Archaeology & History

Expert reconstructs face of Scottish 'witch'

By T.K. Randall
October 31, 2017

Image: Various Artifacts of Traditional Witchcraft
Credit: Malcolm Lidbury (aka Pinkpasty) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) Lilias Adie, whose remains were discovered buried beneath a large stone on the coast of Fife, was imprisoned in Scotland in the 18th century for allegedly 'confessing' to being a witch.

She died in jail in 1704 before her sentence of death by burning could be carried out.

Now forensic artist Dr Christopher Rynn from Dundee University's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification has used photographs of her skull to create a 3D reconstruction of her face."There was nothing in Lilias' story that suggested to me that nowadays she would be considered as anything other than a victim of horrible circumstances," he said. "So I saw no reason to pull the face into an unpleasant or mean expression and she ended up having quite a kind face, quite naturally."

Most suspected witches from the time would have been burned rather than buried.

"It was a truly eerie moment when the face of Lilias suddenly appeared," said BBC Radio Scotland presenter Susan Morrison. "Here was the face of a woman you could have a chat with, though knowing her story it was a wee bit difficult to look her in the eye."

How to resurrect a 300 year-old witch ðŸ'€ #HappyHalloween 🎃 from the University of Dundeehttps://t.co/dPSe4ld8JB pic.twitter.com/rSle6NXu66

— University of Dundee (@dundeeuni) October 31, 2017

Source: BBC News

Tags: Witch, Scotland