Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
According to legend, the legendary Scottish Bean family was a whole clan that hunted people, not only to rob them but also to devour them with relish. They wreaked havoc during the reign of King James VI of Scotland in the 15th century. The leader of the cannibalistic clan, which consisted of 8 sons, 6 daughters and 32 grandchildren conceived through inbreeding, was Alexander Sawney Bean. He was born in East Lothian in the 15th century. He worked as a tanner and married the alleged witch Black Agnes Douglas, who practised black magic. Together with her, Alexander left his hometown to take up residence in a cave at Bennane Head, which extended several hundred metres into the rock and whose entrance was flooded at high tide. The couple earned their living by robbing and murdering travellers. Agnes was extremely fertile and bore many children, whom the couple kept isolated from the outside world in their cave. These children, in turn, reproduced amongst themselves. To feed the 48 people now living in the cave, they began to include their robbery victims in their diet. To this end, they dragged the dead bodies into the cave, where they gutted them and then ate them. The cannibal family built up a large stockpile of human flesh for hard times by pickling the dismembered human parts in salt and vinegar or smoking them. Naturally, word spread amongst the population that more and more travellers were disappearing in this area for unexplained reasons. At first, the people believed a werewolf was to blame. The king sent out his soldiers to get to the bottom of the matter. But despite everything, more and more people continued to vanish. Who could be behind it all? Then a stroke of luck came to the king’s aid. In the year 1435, a couple had set off on their horses from the fair on their way home when they were suddenly attacked by a savage gang. Whilst the man was saved by the courageous intervention of fairgoers who rushed to his aid, his wife had already been murdered by the wild creatures. The Bean Clan, who this time had to flee without any spoils, had been exposed. The King himself set out with 400 soldiers to put a definitive end to the Bean clan’s activities. His bloodhounds tracked down the cave, where a scene of horror awaited him and his soldiers. As they entered the cave, salted human remains hung from the ceiling everywhere, whilst 48 emaciated people lived there in rags. The floor of the cave was littered with human remains. The Bean family, who are said to have eaten more than 1,000 people, were arrested and declared by the king to be wild beasts, sentenced to death. At their execution, in accordance with ancient tradition, the men’s hands and feet were cut off to let them bleed to death. The women were forced to watch the gruesome execution of their husbands before being burned alive in groups of three. Alexander Sawney Bean is said to have repeated until his death: ‘It is not over, it will never be over’. Yet in fact, the story of the cannibalistic Bean family ended right there.
