Why a Booktrail?
1724: Inspired by an infamous real-life case
The Mourning Necklace
What you need to know before your trail
In a tavern just outside Edinburgh, Maggie Dickson’s family drown their sorrows, mourning her death yet relieved she is gone. Shame haunts them. Hanged for the murder of her newborn child, passers-by avert their eyes from her cheap coffin on its rickety cart.
But as her family pray her soul rests in peace, a figure appears at the door.
It is Maggie. She is alive.
Bruised and dazed, Maggie has little time for her family’s questions. All that matters to her is answering this one: will they hang her twice?
Locations
Reset- Scotland - Edinburgh
- A: Sheep Heid Inn Edinburgh
- B: Maggie Dicksons
- C: Grassmarket
- D: Musselburgh
- Scottish Borders - Kelso
- E: Kelso bridge/River Tweed
Travel Guide
Edinburgh
Maggie Dickson lived from about 1702 to about 1765. She was a fish-wife who came to fame after being convicted of killing her newly born baby. She survived her subsequent execution and was subsequently known as Half-Hangit Maggie.
She was born in Musselburgh in about 1702 and in 1723 she found work at an inn in Kelso, and subsequently “fell pregnant” after a relationship with the innkeeper’s son. She abandoned the baby near the river and claimed it had died of natural causes. She was arrested and hanged. However she managed to survive and lived for another 40 years.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Mourning Necklace
Destination/location: Edinburgh Author/guide: Kate Foster Departure Time: 1724
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