My Macabre Road Trip visits Edinburgh’s Nor Loch, a marshy area that was blockaded and filled with water during the 14th century, and later drained when the city modernized.
During its early years, some 300 men and women accused of being witches and warlocks were given the duck test: tied to chairs and dunked under the icy water of the loch. We know the story: if you drowned, you were innocent. Hooray! If you floated, you were strangled and burned at the stake.
As you might imagine, human bones and skeletons were found when the loch was drained and various construction projects were launched over the decades. The most famous discovery occurred in 1820, when workers found three skeletons believed to be the remains of George Sinclair and his two sisters, who were executed by drowning for the crime of incest.
Fertile ground for a story. What happens next?
