The Murder Hole: A Scottish Horror Story (Scottish Folklore)

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Today I bring you one of my personal favourite tales, A story I first heard many years ago when I was a young lad, probably too young to hear this tale. And it may be that very reason that I developed a kind of morbid love and fascination for it. So, without further ado, I present to you a sinister Scottish tale, to be told by fire light on dark dark nights, the murder hole.Some 500 years ago in the southwest of Scotland on a stretch of road that leads from Ayrshire to Galloway there was said to exist a near endless moor. As far as the eye could see was boundless desolation, broken only by a scattering of bent and tortured trees. At the beginning of the road or path, there stood an old stone cross, bearing the marks of its age and announcing to travellers that the moor had begun. Beyond the cross lays a ruin of a church, abandoned and empty, some say that no flowers bloom in the church yard, as it hangs under the dark oppression of an evil land. Even during midday, the moor road was dangerous and deceptive, the trail was covered in marshes and bogs, cleverly disguised as solid walking ground, patiently waiting to pull travellers and merchants to a claustrophobic end.The locals told that the safest time to attempt the harrowing journey was sunrise or sunset as the rays of light would reflect off the hidden surfaces along the path and guide you more safely to the town of the far side of the moor. The road was not easy going yet it was by far the better choice that dragging yourself though the stinking bogs and marshland, sinking over knee high with each trudging step.At the midpoint of the Road there stood a small village of wooden huts, which at one point in history were bustling with humanity, people would dig and sell the great peat stores in the bogs and generally lived well, but as the peat became further afield and the harsh winters batted the land, many of the inhabitants left the village and the huts fell to ruin. It became a forgotten and forsaken place. In the surrounding area there were whispers and tales of some strange evil on the moor and in time even the locals would become wary of the road through the moor and warned travellers never to leave the path.

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References:
Barbour, J. (1964) The Bruce, A. A. H. Douglas.Blackwood’s Magazine (1829) The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Murder hole. Vol. 13, No. 355. [https://ia600709.us.archive.org/11/items/themirrorofliter10950gut/10950-h/10950-h.htm]Bonning. T. (2021) Folk Tales of Ayrshire. Carn Publishing ltd.Crockett, S.R. (1893) The Raiders: Being Some Passages in the Life of John Faa, Lord and Earl of Little Egypt. Macmillan. Duncan, A. A. M. (1992) The War of the Scots. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 2, pp. 125-151. Cambridge University Press.Evans, S. (2019) Scottish Folktales: The Haunted Heath. (https://ztevetevans.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/scottish-folktales-the-haunted-heath/)Hogarth, C. (2023) The Murder Hole. [http://www.walkscotland.com/route76.htm]Love, D. (2018) Legendary Ayrshire: Custom : Folklore : Tradition. Carn Publishing ltd.Phillips, C. (2018) The Raiders Trilogy. [https://www.gallowayraiders.co.uk/raiders-reviews/category/the-raiders

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