Beyond Sawney Bean: Scottish Cannibal Families - Fact, Fiction or Propaganda?
Explore several cases of cannibalism from Scottish history, which may not be all that they seem.
Did three Scottish fathers from different centuries feed their families by killing and eating unsuspecting wayfarers during times of war and famine? According to the historical records they did. But were these stories actual reportage? Tall tales? Or even anti-Scottish propaganda? Join author Geoff Holder as he tries to uncover the ghastly truth or despicable lies behind these episodes reported from Dundee, Perth and Ayrshire. Expect a good deal of vile unpleasantness. And as a bonus, learn the story of a genuine nineteenth-century Scottish cannibal lass!
Bio
Geoff Holder is a Welsh author and screenwriter. He has published more than 30 books on the paranormal and general weirdness, including Zombies From History, 101 Things to Do With a Stone Circle, Poltergeist over Scotland, Scottish Bodysnatchers and The Guide to the Mysterious Lake District. He writes folk-horror screenplays and genre-mashup novels from a 300-year-old allegedly haunted house in deepest France and likes dogs and music with rocks in it.
Curated & Hosted by
Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
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