taken. After pulling it all together, 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:09.159 they threw the cloths into the fire and were amazed 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:13.200 to see them whip and dance about strangely in the flames, 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:18.160 before finally burning In one of the bundles. They were 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:21.399 also said to have found a strange root of some sort, 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:26.200 which they too tossed onto the fire. The moment it landed, 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:31.280 it sparked and crackled like gunpowder, then emitted a huge 0:23:31.400 --> 0:23:35.119 cannon like bang and shot up into the chimney like 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:42.439 a firework. Meanwhile, up in the Old Tollbooth, Maister Sinclair 0:23:42.760 --> 0:23:46.480 paid a visit to Major Weir and begged him to repent, 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:51.520 but we Are refused, telling Sinclair to leave him alone 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:56.040 and that there was no saving him, and so Sinclair 0:23:56.400 --> 0:24:01.320 turned his attention to his sister Jean, Still not quite 0:24:01.359 --> 0:24:05.480 able to believe all that Weir had confessed to Sinclair 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:11.960 needed answers, but first Jeanne denied it all until finally 0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:18.000 she confessed too. It was all true, she said, and 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:29.200 this was how it began. It was sometime one night 0:24:29.280 --> 0:24:33.680 in August sixteen forty eight, in the early hours, when 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:35.879 there was a knock at the door at Thomas and 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:41.120 Jean's home in Westbow. Having been woken up by the knocking, 0:24:41.760 --> 0:24:44.879 Jean was then told by Thomas to join him in 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:49.439 the street, where, to her amazement, six black horses and 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:53.600 a large stagecoach that appeared to be almost entirely on 0:24:53.760 --> 0:24:59.879 fire was waiting for them. Nervously, Jean followed her brother 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:03.800 into the burning coach and together they were whisked away 0:25:03.840 --> 0:25:07.920 to dal Keith, a small town just south of Edinburgh, 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:11.120 where she claimed Thomas had a meeting with an unknown 0:25:11.200 --> 0:25:17.440 man who she understood later was the Devil. Thomas returned 0:25:17.480 --> 0:25:21.159 from the meeting clutching the Strange staff for which he 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:24.960 was so well known. Weir was said to have made 0:25:24.960 --> 0:25:27.760 a pact with the devil, who told him that from 0:25:27.840 --> 0:25:31.199 that point on he could do whatever he wished, and 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:35.600 that only a burn could stop him. He was also 0:25:35.760 --> 0:25:41.040 gifted strange magical powers, which he appeared to draw directly 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:45.640 from the peculiar staff, as if to prove this to himself. 0:25:46.160 --> 0:25:49.480 The following day, he was said to have told anyone 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:53.480 that would listen that King Charles's army had been beaten 0:25:53.640 --> 0:25:57.400 in the Battle of Preston, something which he couldn't possibly 0:25:57.440 --> 0:26:03.320 have known at that time. Soon after, Jeanne too had 0:26:03.320 --> 0:26:06.360 a run in with the devil when she was visited 0:26:06.400 --> 0:26:09.880 by a strange, tall lady who appeared at her door 0:26:10.359 --> 0:26:14.919 with three children strapped to her body. The woman urged 0:26:15.080 --> 0:26:18.280 jean to do battle with the Queen of the Fairies 0:26:18.640 --> 0:26:22.640 and take her place as the Devil's wife. She then 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:25.879 asked Jeanne to give her all the silver she possessed, 0:26:26.440 --> 0:26:31.320 which she did. Ever since that day, Jeanne found she 0:26:31.359 --> 0:26:34.600 could produce more yarn on her spinning wheel than she 0:26:34.720 --> 0:26:38.359 ever thought possible, as though she too had been given 0:26:38.400 --> 0:26:43.600 a magical gift. Another time, she was visited by an 0:26:43.680 --> 0:26:48.159 unusually short woman who gave her a strange route, telling 0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:50.800 her that as long as she kept it safe, she 0:26:50.840 --> 0:26:54.720 would have the power to do whatever she chose. The 0:26:54.800 --> 0:26:57.679 woman then threw down a cloth on the floor of 0:26:57.720 --> 0:27:01.439 her house and told Jean to stand on it, while saying, 0:27:01.960 --> 0:27:05.800 all crosses and cares go out of this house now, 0:27:06.960 --> 0:27:14.840 and Jean obliged. Mister John Sinclair listened on aghast, recognizing 0:27:14.880 --> 0:27:20.879 immediately another pact with the devil. Jean then explained that 0:27:21.000 --> 0:27:24.560 her and Thomas's mother had been a witch who bore 0:27:24.600 --> 0:27:30.040 the devil's mark, just like her brother did. Here, said Jean, 0:27:30.520 --> 0:27:32.960 as she pulled up the headdress that she was wearing. 