Maggie Wall Witch Monument

The Maggie Wall Witch Monument, located near Dunning in Perthshire, is one of Scotland’s most enigmatic memorials. It consists of a roughly built stone cairn topped with a cross, bearing a painted inscription that reads: “Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a Witch.”

The site is remarkable because, despite Scotland’s long and tragic history of witch trials, no other standing monument commemorates an individual executed as a witch. Yet the mystery deepens: no historical record exists of a woman named Maggie Wall ever being tried or executed in Dunning. Scholars suggest the monument may have been raised in the 18th or 19th century as a symbolic memorial to all women killed as witches, though its true origins remain uncertain.

The cairn has long been a place of local folklore and quiet pilgrimage. Visitors leave offerings — flowers, coins, or written notes — on the stones. The white-painted inscription is periodically renewed, though no one admits responsibility, adding to the aura of secrecy. Whether Maggie Wall was a real victim or an invented figure, the monument stands as a haunting reminder of the cruelty of Scotland’s witch hunts.