Was he beheaded? We uncover the secrets of the Headless Man
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- Опубліковано 26 лис 2023
- This story has everything: war, politics, betrayal, scandal, murder and at its heart a cracking forensic science mystery. This is the story of Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat of the Highland, also known as the Fox.
In the late 1660s, Simon Fraser was born in a house on the banks of a burn in the Highlands of Scotland. Although he was initially not intended to become Chief of Clan Fraser, by luck and by guile in his early twenties, he discovered he had the best claim to this title. For decades his claim remained unstable, leading him into a wild career of political intrigue, violence, blood feuds and tested loyalties - all events that epitomised the Highlands during this tumultuous period.
In 1745, Lovat made the most important decisions of his life when he decided to support Bonnie Prince Charlie’s claim for the British crown. His clan partook at the Battle of Culloden the following year, where the Jacobite rising was decisively defeated. It was the last pitched battle ever to be fought on British soil.
After the Jacobite defeat at Culloden, Lovat was led to London in chains, convicted of treason and subsequently beheaded in 1747 - the last person in history to be beheaded by the British state for treason. Simon Fraser’s life was a fascinating one; yet his story becomes even more interesting following his death. After his execution it was claimed he was buried in London. His family, however, have always maintained that he was brought up to his native Highlands and buried in the family mausoleum.
In this video, Dan joins Professor Sue Black, one of the world’s most respected forensic anthropologists, and her team from Dundee University, as they open the tomb and discover the truth.
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My guess as to why there's a random headless woman in the coffin is that Fraser's clansmen didn't want to turn up back in Inverness without his body. After their efforts to get the real corpse were thwarted, they decided to 'acquire' a headless corpse through either grave robbery or bribery, knowing that by the time it got to Scotland it'd be mostly decomposed anyway, and nobody would be any the wiser.
Woman was probably from Spitalfields in London according to analysis of bones.You are probably right .
Thanks for the spoiler 🤦🏻♂️
@@DistortedSoul2010So, why do you read the comments before watching the video???
Agreed!
@@DistortedSoul2010 for history? Are you kidding me? 😂
Dr Sue is a fantastic character, not just clearly an expert in her field but also and excellent presenter!
What a learning experience it would be, working with her on a case like this!
She's done few other documentaries that are well worth a watch.. can't quite remember the names
@@badgerstan9882Sue Black did two series of History Cold Case in 2010/11. I own it on dvd, great series.
@@badgerstan9882 History: Famous Cold Cases ua-cam.com/video/p-Jef5q7rJY/v-deo.htmlsi=FdWKsuFcVkvTSt6Y
My daughter studied forensics at Dundee university under Sue Black.She was always happy to spend extra time with her students but her main attraction,apart of course from her amazing intellect,was her keeness to impart her knowledge.She was an incredible lecturer with the hall always full,not just with her own students but with everyone else from the university,regardless of their course.There was actually an informal waiting list for those not on her courses to attend her lectures.
Dr Sue Black is brilliant.
Have you read Written in Bone by her? I think she writes about this case... And basically throws shade at Snow for getting over excited.
@@dawnlizreads I’ve read several of her books… it sort of rings a bell.
@@dawnlizreads My step-mother mentioned years back how she wondered about getting into that as a career. I think you've helped me choose one of her Christmas gifts this year.
Thank you all the team for this. Lost to the mists of time, rather appropriate for the misty highlands of Scotland.
At first glance, I thought you said “Dr. Seuss is black.” 😂
Dr. Sue Black did not disappoint! She didn't pull punches when giving unexpected evidence. I really enjoy watching her work and she is a consummate scientist. Had I know she was in this I would've watched sooner.
I worked a bit with sue black at lancaster university. She told me off the first time i met her for calling her 'dame sue' ...because she is ! I was told to just call her 'sue' ! Lovely brilliant woman... in fact i think shes 'baroness sue' now !!
I envy you. She is a fantastic woman, i would love to meet her.
I have to say that Dan and Sue have made a cracking historical video about Simon the Fox. I never saw the conclusion coming. Several bodies in the one casket and no heads found. The young lady and the others without a skull between them brings more questions than answers. Was something more sinister going on? I guess we'll never know, But bones in a casket in the mausoleum look like they were symbolic, that no one knew for sure until recently if Simon was there or not kept the riddle un answered. Well done HistoryHit, another top production. Many thanks for sharing.
