200-Year-Old Miniature Coffins Unearthed in Scotland, Leaving Researchers Confounded by Their Origin and Purpose

In late June 1836, a group of boys headed out to the slopes of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh to hunt for rabbits. What they found there has remained a baffling mystery ever since.

In a secluded spot on the north-east side of the hill, the boys discovered a small cave in the rock, hidden behind three pointed slabs of slate. Concealed within were 17 miniature coffins.

Eight of these coffins survive to the present day, and are on display in the National Museum of Scotland. Few objects in our collection excite as much intrigue. Who made the intricate carved figures? Who did they represent? Who placed them in their secret sepulchre… and why?

The “fairy coffins” discovered on Arthur’s Seat, a hill above Edinburgh, in 1836. Were they magical symbols, sailors’ memorials—or somehow linked to the city’s infamous mass murderers, Burke and Hare? National Museum of Scotland

Edinburgh in 1830 Public Domain

Arthur’s Seat–a long-extinct volcano–looms above Edinburgh, and has always had the air of a place apart. Wikicommons

Salisbury Crags, on the left, and Arthur’s Seat Geograph, made available under CCL.

Five of the eight surviving coffins discovered in 1836. The photo shows the differences in the clothing of their wooden occupants as well as their varying states of preservation and the two different techniques used to fashion them. National Museum of Scotland

A side view of one of the figurines found on Arthur’s Seat, showing how one arm has been removed to allow it to fit inside its coffin. National Museum of Scotland

Two more figurines, showing details of the stitching and clothing, crucial clues to their likely origin. National Museum of Scotland

William Burke, one half of the infamous pair of “resurrection men” responsible for 17 murders in the Scottish capital during the late 1820s. Public Domain

A close up of two of Edinburgh’s mysterious miniature dolls. Are these intended to be the faces of two victims of the notorious bodysnatchers Burke and Hare? National Museum of Scotland