Muschat's Cairn

DIFFERENT CATEGORY - a cairn rather than an inscribed stone, and this is a genuinely important find: it means Scotland has at least two documented murder-marker sites, not just the Ardwell stone as Wikipedia and several other sources claim. Margaret Hall (known as Ailie), 17, was murdered by her husband Nicol Muschat - a surgeon who had already tried to poison and frame her for adultery - on Duke's Walk near Holyrood Park on 17 October 1720; he later confessed he had simply grown tired of her. He was hanged in the Grassmarket. The original cairn stood closer to the actual murder site near St Anthony's Chapel and was removed around 1789 for a footpath; the current cairn, at a slightly different spot, dates from 1823. It's historically been known by the killer's name rather than the victim's, something recent commentary (Historic Environment Scotland's own blog, and a University of Edinburgh gender-studies piece) has pushed back on. Sir Walter Scott references the cairn in 'The Heart of Midlothian'. DETAIL DISCREPANCIES FOUND ON RE-READING THE CITED SOURCE IN FULL: Historic Environment Scotland's own blog (already listed below, now read in full) gives Margaret Hall's age at marriage as 16 (5 September 1719), which would make her about 17 at her death in October 1720 - consistent with the age above, but worth noting the blog doesn't state her age at death directly. It also describes Nicol Muschat as 'a medical student' rather than a practising surgeon, and does not mention a poison-and-adultery-framing scheme as such - instead listing several separate, failed murder attempts (poisoning with mercury dichloride, drowning, a staged fall from a horse, a hammer attack) before the fatal knife attack near Duddingston Kirk. These aren't necessarily contradictions (a medical student could reasonably be described loosely as training toward surgery, and the attempts could include an adultery frame-up not covered in this particular summary), but worth reconciling against a fuller biography before treating either version as complete. NEW DETAIL (Edinburgh Live, 18 Oct 2019, quoting Sir Walter Scott's footnote to 'The Heart of Midlothian'): names an accomplice, Campbell of Burnbank, 'a brutal libertine and gambler', who conspired with Muschat to destroy Ailie's reputation and so let Muschat obtain a divorce on false pretences; when that plot and at least one poisoning attempt failed, Muschat killed her by cutting her throat. Campbell was transported to Australia for his part in the conspiracy - Muschat was hanged alone for the killing itself. Scott's footnote corroborates 'surgeon' (matching this entry's original wording) over the Historic Environment Scotland blog's 'medical student'. UNCONFIRMED CLAIM: the same Edinburgh Live piece says the cairn 'was recreated in the 1800s - possibly on the orders of King George IV' - not corroborated elsewhere here, but plausible in timing given the King's high-profile 1822 state visit to Edinburgh, a year before this entry's other sources date the current cairn to (1823); worth verifying against a source that actually documents royal involvement before treating it as more than a claim.