The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)

Cannibal butcher and Perth witch to star at Scone Palace show

- Jamie buchan

Real-life horror tales from bygone days will be aired at a Halloween spectacula­r next month.

Scone Palace is preparing to launch a spine-tingling special effects show featuring an illuminate­d tour of the grounds, graveyard and a ghoulish maze.

It follows the success of last year’s event, launched with the help of the creative team behind Pitlochry’s Enchanted Forest, which attracted 3,000 visitors.

A Perth-based theatre group is researchin­g some of the area’s most gruesome stories and characters for this year’s show.

Ad-Lib Theatre Arts has been digging into tales of a cannibal butcher and a witch.

Christie Cleek was a butcher in Perth during the 14th Century.

According to folklore, Cleek – real name Andrew Christie – joined a group of scavengers in the foothills of the Grampians during a period of severe famine.

When one of his companions died of starvation, Cleek used his culinary skills to serve him up as a tasty treat for the rest of the group.

And after developing a taste for human flesh, the scavengers, under Cleek’s leadership, began ambushing passing travellers. Cleek was known to haul his victims from horseback using a hook or “cleke”.

The group was eventually defeated by soldiers from Perth, but Cleek is said to have survived and quietly slipped back into society under a new name.

Another inspiratio­n for this year’s show is Bessie Wright, a healer from Scone who was investigat­ed for witchcraft in the 17th Century.

Bessie, who claimed to use a 1,000-year-old medical book to cure sick locals, was at the centre of a 1626 probe into “unacceptab­le healing rituals”.

She was ordered to stop offering healing advice within the burgh of Perth, but ignored the order and was jailed two years later.

The event runs for six nights from Tuesday, October 26.

Organisers say it is not suitable for children under eight.

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