IV. AN ACCOUNE WATCH-HOUSESTH F O T , MORTSAFES PUBLID AN , C VAULT ABERDEENSHIRN SI E CHURCHYARDS, FORMERLY USED FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE DEAD FROM THE RESUR- RECTIONISTS. BY JAMES RITCHIE, F.E.I.S., CORK. MEM. S.A. SOOT. difficuls i t I presene thosr th fo tf eo t generatio realiso nt feelinge eth s of horror with which body-snatching was regarded about a century ago. Nowaday have sw feao en r tha r e friendgraveth tou f o ss will e desecrateb d theian d r bodies carried of f; eve e possibilitth n f yo suc n evena h t never s differenoccurwa t o anyonei t s tt oncBu . e upon a time. Stories are still current amongst the older folks in some country districts which show how deep and widespread was the feeling agains e Resurrectioniststh t thoss raiseo a , e bodiewh ed th s froe mth grave were aptly called. These men were in the habit of coming in e dea th nighf do somo t t e lonely churchyard wher recenea t interment 6 28 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MARC , 191211 H . d takeha n place. They brought with them implements with which they opened the grave, broke open the cofim, and removed the corpse ; and this they afterward anator s fo sol t i thos o -wishedt o e us ewh o dt mical purposes. Suspicion was not awanting that in many cases some local person, often the gravedigger, was in league with the body- snatchers, giving them notice of the interments, and sharing in their ill-gotten gains. There is an interesting tradition bearing on this point, connected with a burial in the churchyard of Inverurie in the early part of the seventeenth century. Merjorie Elphinstone, wife of Walter Innes of Ardtannes, a small estate on the banks of the Don about a mile from Inverurie e s churchyardburieth ,wa n i dieddd an , . Durine th g nigh gravediggee th t r re-opene gravebode e dth r th lifted t yfo an , dou e purposth f takineo g som ee burie ringth f dsof woman's fingersn I . doing so he wakened the sleeper out of the trance into which she had fallen d whic an d bee, hha n mistake r deathnfo . Merjorie recovered, and, proceeding to Ardtannes, where she arrived towards midnight, knocked at the door. Her husband, sitting up with some sympathetic friends, hear e sounddth remarked an , d t s Merjori thahi no f i d t ha e been dead and buried, that knock would have been hers. On opening the door he found that the visitor was indeed his Merjorie, who was said to have lived for several years thereafter. Her tombstone (fig. 1), with its quaint figures and fine lettering, was originally inside churcd ol e hth pulle dstand graveyar w e dowth no t n s1775i i n i t bu ,d beside the four sculptured stones there. The date of her death is given as 1622, but there is no mention of the previous burial on the stone. Somewhat similar storie e currenar s othen i t r districtsd an , thoug he simpl b man y yyma floating traditions which have become localised, some have probably a basis of fact; for when doctors were few and far between, and medical science had not advanced as at the present day, a stat f como e a might easily have been mistaker nfo death. WATCH-HOUSES, MORTSAFES, AND VAULTS IN ABERDEENS.HIRE. 287 Edinburgh obtained an unenviable notoriety in connection with body-snatching, owing to the revelations made at the trial of Burke and Hare in 1828. The feeling against those body-snatchers and murderers, as well as against those to whom they sold the bodies. Fig . Tombston1 . Merjorif eo e Elphinston Inverurin ei e Churchyard. wa greao s s t that eve e schooth n l childre t theia n r play sane gth refrain :— " Hang Burke, banisli Hare, Burn Knox in Surgeon Square." But the feeling against the Resurrectionists was not confined to Edinburg s neighbourhooit d an h d widee t i spreaan Th d: r . fa d 288 fBOCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MARCH 11, 1912. whole country was moved, and in most of the churchyards precautions were adopte proteco dt gravee th t s from desecration. mose Th t natural mean preventinf so e liftine corpsgth th s f go ewa tha relativee th tdeceasee th f so d should watc grave hth e durine gth night fo lengta r timf ho e sufficien rendeo t t bode th r y useles thoso