I'm frankly refreshed that these presenters don't engage in wild speculation especially when their assumptions are upended at the. They simply digest the new facts and contemplate.
That's how you know they're scientists and not entertainers.
They are consummate professionals,historians and their only objective is to discover truth from the past.
The risks people take for power and prestige never ceases to amaze me.
Whatever the results may be, this is a remarkable story. Thanks for bringing us into this narrative.
Thanks for the spoiler!
Read this, tuned out, thanks
Edited...
To me, one headless body wrapped in funerary shrouds and suffering from ten days worth of decomposition, you aren't going to be examining the corpse that carefully or closely. The wily and opportunistic undertaker gets rid of a body of a nobody by removing their head, giving that to the Fraser's and returns the original body to the crown to keep in favour. Then you get a nobody being essentially someone, a great irony.
Yes, exactly what my thoughts were would make perfect sense to me.
could've been the other way around, frazers get the fox's body and the crown gets the random, but obviously wasn’t
A nobody? She was a person, a woman, and she died young. Judging by your ill-mannered response you are not anyone who will be remembered.
@@ellen4956 im sorry but what are you talking about?
@@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThisShe, and I as well, thought it crass of you to consider her a "nobody"
At the start we learnt that a body was switched in London. Lord Lovett is buried in London. The switched body had the head removed and then was transported to Scotland.
One of your best presentations yet, packed with so much history and entertaining at every turn. Simon Fraser lived quite a life, and was blessed to have such a long one, at that. Interesting fellow. Thanks so much, I really enjoyed this episode. 🇨🇦🇬🇧❤️HH
I'd no real knowledge of this prior to seeing the video. Thanks indeed! Callum is great. Great rhythm, great ornamentation, style, articulation and authenticity. Nice one Dan and team! ⭐👍
I’m having a terrible Monday and this video has made it so much better
Thank you
Why the bad Monday?
@@SlenderMorph1 A property tax issue lol. Had a panic attack which always makes my body hurt. This I was able to focus on though and I’m grateful for that ☺️
@@kariannecrysler640 Hope you are feeling better today, the video certainly was a good one!
@@SlenderMorph1 I’m feeling strong & egalitarian, so I’m gonna say “better” works. 💕 I hope you’re having a great day too
@@kariannecrysler640 Thats good to hear, especially feeling strong. I am thank you, thanks for asking 😃
The initial 'cover' reads 'the last man executed in Britain'. Surely, that was James Hanratty, rather later than Simon the Fox?
Like so many other UA-cam channels, they use clickbait to up viewership unfortunately.
Wasn't it Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans? They were both hung in 64, Hanratty was hung in 62.
It actually says the last man executed/beheaded for TREASON.
That was a truly interesting look into the past. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
I wonder who the women and children were? Dan's reaction is priceless.
Dr Sue Black is utterly brilliant. I wonder what the truth is. We may never know!
Exceptionally well done! Thank you.
this is right on my turf! I have handled human remains for nearly 4 decades now I was 10 when I went to the local archeologist with a sack of human bones found in a sewer ditch when they were replacing the pipes in 1984.
I live in the Dutch city of Leiden my city has a 2000-year history although it didn't really grow that much which means every and any place in the city was a cemetery at one point in time so 9-year-old me an avid amateur archeologist had to hit human remains rather sooner than later
and, I have been finding human bones everywhere in the city in parks, underwater, under old buildings, in wells, in privy pits, in gardens, in antique sewers, on the side of streets and roads, on construction sites, under walls, under grass, under trees, in a chicken coop, in construction dumpsters, in construction soil dumpster bags, in a school playground, in water management ditches, what incompetent archeologists left behind (boneheads!), on parking lot green parts, next to a supermarket, in my own garden, in family gardens, behind my place of work including 2 roman gold rings!, a 16.000-year-old jaw in a deep pit used to disarm a 500 pound WWII bomb!, a rib bone in cement in a 1580s wall, under a removed swimming pool, behind a canal's wall, in the local botanical garden, another rib bone embedded in a tree trunk, at the former place of execution between the roots of a tree planted in 1898 by our former queen I found a fertibray, next to the partial visible city wall (probably plague victims tossed over the wall during the Spanish war (were the city was surrounded), under the floor of the former natural history museum when the floor got renewed, and, finally on a roof in a sea gull's nest.
