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Lesser Known But Intriguing Historic Criminals

Khalid Elhassan October 17, 2019 32 min

U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History - Crime

29. Scotland’s Biggest Manhunt

King James I of Scotland. Encyclopedia Britannica

A report of the Beans’ foiled ambush and partial butchery of a victim was lodged with the Chief Magistrate of Glasgow. Between that, the extremely long missing persons list from the region, and the preserved body parts washing up ashore every now and then, two and two were put together. The matter was taken straight to the top, to King James I of Scotland.

The king arrived in the region with a force of 400 men, tracker dogs, and with the help of hundreds of local volunteers, launched what must have been the biggest manhunt in Scotland to date. Eventually, the dogs picked up the scent of decaying human flesh at the entrance of a waterlogged cave.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.