The Cannibal Clan of Scotland: Unveiling the Terrifying Tale of Sawney Bean

Dare to step into the shadows of Scotland's past with us as we unearth the sinister saga of Sawney Bean, the patriarch of perversion whose lifeblood fueled the fire of cannibal folklore. Witness the harrowing transformation of a man from destitution to depravity, as Bean, hand in hand with Agnes Douglas, spawned an unspeakable lineage within the confines of their coastal cavern. Their story—one of robbery, murder, and a voracious appetite for human flesh—rippled through the era, sewing seeds of terror and superstition among the people who dared to speak their name. Remember, there is strength in the strange, so hold fast to what makes you distinctive and embrace the unique and the mysterious. Keep the flame of our collective intrigue for the dark corners of history burning bright.

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Chapters

• 1:36 The Legend of Sonny Bean
• 16:17 Thanking Listeners and Promoting Sponsor

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:36

Instead we have a garment material. This material is printed by hand. Welcome to Dark Crossroads podcast, hosted by Roxanne Fletcher. This is your stop for all things true crime and paranormal. From the infamous story of the New Bedford Highway Killer to the chilling tale of the Black-Eyed Children, dark Crossroads podcast is a truly deep dive into the stories that frighten and fascinate you. All links to the show will be provided in this episode's description, and don't forget to let us know what you think of today's episode wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 1: 2:44

Today's story. We're kind of veering off the true crime and heading into the lore or legend territory. We are covering the story of Sonny Bean and his clan of cannibal killers, which inspired the movie the Hills have Eyes. The head of a 45-member clan in Scotland, sonny Bean allegedly killed and cannibalized over 1,000 victims in the early 16th century, but many questioned if he even existed. The horrific story of the cannibalistic Sonny Bean has gone on to reach legendary status in his native Scotland. Believed to have lived in a cave with about 50 immediate family members, all born of incest, the beans were known for robbing, kidnapping and eventually murdering strangers whom they later dismembered and, of course, would eat Over the course of 25 blood-lusty years. The grisly tale is also believed to be the true story behind the movie the Hills have Eyes. But is the legend of Sonny Bean even real?

Speaker 1: 3:56

The man known as Alexander Sonny Bean was supposedly born in the late 1600s near Edenberg, scotland, though very little is actually known about his early life. What is known is that Bean was raised in an agricultural community and came from a poor family of labourers. Bean's home life was said to be horrible, involving beatings by his father. As he got older, he attempted to become the son his father had always wanted, by taking on the duties of adulthood and by joining the workforce. However, in addition to his general recklessness, he developed a rebellious nature and a deep hatred for labour. As a result, he completely failed in his attempts at earning an honest living and once again he disappointed his father. According to a Scottish historian, bean's story might actually begin at the turn of the 17th century, though he does not appear in any historical records until nearly a century later, in 1755. The historian adds that Bean is also placed in the 15th century, during the reign of James I of Scotland, but no matter what time period in which Sonny Bean may have resided in, he is always viewed as a merciless barbarian. Bean might also have originally been a tanner by trade, and others say that he was first a hedger and a ditcher, and if you didn't know what those two things were because I obviously did not I had to google it, and it literally means what the word says, the first being hedger is somebody who works with hedges or helps sculpt them, and a ditcher is somebody who digs ditches but also maintains them.

Speaker 1: 5:41

Sonny Bean grew tired of trying to fit in with his peers and stopped all attempts at being a productive member of his community. It was at this point that he took up a relationship with a woman by the name of Agnes Douglas, who locals called Black Agnes Douglas, the Dark Witch of Lothian. She was accused of practicing witchcraft, human sacrifice and demon conjuring. The legend goes that the Beans retreated from society and confined themselves in a cave over the sea Now called Benane Cave. The hideaway was said to become hidden when the tide rose high enough. This giant rock formation was allegedly equipped with various tunnels that spanned over a mile in depth and allowed ample space for the young couple to start and raise a hideous family.

