Discovered in 1836 on the slopes of Arthur’s Seat, a hill near Edinburgh, Scotland, the Fairy Coffins are a set of mysterious miniature coffins, each housing a small doll. Their exact origin is unknown, but local lore links them to a series of murders committed by William Burke and William Hare, who sold their victims’ corpses to a local medical school. The miniature coffins number exactly equal to the number of Burke and Hare’s victims, and they were discovered hidden in a crevice only a few years after the pair were caught.
That’s a popular explanation, but not the only one. Would two middle class murderers who killed for profit be interested in creating fetishes of their crimes? Another theory says the miniatures were created to memorialize sailors lost at sea. Is there a better origin story for these fascinating artifacts? Is it only coincidence that they were discovered at a place named for King Arthur? What happens next?