so, when I said you can find human remains everywhere in the city I wasn't joking! I have been a caretaker of human remains for nearly 4 decades I report all of it and, some I get to keep like the 16.000-year-old lower jaw bone which was carbon dated and quite a number of skulls and other bones, I use those as tutorial items the UA-cam Aquachiger when he would find bones he would exclaim ''is it huuumaaan!! well, I sent him a tutorial private video via Facebook in around 2014 since then I forwarded many such videos to other archeological UA-camrs so they know what to look out for how to identify human remains and what actions to take the gist of that is always alert the authorities first the police then the local head archeologist and the rules to keep human remains in most countries it's perfectly legal to own such remains but in most, they must be verified to be archeological and not modern AKA possible murder victims which I did stumble upon on 2 occasions a sad thing indeed!
having human remains or even dealing in them is also legal in most countries the provenance has to be complete where did it come from and how did I get them and what is the history behind it you need to make a paper trail with the help of the local archeological authorities.
I also bought a lot from medical students now, to do that in my country you need a license because these are antique human medical artifacts and not archeological but, since I had a crystal clear work ethic with the authorities I got that license in a flash!! and, I got some nice sawed-up skulls with brass hooks for the tutorial videos so I can show the inside of a human skull
I have been digging in abandoned cemeteries as well with the help of the professionals non of the finds were to keep except for the coffin nails/screws from the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries I got a wide collection of those they would trash them because they are not historically important well I highly disagree so I kept them all uh all 30 ponds of them! of 15 forgotten now under streets cemeteries.
man! That's a long one! but dealing with human remains you fully need to lay all cards on the table and explain yourself.
Absolutely fascinating! Thank you!
Great mix of fascinating history and forensic science.
Dan might have hyped the possibility that this was Simon Fraser, but that's entertainment.
Fascinating! Thank you.
What a fascinating story. As a total history buff - this was one of best I’ve ever seen! Happy New Year! Bravo!🇨🇦👏👏👏💐🇨🇦
Interesting topic I just love history
What a very interesting video, I had to subscribe right away. Thank you!
Great video!! Extremely informative and interesting
Brilliant video and fantastic detective work. 👏 😊
Fascinating ❤
Wow. Fascinating
What a rollercoaster
It's very unusal to cut off a head right between the vertebrae, with an axe. Anyone taking a head off with a knife would go between the joints, (ex game butcher here). I'd be interested to know whether there were any cut marks on the female's cervical vertebrae. Great show btw. Fascinating!
I loved that, absolutely fascinating
What an excellent episode! I think she has her ancestors eyes after seeing his portrait drawing!
Excellent video.
It would be interesting if they checked the DNA of the remains in the coffin. Maybe they are and I just missed them saying it. I was disturbed by the child’s ribs that were put in there as more than just a couple of loose bones.
Professor Black!!!! Just when I thought this channel couldn’t get any better
"Better be a helluva night" - that look on her face leads me to believe that she's a lot of fun lol
Brilliant.
I love the image portrayed of The Old Fox, by Diana Gabaldon in Outlander. She really highlighted the true essence of this awful rogue. The most entertaining bit (fictional most likely) was the "prostate" excuse to avoid going on campaign himself. 😂
Wow!! my gast was flabbered by this documentary,Dr Sue and Dan the Sherlock Holmes and Watson of forensic investigations!! In trying to solve one mystery they discover more,5 headless corpses .Very poignant the young ladies almost complete skeleton minus the head.
Extremely interesting
It was an unique and thrilled watching video about that mysterious issue and adventures man .thank you (🙏 History Hit) channel
I just have to say... I used to love chocolate mousse. 😢
Misleading title. The last men executed in Britain were Peter Allen and Gwynne Evans, hanged simultaneously in August 1964.
Sue is a true professional
Background music drowns the narration.
Indeed it does!
Very poor production values.
Brutal yet amazing history and very well documented
👏🏻👏🏼👏🏽 🇬🇧 🏴 🏴 🏴
Thanks
Love Sue Black. Would have been nice to end with any historical evidence as to who the woman was. Presumably if it’s a family crypt there would be records?
Very Tragic Period Times in the 17th Century 1600s.
So much Suffering!
Very interesting
Did they give a reason as to why they were rummaging around in human remains ? Usually there needs to be a better reason than "we're nosey". Or am I being over sensitive ?
Surely Gwynne Evans (Strangeways, Manchester - April 1964) and Peter Allen (Walton, Liverpool - August 1964) were the last men hanged in the UK?