Speaker 1: 6:33

The Bean Clan grew quickly, with Sonny Bean's wife eventually giving birth to 14 children. With ever increasing mouths to feed and no real trade to fall back on, sonny Bean turned to robbery and murder to make ends meet, and it didn't take long for his family to help him with his crimes. The Beans worked together to ambush lone travelers and local passerbys and were consequently left with a mountain of bodies to dispose of. As the legend goes, this is how the Beans ultimately turned to cannibalism. The criminal clan was said to hack up the bodies of their victims, quarter them and then pickle them in their cave. As time went on, the family continued to grow. The cave eventually became home to 18 grandsons and 14 granddaughters, all born out of incest. The Bean Clan eventually numbered 45, and all of them had a hankering for human flesh. With what was essentially a small army to help him, sonny Bean went on to orchestrate ambushes with military precision, tracking and pouncing upon their victims, before dragging their lifeless bodies back to the cave to be consumed.

Speaker 1: 7:53

A list of missing persons grew by the day, and occasionally limbs would wash ashore, but the Beans hidden from society went undetected. Instead, local innkeepers became suspects, as they were usually the last people to have seen the missing person in question. Many innkeepers grew fearful of being wrongly accused, and several of them abandoned their inns for other occupations entirely. Another rumor claimed that there were evil beasts living in the wilderness areas surrounding the village. The dead and the dead in the caves are murderous goblin-like creatures from Scottish folklore and were often thought to be the cause of the disappearances. As if that wasn't a strange enough theory, there were many others who claimed that it was the deeds of the Kelpie that caused the disappearances of all of these missing people. Kelpie is a Scottish mythological creature said to live in the locks and rivers, appearing on land as a horse or a pony. Once you climb onto the back of the Kelpie, it rushes back into the water, taking you right along with it.

Speaker 1: 8:58

But the Bean Clan's reign of terror was not to last. One day, the Beans encircled a husband and wife on horseback as they returned from a local fair. The Beans ambushed the couple from behind and took the woman down immediately, gutting her and gnashing on her entrails. Her husband, who witnessed the whore, fought the Beans hard. He barreled over several of them with his horse and pulled out both a sword and a pistol until he was released from their grip. By this time a group of about 30 fellow fairgoers had made their way along the same path, and when the Beans took notice of them, they retreated, though not before exposing themselves as a cannibalistic, cave-dwelling murderer that they were.

Speaker 1: 9:42

Meanwhile, the husband made his way to Glasgow after collecting the remains of his wife, where he implored King James to do something about the bean clan. The king is said to then have personally led a mob of 400 men. The king's bloodhounds led the charge to Benane Cave, where they were met with an unbelievable scene of carnage severed limbs, hanging bodies and piles of stolen loot. When entering the cave's entrance, they could smell the pungent odor of the decaying corpse. They found drying body parts hanging everywhere. To the surprise of this hunting party, the bean clan gave up without a fight, surrendering themselves to the king and his men.

Speaker 1: 10:25

46 people were captured, bound in chains, and marched into Edinburgh that day to await their execution. The locals were said to have been so disgusted with the bean family that they demanded a more painful punishment than mere death. The women and children were hung on stakes, temporarily left alive to watch the men get slaughtered, at which point they were set on fire. As for the male beans, they were each slowly dismembered and left to bleed to death as a reflection of their own cruelty. During the entire execution, not one member of the bean family showed any sign of fear or remorse. They just continuously spat obscenities towards their captives. Through it all, and up until his final breath, alexander Sonny Bean continuously repeated the phrase in as loud of a voice as he could muster it isn't over. It will never be over. Many years after their execution, the bean family ledger was finally found this end with a loot and jewelry from their rampage, now safely locked away in the king's vault.

