Killholter's crime spree and execution

Original Track ID

SA1973.064.A6

Original Tape ID

SA1973.064

Summary

Killholter's crime spree and execution.

Laura Malcolmson tells how a sheep thief nicknamed Killholter kidnapped a boy in the hills above Cunningsburgh. He kept the boy for two or three weeks living on a diet of mutton. Once he trusted the boy, the two set off for the boy's granny's for bannocks and milk. The boy took him to his uncle's house instead and raised the alarm. Killholter was hanged on the Knowe o Wilga. Mrs Malcolmson visited 'Killholter's Hol' on the hill of Culter Field, where the kidnapping took place, when she was a young girl. Mrs Malcolmson believes Killholter was a nickname. He had two young daughters who were found wandering the hill after his execution, and who eventually settled in Quarff. Children used to be warned to "watch or Killholter'll git you".

Item Notes

Knowe o Wilga [possibly from Old Norse 'galgi' gallows] is one of three gallows hills in Dunrossness.

See:
'Gibbets and Gallows' (Brian Smith, forthcoming), available on Normblog, the blog of Norman Geras, [[normblog.typepad.com/normblog/2006/09/gibbets_and_gal.html]] (accessed 17 November 2008)

Item Subject/Person

Killholter

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Story Other

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good