st e who wanted it. And this was the method commonly adopted, but it could never have been a very popular method, and was only under- taken unde strona r g sens feelin a f dut eo d f deeyan go e p th lov r efo deceased generalls wa t I e inal.yth e relative r friendso s upon whom fell the work of taking turns in watching in the churchyard. But occasionally a woman, inspired by an intense desire to protect the remains of some loved one, took part in what must have been to her a particularly trying duty. In one instance known to me a widow toor sharhe kn watchini e - r husbande gravRe he th g f e o e Th . surrectionists had visited the churchyard a short time before her husband's death, and had by mistake in the darkness opened the wrong grave. Somethin d theha gn apparently alarmed themr fo , they fled, leaving the grave open, and the corpse exposed. The wind blew a portion of the grave-clothes into the branches of a neighbouring tree, wher white eth e cloth, flappin winde th n g,i greatly alarmed some workmen passing by in the early morning, until one, braver than the others, entere e churchyarth d d discoverean d e causth d f theio e r alarm. This event naturally created a sensation in the district, and e widow'th le o dt r power she resolution i , y la s prevento a nt r fa s a , any interference with her husband's grave. n somI e district s saii t di s that alarm guns were fixeth o s e n i d churchyard that anyone moving about ther t nighea t woul sure db e to stumble against the wires attached to them, and thus set off the alarm. This plan, however, does not seem to have been adopted, at extenty leasan o Aberdeenshiren t ti , there instanco us n er s it fo ,f eo s comha e unde noticey m r . Thos watcheo e churchyardewh th n di s were, however, generally armed r thefo , y knew they might have WATCH-HOUSES, MORTSAFES, AND VAULTS IN ABEKDEENSHIEE. 289 desperate characters to encounter. The watchers needed to be brave eerin a s e occupatiowa t i men r fo , n watchin e stillnesth e th n gi f o s night amon e dead gth doubtlesd an , s their nerves were often highly strung. In one case the minister's white pony, straying into the churchyard fro neighbourine mth e causg th field f unnecessars eo wa , y alarm. On another occasion a pig which had by some means got into a churchyard lost its life through its inability to answer the challenge of the alarmed watchers, who therefore fired in the direction whence the sound proceeded. An amusing incident occurred in a lonely churchyard in Aberdeenshire along the side of which passes a little- frequented farm road. parte a evening Latf th o yn ei e engageon , d n protectini s friend hi ga grav f o se e trudginhappeneon e se go t d homewards along passinthis swa roadchurchyarde e jusgh d th s an ,a t , the watcher called out to him, inviting him by name to come into the churchyard beside him. The startled man fled with all speed, and on reaching home tols frienddhi t lon no sliveo g t tha d knee ,ha h t e wh for a voice from the grave had called on him to enter the churchyard. Next day the incident was satisfactorily explained, and apologies e watchemadeth r fo , r himself fel mucs t thawa s blam o ht e hi h t r efo thoughtless invitation. WATCH-HOUSES. To spen e churchyarnighe th dth n i t tryina s dwa g ordeal ever fo , n in summer the nights became wonderfully cold, and in stormy winter weather some kind of shelter became absolutely necessary. In some places use was made of a dwelling-house close to the churchyard, from e windoth f whicwo a hgoo de placvieth f ewo coul e hadb dn I . other place smala s l buildin e churchyarth n gi d itselusea s s wa a df e watchershelterth d an , s spen nighe th t t there, occasionally coming out and taking a walk round to see that everything was safe. If all stories be true, the comforts of these shelters, and perhaps also the potenc e refreshmentth f yo s somn usedi d e le e ,watcher caseth o st s VOL. XLVI. 19 290 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , MARC , 1912H11 . neglecting their duty, e morninonl th fino yt n i d g that their labour bodbeee d beed th ha vai n yi d ha n nan lifte d while they were reposing snugly in the shelter room.