Evidence of Human Sacrifice in Seacliff Cave, Scotland

Extract

It is perhaps rather late in the day to be describing an experience of twenty-nine years ago, but unless it is done now, possibly a unique relic of the past, though still in existence, may remain unknown to a large majority of antiquaries.

It was on the 15th of April, 1905, that accompanied by Miss Outram, I started from North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland, on a voyage of discovery along the picturesque coast. Our goal was a cave opened out rather more than a hundred years ago by Mr. George Sligo, on his property of Seacliff, in the county of Haddington. According to tradition there was incontestable evidence that on this spot human sacrifices had been offered in the remote past. Fired by these dramatic accounts, we decided to seek out the cave for ourselves, and if possible, to test the accuracy of these statements.

A short drive took us to Seacliff House, marked by a cross on fig. 1. In the foreground stands Tantallon Castle, the ruined stronghold of the Douglases, and in the cliff beyond the promontory on which the Castle stands is Seacliff Cave below the arrow (fig. 1).

As we turned the corner in the winding descent from the cliff, it was an arresting scene which held us for amoment spell-bound. At the mouth of a cave, hollowed out in the red sandstone cliff, stood a large pear-shaped stone, with every appearance of an altar, raised upon an artificial mound (fig. 3). Its surface, which was approximately flat, was covered with a small blood-red plant, which had crept over it, and hanging down, seemed to drip over the edge, conjuring up with startling effect, the scene of some gruesome Pagan sacrifice. It was with feelings almost akin to awe that we entered the cave, where other remains were equally suggestive both of occupation and worship.