So very sad
The cunning fox certainly had a diploma in cunning, and who was the young lady? so many questions that go unanswered!
30:46 Good lord, whose idea was it to have a slow-mo shot of everyone walking toward the mausoleum? It was such a modern TV moment it actually distracted me a little bit. 😅
It is very counter productive to play music louder than the hosts dialog/narration. I had to really focus to try to hear what Dan Snow was saying. I do not understand, what has music got to do with this story ! Why is it drowning out dialog ? Why is it there !???!!!!
Very true!
Dr Sue Black is my all time favourite
From the start of them seeing the coffins, it was pretty obvious that over the many years an awful lot of messing around with the contents will have happened. The result was obvious
So I just finished Gabaldons 7th Outlander book 1 week ago
and lo and behold this pops up
So strange
"Tell it to the Bees" has the foxes grandson Jamie Fraser and wife Claire from Culludon to the American war of Independence.
The second coffin contained Lovetts son he died in battle in America fighting for the Germans on the English throne. A little titbit, William and Harry through Diana "Spencer" are related to the Stuart's so when William is finally crowned a Stuart descendant will finally once more return to the throne.
A headless woman?
The Fox is snickering away in the beyond.❤😂❤
Yes, my mind immediately went to the amazing Diana Gabaldon Outlander book series. Obviously with the Fraser name, but particularly, at the mention of Culloden, central to her stories.
The Hanoverian line was descended from the Stewarts
@@lesliehart
Yes but the Spencer's and Saxe coburg Gothas unite the families under William. It's nice symmetry in an old hurt.
What is the song they started to sing at 3:27?
Simon is snickering from wherever he might be. BUT!!! WHO was the young woman? Did the people who had the original body of Lord Lovett in London after the execution send the old man’s body back to the tower as demanded; then scramble around and find another fat body (man or woman it wouldn’t matter) take off the head, wrapped it up in waxed linen and maybe a cheap coffin to sell to the ones who wanted to take it “home” with them? It didn’t look good for any DNA testing to see if she belonged to the Clan.
"Better be a he'll of a night, lol."
Lady, please remember you're talking about rape here. 😓
I thought was a bit insensitive too. As was her poking and stroking the bones after so much care had been taken by the team to keep them free from contamination. I would have liked to have been told what happened to his 'wife' from that encounter. I hope she was rescued and found a decent husband.
Very fascinating documentary. The one hope I thought I might see , is extracting DNA from the bones and see if they were a match to the surviving Frasers .
Most likely they are. Ppl are, on average, closer related than they assume.
I’m a Fraser! Was my grans maiden name.
So everything decomposes, even if placed in a double lined coffin in a crypt. Would still love to find out the DNA of the headless woman. Wonder where Sue will be buried? We need to record our own history if we want to be remembered. I've tested my DNA, and recording my results to identify my Stewart and other ancestors for posterity.
23:12 William Stanley,one of my direct ancestors.... ooops.
I'm actually quite intrigued by how quickly the Forensic Anthropology team determined the sex of the (Owner? User? Previous recipient of? Sitter upon-er?) of the first Sacrum they found. I suppose it's years of practice.
One thing that caught me off guard was that I had been told in recent years that assigning sex to bones wasn't the standard practice as much anymore. Perhaps as people get older their bones become more obvious? Or maybe it's a difference between forensic anthropologists and archaeologists? Being more confident about that kind of thing might assist in solving cases, I suppose. Then again, that part was recorded in 2017, and time moves very quickly now...
"I had been told in recent years that assigning sex to bones wasn't the standard practice as much anymore."
Probably the result of complaints from the non-binary/gender neutral lobbyists.
@@harbourdogNL Every trans person I know couldn't give two shits what sex people assign their bones hundreds of years after they die, but when I wrote my comment I knew someone would wipe the drool from their chin and make a reply this like this lukewarm take.
I guess it depends on the preservation of the bones and the age of the individual. Like in adult women and men, the pelvic bone's shape would be more obvious than in children.
I found a paper on the subject, published in 2020, it's called "A comparisons of proteomic, genomic, and osteological methods of archeological sex estimation" by scientists from the University of California. It's pretty interesting !
I and my trans niece doesn't care either, but in hundreds of years her bones will still say born male.@@Tinblitz
@@harbourdogNL I'm sure your Trans Niece (Who I'm sure totally exists and you didn't just make up for sake of argument) would appreciate you invoking her existence just to make your opinion have the veneer of legitimacy.
