Cannibal Sawney Bean Returns to Bennane Cave

Cannibal Sawney Bean Returns to Bennane Cave

A bust of 16th century cannibal, Sawney Bean has been left at Bennane Cave near Lendalfoot by a mysterious artist. The cave was home to the 45 strong Sawney Bean clan that murdered and ate over 1000 people.

Bean and his clan members were eventually caught by a search party sent by King James VI, and were executed for their heinous crimes.

Alexander "Sawney" Bean (sometimes also given as Sandy Bane, etc.) is a legendary figure, said to have been the head of a 45-member clan in Scotland in the 16th century that murdered and cannibalised over 1,000 people in 25 years. According to the legend, Bean and his clan members were eventually caught by a search party sent by King James VI, and were executed for their heinous crimes.
Bean left home with an allegedly vicious woman named 'Black' Agnes Douglas, who apparently shared his inclinations and was accused of being a witch. After some robbing and the cannibalisation of one of their victims, the couple ended up at a coastal cave in Bennane Head between Girvan and Ballantrae. The cave was 200 yards (180 metres) deep and the entrance was blocked by water during high tide, enabling the couple to live there undiscovered for some 25 years.

The pair produced six daughters, eight sons, 14 granddaughters, and 18 grandsons. The grandchildren were said to be products of incest between their children.
Lacking the inclination for regular work, the Bean clan thrived by laying careful ambushes at night to rob and murder individuals or small groups. They brought the bodies back to their cave, where the corpses were dismembered and eaten. They would pickle the leftovers and discarded body parts in barrels; these leftovers would sometimes wash up on nearby beaches. This strategy helped conceal their crimes by leading villagers to believe that animals were responsible for the attacks on travellers.
The body parts and disappearances did not go unnoticed, but the clan stayed in their cave by day and took their victims at night. Thus, the villagers remained for a time unaware of the murderers living nearby.