Today West Bow is the sweet little-cobbled street in Edinburgh and though at first glance it seems almost picturesque with its beautiful shops and cafe’s you would never guess that it is hiding one of the Old Town’s darkest secrets.
West Bow resident, Major Thomas Weir and he was a well-respected member of Edinburgh society. He held regular prayer sessions that would attract a large religious community and in 1650 was appointed the Commander of the Edinburgh Town’s guard. So to everyone else, he seemed like an upstanding citizen so no one could have known that in 1670 that all of that would change. He fell ill that year and started confessing to crimes he had apparently committed over the years, those crimes were bestiality, incest and witchcraft but when he was confessing all of this people didn’t believe him. Not until his sister also confessed to his crimes and said that the sauce of his power came from his stick he walked everywhere with, she also said that he had apparently ridden in a phantom carriage with a demonic driver and those who met Weir before his illness would say that the cane he carried would dance in front of him, though if that were true people wouldn’t have been so surprised that he claimed to be the Follower of the Lord of Darkness.
But this caught the government to off guard that at first, they refused to believe him but after him confessing over and over again to a life of sin he was sentenced to death after a short trial.
His house stayed empty for many years as no one wanted to stay in the place where so much sin took place. Later on, an elderly couple bought it near the end of the 18th century but after their first night there they ran out screaming into the streets claiming that they had seen a series of demonic apparitions which really made them rethink their purchase.
For many years it was believed that the house was demolished in order to get rid of the demons inside, but recent research suggests that it was actually incorporated into the Quaker Meeting House which would explain the paranormal activity which was associated with the Weir House that now happens in the Meeting Room. Among the many strange events that happen in the meeting room workers have reported seeming Thomas Weir roaming around the building.