Great doc but I think I watched more adverts than the actual program. 😔
The grand-sire of the fictional character, James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser of Outlander fame..😊
I thought it was funny at 26:00 when they start down the stairs the man says, "Watch your head" when in context they're going to see if the beheaded skeletal remains are in there.
Fascinating story, man I have to get History Hit.
btw, I think Sarah Fraser's story is real. It's just it only happened the other way around. Either at the time of the Old Fox's death or it was fabricated later to rail Jacobite support or as part of some Scottish nationalism sentiment. if they actually got Lord Lovat's body (which I doubt it ) they might've snatched some fresh body from a london Graveyard put it in a sealed lead coffin hoping decomposition would set in long enough for the body to be a bit too spoiled for onlookers to notice they got anyone else. Or they fabricated the claim later by doing the same thing,
either way I just hope that poor woman was already dead before they selected her for the charade.
She said vertebrae was fused like an old person then the story changed like huh?
oh yeah, youre right!
good auld simon fraser the lord lovat
Ashes to Ashes, etc. but Royal Divorces cost ex wives their heads. Some random children were thrown in with some old Yehudi's pelvis and knee bones, 5 people in one casket. Yikes! Rest ye all together in Peace with Angels all around.
Woman was apparently from a wealthy background and ate meat and fish.Possibly lived in the Spitalfield area of London according to analysis from a piece of bone from the woman’s breast bone analysed at Oxford University.
maybe someone could pin this comment if true? and add more reference to the information about bone and it's time at Oxford University.
The Chief of my Clan lost his head to a cannonball at Culloden.. Chief Lachlan MacLachlan was commissary-general to the Prince..
Love Dr Sue Black
I thought Mr Pierrepoint made last execution...
In 1817, Jeremiah Brandreth was the last man to be beheaded for treason in Britain, not Fraser.
Did you do a genetic test on any of the bodies?
No loud music th u
It would be interested if they DNA for 💯%
P.S. it might be worth remaking the thumbnail as it says "The Last Man Executed In Britain", which I don't think I heard said in this video, and is definitely false.
He says during the video The Last Man Executed in Britain for treason - or maybe beheaded??Because there were certainly WW1 soldiers executed for desertion. Hmm
DNA analysis!!! We need to know! 😃
On what? If it had been of any use I am sure they would have/will use it. DNA is far from the answer to everything as Sue Black is always quick to point out. Watch her fascinating lectures. In one she and a DNA expert go to great lengths to explain why not and how it can be Very flawed Plus I would doubt whether any of this damaged material is up to it.
Five people in the same coffin???
Is he related ro the Simon Fraser who was targeted by Morgan's snipers on the orders of benedict Arnold at the battle of Saratoga, during the war for independence? That Simon Fraser was rallying his men and unfortunately his competence got him killed.
Nah, that was the one who told shitty poetry to try (& fail) at picking up women. This video was of his father, the cranky ol' Fox who was super superstitious!
@becsterbrisbane6275 LOL! I had no idea that there was more than one. It's too bad the younger was spotted by benedict Arnold. According to the records it was Arnold who ordered one of Morgan's sharpshooter to take at Fraser. Had he been as incompetent as Burgoyne, he'd have survived the battle to return to London and blame others for his failure just like burgoyne. No evil goes unrewarded or good deed unpunished.
@@robertalpy I may possibly be watching too much Outlander lol......
Sherlock Bones
Why disturb a burial for this reason?
You can't disturb the dead.
Thy're dead.
The man was rightfully exiled, and "hope it was a hell of a night" was a really tone deaf comment regarding the first of his many crimes. I realise that isn't the point of the documentary, but c'mon, Dr Black. Do better.
As always Dr. Sue Black is exceptional. I wonder why they didn’t try and do a DNA test…
Was there no way to extract any DNA to help try and id the woman?
“…had to invent something new…”
lord
Wow ,im impressed and surprised they didnt give him the same DNA as the fellor on a marmalade pots lid?...
Sorry one of his pipers was ... who now? ; )
I'm glad the piper was actually not bad.. usually TV shows have the worst representation
Again they keep camera on ppl instead of where they are or what they’re talking abt I would prefer to see everything
Does anybody know whether any Fraser males immigrated to America in the middle 1700s??
Pulling his bones apart for a rv programme is not science. Its morbid. Leave the body alone.