Speaker 1: 11:38

It wasn't until reading the journal that anyone realized two members of the bean family were unaccounted for on the day of retribution. Since the missing person reports had almost completely stopped in the area, no one was ever sent to investigate the cave again. They simply assumed that the two must have already died at an earlier date. Who knows what really happened to the missing members of the bean clan? Some say that they're all dead, but many believe there are still descendants of the family around today, keeping their numbers small to remain undetected and feeding on the bodies of vagabonds and tourists unlucky enough to cross their path.

Speaker 1: 12:17

But now, today, the question lingers was the legend of Sonny Bean just anti-Scott propaganda, or is it a true story? Many historians contend that the horrific story of Sonny Bean is likely just that a story. In an effort to defame the Scots, it was believed that the English began rumors that, like Sonny Bean, they were cannibals and savages. The gruesome story of Alexander Sonny Bean, whether be true or not, would nonetheless go on to inspire media for years to come. As it turns out, sonny Bean is even behind the true story of the Hills have Eyes. The grisly film centers around a family who has become stranded in the Nevada desert and are subsequently hunted and terrorized by a group of inbred mutants who live in the nearby mountains. In the movie, just as in the story of Sonny Bean, this terrifying brood of cannibals preys on unsuspecting travelers, murdering, eating and pickling them in their house of whores. The film was directed by writer and filmmaker Wes Craven and was released in 1977 to terrified audiences. According to Craven, the Hills have Eyes came from an article that he saw in the New York Library about the Sonny Beans.

Speaker 1: 13:34

Centuries have passed since the infamous Bean Clan ravaged Scotland with their cannibalism, but it doesn't mean that people have forgotten. Today, though the story is now part legend and part history. The Beans are still intriguing people as they, in their story, have become a tourist attraction In Edinburgh. You can take a tour of the infamous cave of the Bean Clan and discover all the remains of humans and other various leftovers. Known as the Edinburgh Dungeon. This tourist attraction puts visitors right in the Sonny Bean action by using actors, theatrical effects, stages, scenes and rides to recreate the Sonny Bean experience, as well as many other dark tales of Scotland. If going to a theatrical Sonny Bean recreation isn't your thing, you can visit the actual cannibal cave. Though the cave is off the beaten path, adventurous souls can take a treacherous climb down a rock face near the waterline to reach the Benane Cave and explore the hideout of the Notorious Family. The place is marked by a sign dedicated to Snib Scott, a recent inhabitant who lived in the cave until 1983. Through all of this, one thing is for certain that Sonny and his family will continue to intrigue people well into the future.

Speaker 1: 15:07

All right, guys. So thank you so much for hanging out again today. For more details on the podcast or the cases that we covered, then head on over to the website wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom, where we have all of the episodes, information about the podcast, merch and also a blog covering every single case and it going into more description, including links to all the places that you need to make phone calls to or resources regarding the case. You can also find us on most social media platforms. Don't forget to like, share rate, review, subscribe wherever you're listening to us. You can subscribe to the podcast. There is a link in all episodes in the notes that will send you to our subscription page and with that you will get bonus content, discount on future merch and a lot of other extra goodies and kind of behind the scenes information. So every single donation, through the subscription and any other place, goes straight to the podcast. It helps fund research and it really helps us out to keep this podcast going.

Speaker 1: 16:18

So before I go, I just want to thank all of my listeners for your continued support and for sending in cases that you wanted covered and stories that you wanted read on the podcast. We truly accept all stories scary, paranormal, funny. Anything that you want read or you want me to know, send it in. And any cases that you want covered, please send in. You can email those to darkcrossroadspodcastcom. And, with all of this said, please don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone. Dark Crossroads podcast is brought to you by Problem Wildlife. Problem Wildlife serves all of western Massachusetts and has been humanely protecting your house and your family from unwanted pests for over 20 years. Take back your space with an animal control service that you can trust. They are family owned, fully licensed and are knowledgeable and dependable. To find out more about their services, simply visit their website at wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom. Again, that is wwwproblemwildliferemovalcom, and their information will be included in our show notes.