0:27:33.800 --> 0:27:38.159 I have the devil's mark too. The god fearing Sinclair 0:27:38.440 --> 0:27:42.800 refused to see it at first, but his curiosity eventually 0:27:43.000 --> 0:27:46.399 got the better of him. Jean pulled off the head 0:27:46.480 --> 0:27:51.040 dress and furrowed her brow, where a small horseshoe shape 0:27:51.040 --> 0:27:56.480 emerged in her skin, another clear indication, thought Sinclair, that 0:27:56.680 --> 0:28:00.560 she too, had sold her soul to the devil. The 0:28:00.680 --> 0:28:11.040 minister shuddered at the sight of it. The Weir's trial 0:28:11.440 --> 0:28:16.159 took place on April ninth, sixteen seventy, during which the 0:28:16.240 --> 0:28:22.520 full extent of Major Thomas Weir's confession was revealed. The Major, 0:28:23.000 --> 0:28:26.440 as it turned out, had been raping his sister Jean 0:28:27.080 --> 0:28:32.360 for the best part of fifty years, having once been married. 0:28:32.840 --> 0:28:37.000 Shortly after the death of his wife Weir also impregnated 0:28:37.040 --> 0:28:41.160 his step daughter, most likely as the result of rape, too, 0:28:41.840 --> 0:28:43.960 but had managed to have her married off to a 0:28:44.000 --> 0:28:48.400 man in England before anyone found out. He was also 0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:53.080 found guilty of multiple counts of fornication, having sex with 0:28:53.240 --> 0:28:57.160 married women as well as his maid. The degree to 0:28:57.200 --> 0:29:02.840 which these acts were consensual is unclear. Weir was also 0:29:02.920 --> 0:29:07.320 found guilty, having finally admitted to it, of numerous counts 0:29:07.360 --> 0:29:13.680 of bestiality with dogs, cows, and a horse, vindicating the 0:29:13.720 --> 0:29:17.560 woman who had been whipped so mercilessly for accusing him 0:29:17.600 --> 0:29:22.120 of the exact same thing. Weir was eventually convicted of 0:29:22.280 --> 0:29:29.400 perpetrating incest and adultery and sentenced to death. Unlike her brother, Jean, 0:29:29.640 --> 0:29:35.760 was not only accused of incest but also sorcery and witchcraft. However, 0:29:36.200 --> 0:29:39.440 it was only for the crime of incest, for which 0:29:39.560 --> 0:29:42.120 she was deemed to have been an equal party two, 0:29:42.680 --> 0:29:46.920 that she was convicted. She too, was sentenced to death. 0:29:49.000 --> 0:29:54.280 On Monday, April eleventh, Major Thomas Weir, too old and 0:29:54.400 --> 0:29:58.560 infirmed to walk himself, was dragged on a sled to 0:29:58.680 --> 0:30:04.080 Greenside in Leith, a town just north of Edinburgh. There, 0:30:04.560 --> 0:30:07.680 he was tied against a post and had a rope 0:30:07.840 --> 0:30:12.400 placed around his neck, which was gradually tightened by the executioner. 0:30:13.840 --> 0:30:18.160 As the rope bit into his throat, Weir's bodies squirmed 0:30:18.240 --> 0:30:23.800 underneath as his face went purple, Saliva foamed at his mouth, 0:30:24.360 --> 0:30:29.320 and he evacuated his boughs. When he was finally stilled, 0:30:29.880 --> 0:30:33.360 Weir and the post he was tied to was set 0:30:33.400 --> 0:30:37.920 on fire. Then the staff was tossed onto the flames. 0:30:39.320 --> 0:30:41.960 The crowd shrieked at the sight of it, as it 0:30:42.000 --> 0:30:45.320 seemed to writhe and twist in the fire, as though 0:30:45.400 --> 0:30:50.280 something alive inside it were trying to escape. All of 0:30:50.320 --> 0:30:55.240 a sudden, screams rang out from within the flames. Thomas 0:30:55.320 --> 0:31:01.040 Weir was still alive, and then all went quiet, save 0:31:01.200 --> 0:31:12.360 for the spit and crackle of burning flesh. When Jean 0:31:12.480 --> 0:31:16.040 Weir was informed of her brother's death, she at first 0:31:16.160 --> 0:31:20.080 refused to believe it. When she was finally convinced that 0:31:20.120 --> 0:31:23.360 both he and his staff had been destroyed, she is 0:31:23.360 --> 0:31:27.040 said to have become enraged, shouting, I know he is 0:31:27.080 --> 0:31:31.960 with the devils, for with them he lived. For her 0:31:32.000 --> 0:31:37.120 own execution, which took place on April twelfth, sixteen seventy 0:31:37.240 --> 0:31:40.720 jean was led down to the grass market, barely a 0:31:40.760 --> 0:31:44.120 stone's throw from her home, where she was greeted by 0:31:44.160 --> 0:31:47.640 a large and vicious crowd, eager to see her hang 0:31:47.840 --> 0:31:51.719 for her so called crimes. As she made her way 0:31:51.840 --> 0:31:55.560 up the ladder to the gallows, she stopped suddenly and 0:31:55.760 --> 0:31:59.680 began hurriedly to take off her clothes, much to the 0:31:59.720 --> 0:32:04.440 shot of all who had gathered there. At once. The 0:32:04.520 --> 0:32:07.880 executioner was ordered by the law men to put her 0:32:07.920 --> 0:32:11.440 clothes back on, angered by what they saw as the 0:32:11.560 --> 0:32:17.960 indecency of her naked body, but Jeanne pushed the executioner away, 0:32:18.000 --> 0:32:21.280 punching him hard in the face before he was finally 0:32:21.320 --> 0:32:24.479