The Deil’s Cradle (Wizard’s Stone)

In Burngrange Wood just off the back road to Muckhart lies a cradle-shaped stone known as ‘The Deil’s Cradle’. It was believed by the superstitious locals that every Halloween night, the stone was raised and suspended in the air by some unseen force. The Devil was said to sit on it, and was swung back and forth by witches, until daylight came when they had to leave.

One Halloween night a young man, who had been drinking with his friends, boasted that he would visit the stone alone. Taking a bottle of whisky to give him some Dutch courage, he soon set out. After a good gulp of the whisky, he sat down on the cradle-shaped stone and determined to claim ownership of the seat should the Devil appear.

Every rustle of a leaf, as the wind whistled through the trees, seemed to the young man that it was the Devil approaching, so he had a few more gulps from his bottle. However, due to the amount he drank, he soon fell asleep on the stone. His friends, who had followed him, approached the sleeping man. Shouting and making loud noises, they grabbed him, and carried him, half-awake, to the burn. They dipped him in it repeatedly, and every time he was immersed in the water, they would yell loudly. The young man, in his drunken state, and thinking a whole legion of devils were surrounding him, was frightened almost to death, and screamed for mercy so pitifully that his friends soon stopped their mischief. No sooner had the young man got to his feet than he rushed off up the glen and ran home, resolving never to drink ever again, or attempt to toy with the Devil. For a long time, he did not know that it was his friends who had tormented him.

Ivy and moss now cover the stone so it must be a long time since the Devil has been rocked on it!

Images courtesy www.megalith.co.uk

Close to the legendary old Wizard’s Stone we find there’s a real cluster of witch-lore in this small area to the north of Dollar, which deserves careful analysis from competent researchers and students.  Not only is there the legendary Lochy Launds of the Black Goddess hereby, there was also this curious rock, described by one ‘J.C.’  in an early edition of the Scottish Journal (1848), which told:

“On the confines of the parish of Dollar, not far from Hillfoot, the seat of John McArthur Moir, Esq., lies a glen, called Burngrens, watered by a small stream and planted with numerous large trees.  A great number of these, however, have fallen, during the last few years, beneath the unsparing axe; but strong, healthy saplings are rising rapidly to supply their place.

“In this glen there is a large stone, of peculiar formation, in every way like a cradle. It is currently believed by the superstitious in the vicinity, that the stone, every Hallowe’en night, is raised from its place, and suspended in the air by some unseen agency, while “Old Sandy,” snugly seated upon it, is swung backwards and forwards by his adherents, the witches, until daylight warns them to decamp.