Sawney Bean Is Scotland’s Most Famous Cannibal And The Inspiration Behind ‘The Hills Have Eyes’

Living in a dark cave, a family of sick inbred cannibals ambush and kill passersby before eating their corpses.

It sounds like the plot of a violent horror movie.

And it practically is. The Hills Have Eyes, a horror film directed by Wes Craven in 1977, was actually influenced by a much scarier piece of Scottish folklore, which is the thing that scares me the most.

The tale of Alexander "Sawney" Bean and his 45-member clan appears to have served as a loose inspiration for the cult classic.

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The movie might be on the TV schedule as Halloween draws near.

Few people will be aware, however, that the horror film is based on the strange story of the Beans, a man-eating swarm rumored to have killed thousands of people before eating them.

According to reports, Craven discovered the legend while looking for reference books at a New York library.

In his film, a family finds itself stranded in an atomic world full of bloodthirsty mutant cannibals.

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While many people think the Sawney narrative is real, some historians are not so sure.

It is still a part of Scottish legend, nevertheless, and was gruesome enough to capture Craven's attention.

Legend has it that Sawney was born in East Lothian around 1500. He maintained a regular life and tried to become a ditch digger and hedge trimmer like his father, but soon realized the work was not for him.

He left his house, teamed up with "Black" Agnes Douglas, and they set up residence in a ball cave close to Ballantrae on the Ayrshire coast.

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The couple, who was self-sufficient, had six daughters, eight sons, fourteen granddaughters, and eighteen grandsons. It is alleged that some of the grandchildren are the products of incest.

The Beans had no communication with the outside world, but they would gather in the darkness of the night to ambush any passing travelers—individuals or groups—who came close to their cave.

According to the legend, the poor people who fell prey to the tribe were frequently mauled to death.

The family was able to avoid detection since the cave was around 180 meters deep and the entrance was blocked by water at high tides.

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After killing their victims, they allegedly carried them back to their cave where they dismembered, cooked, and consumed them alongside leftovers, frequently pickled and salted.

It has been estimated that they slaughtered and ate 1,000 individuals over a 25-year span and that body parts were frequently discovered washed up on surrounding beaches.

But when more people vanished, the community started to pay attention.

Although searches were conducted, the culprits were never identified.

The search crew discovered the cave during one hunt, but they did not think any humans could have lived there.

A particularly horrific section of the narrative involves a couple who were leaving a fair on horseback when the Beans ambushed them. The woman was killed by mauling after being pulled off the horse.

Her husband is alleged to have seen the clan cut his wife's throat, rip open her stomach, and eat her internal organs.

Before the family could turn their attention to him, a group of thirty additional fairgoers appeared on the trail.

The large group then took him away so that he could tell magistrates about his horrifying experience.

According to some accounts, King James IV (after James I of England) was informed of the tragedy and ordered the formation of a search party made up of men and dogs to find the clan.

The family's existence was ultimately made known after twenty years.

The group entered the caves, but despite hours of searching, they were unable to find anything or anyone until dogs detected the scent of body parts that were still dangling from the cave's walls.

Hoards of bodies, clothes, and other items belonging to the Beans' victims were discovered after their capture.

They were transferred to Edinburgh, where they were found guilty of their horrific actions and given the death penalty.

The Daily Record claims that Sawney and 27 other male family members were drawn and quartered.

According to other accounts, the men allegedly had their hands and feet cut off and their genitalia removed before being forced to bleed to death in front of their female relatives, who were subsequently burned as witches.