Mini Coffins of Edinburgh

 Have you ever wondered if you discover coffins on a quest to find rabbits?

And that also not of humans but of small dolls?

Well, this is what happened in Edinburg in 1836,

While playing in Arthur's seat, a group of boys stumbled upon a small cave in the rocks. They found seventeen mini coffins inside the cave, each containing a mini-doll.

Yes, dolls, and if you don't believe me check out the National Museum Of Scotland.

Eight of the seventeen coffins that survived are displayed there.

Unique collection to be kept safely in a museum right!

Now coming, to the question why are these coffins are so famous? Could they be a foul joke? or something a child did while playing?

Nah!

Things are never so simple!

Let's start with the dolls, each of the dolls is dressed differently and could be differentiated from one another. They are assumed to be originally small wooden soldier toys. The coffins are so tiny that some of the toys have their limbs removed to fit in. 

Coming to the coffin, each one is approximately 95mm in length and has carvings on their surface that also seem to be different from one another. They were arranged in three tiers, two tiers of eight and one solitary coffin on top.

Though most researchers think that all the coffins are made by the same person the question still remains!

 Why? why would someone make coffins of dolls and why hide them in Arthur's seat of all places?

Let's dive into the different theories behind these Lilliputian coffins.

Since these were discovered in the 1800s of course one of the first theories published in newspapers would be witchcraft and demonology!

How intuitive!

They must have thought something like "These look similar to voodoo dolls so blame the satanic cults!"

This was one of the theories published in The Scotsman on 16th July 1836.

Almost a month later, the Edinburgh Evening Post suggested a new theory. It mentioned an ancient custom of Saxony, where friends who were lost in distant lands were buried in effigy.

Caledonian Mercury, Talked about the existence of a superstition, where sailors lost in the sea were buried in effigies by their wives to give them a Christian Burial.

But these two theories still raise questions why seventeen coffins? or why bury them at a Volcanic hill?

Obviously, no answer was found.

The coffins disappeared for some time after being auctioned off. They reappeared in 1901 when they were donated to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Society somehow concluded that the coffins could be honorific burials.

But the case didn't stop there!

Of course, if it stopped there with such a simple theory, we Mystery seekers wouldn't have anything to discuss.

Besides, if they were honorific burials why make these dolls so creepy, that the children almost destroyed them.

Five years later in 1906, The Scotsman published another interesting but absurd story. 

The story was relayed by a woman who lived in Edinburgh, her father, was visited by a daft man. who had once drawn on a piece of paper three coffins with dates 1837, 1838, and 1840. following that incident in the autumn of 1837 a relative of her father died, in 1838 his cousin demised, and in 1840 his own brother. After the funeral, the daft man again appeared glaring at him, and then disappeared forever. Even if the article hinted that the daft man could be the original creator of these Arthur seat coffins. But they could also be a mere series of coincidences.

In 1976 Walter Havernick, director of the Museum of Hamburg History, came up with a new theory. according to a German superstition of keeping mandrake roots or dolls in tiny coffins as talismans, he postulated that these coffins could be lucky charms for sailors. Even though charms were still used in 19th-century Scotland, no evidence of such seafaring tradition was found.

I guess you are tired after reading so many theories,

So, now let's discuss the most interesting theory!

The Mystery of Murder Dolls.

Edinburgh became renowned for medical science by the early 1800s. The field of medical science is based on understanding the body's mechanisms, so of course, anatomy plays a vital role in this honorable study. We all know anatomy requires a human body to be dissected. With a rise in medical schools and students, fewer criminals punished with the death penalty, and diseases being treated better, there soon became a shortage of cadavers for anatomical studies.

The news of this soon spread like wildfire among criminals, who saw it as an opportunity, and body snatching from churchyards became a common thing. Thus, most of the criminals shifted to suppliers of dead bodies for medical schools. Among these suppliers, two soon attracted the attention of people, as the bodies they supplied seemed not to come from the graveyards.

The two Irish immigrants William Burke and William Hare ran a boarding house in Edinburgh. One day one of their elderly lodgers accidentally died still owing them money. To make up for their losses they sold the body to Dr. Robert Knox. This is how their murderous business started. 

Why murderous?

Because the rest of the bodies they sold none of them were accidental death anymore.

At first, Burke and Hare started abducting travelers then they became sloppy and started murdering townspeople who were easily recognized by others. The small mistake became their doom and William Burke was hanged after Hare confessed to his crimes. In the 10 months of their murder journey, they killed 16 people. After Burke died his body was also dissected and used for anatomical studies. 

How ironic!

Interestingly, a lot of people were admitted to the hospital that day just to observe his body.

So 16 victims and one of their murderers: could this be the answer we are looking for?

Could someone have felt pity and buried the people, murdered in cold blood who never got a proper funeral in this way?

The only logic against this theory is that their victims were predominantly women but toys were male.  Then again premade soldier toys.

Or is there some other story behind the miniature coffins? feel free to comment below.

If you don't know Arthur's seat is associated with the legendary King Arthur, not only that it was the home to the Celtic Voltadini Tribe in 400AD. 

Obivously, a story like this will attract a lot of creative attention. Ian Ranking, wrote  in his thriller book 'Fall', "Plenty of people over the years have come up to me with their excited notions of plots for my next book. I’ve found precious few of them to be helpful, or viable, but I was intrigued by these ‘little dolls’… which is how I made the acquaintance of the Arthur’s Seat coffins… As soon as I saw them, I knew they would make a great story, especially as no one had come up with an incontrovertible interpretation of their meaning. In other words, there was a story to tell about them…"

In 2006 the novel was adapted for television, and replicas of the coffins were produced. These replicas often replaces the originals when they were required to be presented somewhere else.

The mystery continues...

In December 2014, the museum received a beautiful replica of the coffin cryptically named XVIII, attached to it was a note which quoted the climax from a chilling short story 'The Body Snatcher' by Robert Louis Stevenson.

These tiny coffins will continue to attract more attention in the future. We can just hope for this mystery to be solved one day.

Blue rose belles

( Archie)