Witchcraft history · Haunted street · Edinburgh folklore
Major Weir – Wizard of West Bow
Upper Bow and West Bow · Old Town · Edinburgh
A respected soldier and religious figure shattered seventeenth-century Edinburgh with an extraordinary confession. After his execution, his vanished house became one of the city’s most feared addresses.
Photo: Mike Shaw via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
A powerful story with no surviving house
West Bow gives visitors a real setting for one of Edinburgh’s darkest recorded scandals. Thomas Weir’s confession, prosecution and execution belong to documented history; the enchanted staff, fiery coach and haunted house belong to the folklore that followed. The old house itself was demolished, so this is an atmospheric stop within a wider Old Town walk rather than a standalone attraction.
At a glance
Visitor details checked 1 September 2026From Bowhead Saint to public disgrace
Long before the ghost stories, Thomas Weir was known as a soldier, a strict Covenanter and a conspicuously devout figure in Edinburgh’s Old Town.
The Bowhead Saint
Major Thomas Weir had served as a soldier and became known for intense public prayer and religious discipline. Neighbours regarded him as a model of piety, giving him the nickname Bowhead Saint.
That reputation is central to the story. His later confession shocked Edinburgh because it seemed to reveal a hidden life beneath a carefully respected public identity.The confession
In old age, Weir began confessing to serious sexual crimes including incest with his sister Jean and bestiality. The authorities initially doubted him, but his repeated statements and Jean’s testimony led to prosecution.
The confession is documented. Weir’s mental state and the reasons he made it remain debated, so the page does not diagnose him across three and a half centuries.Crime becomes witchcraft
Jean Weir described encounters with the Devil, fairies and supernatural forces. Although the witchcraft charge against her was dropped, those claims helped transform a criminal scandal into a lasting story of sorcery.
Thomas was strangled and burned in 1670. Jean was hanged. Later retellings frequently blur their convictions, confessions and folklore into one dramatic witch trial.Why did West Bow fear an empty building?
After the executions, tradition claimed that no respectable tenant would remain in Major Weir’s house. Stories described unexplained noises, lights and disturbances, while the building acquired a reputation as one of the most haunted places in Edinburgh.
Weir’s blackthorn staff became a character in its own right. In later accounts it moved by itself, opened doors and carried the power behind its owner. A fiery coach was said to return for Weir, racing through West Bow as if the dead Major were still being collected for a journey below.
Other versions add ghostly animals, including a spectral calf, and strange figures appearing around the property. These details belong to the accumulating legend rather than evidence heard at the 1670 trial.
What can the story actually support?
Major Weir is compelling precisely because the records and legends can be examined side by side without pretending they are the same kind of evidence.
Documented
Thomas and Jean Weir lived in the Upper Bow area. Thomas made an extraordinary confession in 1670, both were prosecuted and both were executed that year.
Later tradition
The magical staff, fiery coach and supernatural disturbances are part of the reputation that formed after their deaths. Their value is folkloric, not forensic.
Still uncertain
Historians cannot confidently reconstruct Weir’s mental state or every detail of the house’s later occupancy. Surviving accounts were shaped by religious fear, scandal and repeated storytelling.
A street, a record and a vanished address
The physical destination is modest. The surviving value comes from placing the documented case back into the steep Old Town landscape where it began.
West Bow and Upper Bow
The public streets still preserve the dramatic climb between Grassmarket and the upper Old Town, although nineteenth-century rebuilding altered the route Major Weir knew.
Historic images
Drawings and an early photograph record the building traditionally identified as Major Weir’s house. They are evidence of its remembered appearance, not proof of every haunting attached to it.
No visible remains
The house was demolished during nineteenth-century redevelopment. No surviving room, wall or doorway can be reliably presented as Major Weir’s home today.
Put West Bow into an Old Town walk
This is best treated as a 30 – 60 minute story stop between the Grassmarket and Castlehill, not as an expedition to a building that no longer exists.
A short West Bow history walk
Follow the surviving streets and let the case provide context rather than chasing a false exact pin.
Begin in Grassmarket
Start beneath the Old Town skyline and look towards the curve of West Bow. Jean Weir was executed in this wider area, giving the walk a sobering historical connection before the folklore begins.
Climb West Bow
Walk uphill through the surviving street. Its steep shape and enclosed buildings help explain why stories of coaches, shadows and a feared empty house found such a memorable setting.
Continue to Upper Bow
Use the Curious Edinburgh stop near Riddle’s Court for the approximate modern area. Then continue towards Castlehill and the Witches’ Well if you want the wider history of Edinburgh’s witchcraft prosecutions.
Getting there
West Bow sits between Grassmarket and the upper Old Town. Edinburgh Waverley is within walking distance, and numerous city bus routes serve nearby streets.
Historic area: West Bow and Upper Bow
Approximate trail point: 1 Upper Bow, Edinburgh EH1 2JN
Access and facilities
The route is central and surrounded by visitor facilities, but West Bow is steep and includes uneven or cobbled surfaces. A flatter approach to the upper area may suit visitors who do not want the full climb.
Two more substantial destinations
Go beneath Edinburgh for a preserved historic close, or continue north to one of Scotland’s great haunted castles.
Mary King’s Close
Descend beneath the Royal Mile into preserved streets, plague history and the enduring story of Annie’s room.
Explore Mary King’s Close →Glamis Castle
Explore a major visitor attraction surrounded by the Grey Lady, the Monster of Glamis and centuries of family legend.
Explore Glamis Castle →Visit the real street. Do not invent the house.
Major Weir’s story does not need a surviving haunted bedroom to matter. The confession remains startling, the folklore reveals how Edinburgh remembered it and West Bow provides a genuine sense of place. That makes it a worthwhile two-star stop – modest in what you can see, exceptional in what happened here.