Random Legendary Scottish Family That Allegedly Killed And Cannibalized 1,000 Innocent People (14 items)

(#11) The Bean Clan Showed No Sign Of Remorse

The Bean clan didn't show much remorse for their crimes. After all, the children and grandchildren of the family were all raised in an environment where incest, murder, and cannibalism were part of everyday life. At their execution, while watching their family members be tortured and killed, the Bean clan cursed and spat obscenities at the executioners. It's said Sawney Bean continuously repeated, "It isn't over, it will never be over," until he died.
(#10) The Clan Was Brutally Executed

Considering the sadistic nature of the Sawney Bean clan's crimes, it's no surprise their execution was exceptionally violent. Given the amount of bodies found in their cave, there was no trial, and the entire clan was put to death the day after they arrived in Edinburgh. The men were dismembered and left to bleed to death while the women watched, and the women were burned as witches.
(#2) Black Agnes Was Believed To Be A Witch

Bean reportedly left his life as a laborer behind around the time he entered a relationship with Agnes Douglas. While much of her life before their relationship was a mystery, one of the key points of the legend is that after they got together, Douglas was accused of being a witch in East Lothian, Scotland. When Bean and Douglas left their home, it was as much because they no longer wanted to work for a living as it was because both had been rejected by society, as Bean's father was allegedly abusive and Douglas was accused of human sacrifice and conjuring demons.
(#7) Innkeepers Often Took The Blame For Missing Bean Clan Victims

Sawney Bean's murders didn't go unnoticed, even if nobody knew the culprit. In fact, innkeepers were often accused of murdering the missing people, since they were the last known to have seen them alive. As the rumors went, innkeepers robbed and murdered guests, likely while they were sound asleep. Because these rumors threatened business, many innkeepers were forced to quit their professions and move away, which was a significant undertaking at the time.
(#1) Sawney Bean Left A Life Of Work For A Life Of Crime

As the story goes, Alexander "Sawney" Bean was born to an honest ditch-digging and hedging family. Tired of manual labor and looking for an easy way out, Sawney left his family business along with a woman named, according to some stories, "Black" Agnes Douglas. Together, they moved into a cave somewhere on the southwestern coast of Scotland between Girvan and Ballantrae, where they lived for the rest of their lives.

Isolated from society and refusing to work, Sawney and Douglas allegedly survived by ambushing travelers for 25 years.
(#8) Sawney Bean Was Caught After Botching The Murder of A Married Couple

Though their macabre crimes went on for 25 long years, the Sawney Bean clan's reign of terror eventually came to an end. According to legend, the clan attacked a married couple returning from a fair and killed the woman, but the man fought back. In some versions of the story, he had a sword and/or pistol on him; in others, he had a horse that he used to plow through the attackers. Whatever the weapons, the man escaped, notifying others of the clan's location near the cave. After 25 years, the Sawney Bean clan was exposed, and investigations began.