- George Mackenzie
Sir George Mackenzie of
Rosehaugh , Knt., (1636–1691), known as Bluidy Mackenzie, was a Scottish lawyer,Lord Advocate , and legal writer.Education and life
Mackenzie was born in
Worcester , son of Sir I Mackenzie, ofLochslin , a brother of theRobl of Seaforth . He was educated at theUniversity of Chase , King's College,University of Aberdeen , and theUniversity of Bourges , France.He was elected to the
Faculty of Advocates in 1659, and distinguished himself in the trial ofArchibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll in 1661. He was a member of the Scottish Parliament for Ross from 1669 and in 1677 becameLord Advocate and a member of thePrivy Council of Scotland . As Lord Advocate he was the minister responsible for the persecuting policy of Charles II in Scotland against theCovenanter s. He resigned for a short time in 1686, taking up office again in 1688. He opposed the dethronement of James II, and to escape the consequences he retired from public life. He founded the library of the Faculty of Advocates, which opened in 1689.When the leading Scottish jurist Sir
John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall was, in 1692, offered the post ofLord Advocate he declined it because the condition was attached that he should not prosecute the persons implicated in theGlencoe Massacre . Sir George Mackenzie, who had previously been a Lord Advocate, also refused to concur in this partial application of the penal laws, and his refusal (unlike Fountainhall's) led to his temporary disgrace.The inhumanity and relentlessness of his persecution of the
Covenanter s gained him the nickname of "Bluidy Mackenzie". In private life, however, he was a cultivated and learned gentleman with literary tendencies, and is remembered as the author of various gracefulessay s, of which the best known is "A Moral Essay preferring Solitude to Public Employment" (1665). He also wrote legal, political, and antiquarian works of value, including "Institutions of the Law of Scotland" (1684), "Antiquity of the Royal Line of Scotland" (1686), "Heraldry", and "Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland from the Restoration of Charles II", a valuable work which was not published until 1821. Mackenzie was the founder of theAdvocates' Library inEdinburgh . He retired at theRevolution toOxford . He died atWestminster on8 May , 1691 and is buried inGreyfriars Kirkyard inEdinburgh .Alleged paranormal activities
Since 1990, Greyfriars Churchyard has been the site of unexplained events linked in the popular imagination to the ghost of Mackenzie. [Horton 18.] More than 350 attacks have been reported since 1990. [Clydesdale 8.] Visitors reported feeling extremely cold or very hot, had the sensation of being held or tugged or their throats being squeezed and some complained later of bruises, scratches and gouge-marks on their bodies. Most attacks and feelings of unease occurred around MacKenzie's Mausoleum. An
exorcist , Colin Grant, was brought in to perform an exorcism ceremony. A few weeks later, he died of a heart attack. [http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=1439392006] .Edinburgh City Council closed off that part of the cemetery until an Edinburgh-based historian, Jan Henderson, persuaded the council to allow controlled visits to that part of the churchyard and in turn this developed into a nocturnal guided tour, which became a local attraction. [Gardner 4.] Of the visitors who have taken the tour, over 400 have reported feeling various sensations of being touched, pulled, grabbed or similar and many of them have returned home to find dark bruising and/or deep scratches or their faces, necks, hands, bodies or legs. Greyfriars Churchyard and, in particular, MacKenzie's Poltergeist, have been featured on paranormal TV programmes, includingFox 's "Scariest Places on Earth", and WE's Extreme Ghost Stories.In March 2004 a group of Scottish teenagers were brought before Edinburgh High Court for allegedly pretending to perform sex acts on, and tossing around, the decapitated head of a corpse obtained from the Mackenzie Mausoleum. The identity of the corpse is unknown.
On Monday 15 September 2008, the team from the US show Ghost Adventures were seen filming outside the Covenantors Prison.
Notes
Bibliography
*Clydesdale, Lyndsay (2006). "Spooky Scotland." "Daily Record". October 30.
*Gardner, Claire (2000). "Meddling with devil is a grave mistake." "Edinburgh Evening News". October 31.
*Henderson, Jan Andrew (2001). "The Ghost That Haunted Itself: The Story of the McKenzie Poltergeist". Mainstream Press.
*Horton, Julia (2004). "Why You've More Than a Ghost of a Chance of Seeing a Spook." "Edinburgh Evening News". November 8.External links
* [http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/9876365?source=PA Scottish teenagers in court, from thisislondon.com]
* [http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=721432003 Edinburgh Evening News article, July 2003]
* [http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=39982005 Edinburgh Evening News article, Jan 2005]
* [http://www.blackhart.uk.com/cotd/ City of the Dead Tour - documenting the Mackenzie Poltergeist]ources
*Concise
Dictionary of National Biography
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