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Travellers are locked in a barn and have a narrow escape fro...

Date August 1954
Track ID 10220
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1954.93.B4

Original Tape ID

SA1954.093

Summary

Travellers are locked in a barn and have a narrow escape from burkers.

Maggie Stewart's grandparents and her father when he was a little boy lodged for the night in the barn of a farm. The farmer didn't want them to stay, but it was cold, and they were tired. Maggie's father found blood and hair in the barn. His father said there had been a cow calving there, but the boy was convinced it was evidence of murder.

They found they were locked in. The boy climbed up to the skylight and saw the burkers' coach coming with four men and two dogs. The adults climbed out with difficulty, leaving their belongings behind, and hid in an old rick of straw. While the men were in the farmhouse, they ran into a cornfield. One of the dogs tracked them, and the boy sent the adults on, and killed it with a knife. They threw their boots away and slipped silently into the hen-house of a croft. In the morning, the old woman in the croft told them that the burkers came there about once a fortnight. They never went back, although they had stayed at that farm for years.

Item Notes

Published in 'Tocher' 5.

Recording Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Parish - Aberdeen

Village/Place - Aberdeen

Language

Scots

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good