The Tingwall Murder Stone
1389 · Loch of Tingwall, Shetland, Scotland
Description
Also known as the Tingwall Stone, this standing stone is technically a repurposed Neolithic/Bronze Age monolith. It earned its morbid title after Malise Sperra, Lord of Skaldale, was slain here along with seven supporters during a violent dispute with his cousin, the 1st Earl of Orkney, at a local Thing (Norse parliament) meeting in 1389. A later, concocted Norse folklore also claimed that any murderer who could sprint to the stone from the nearby Law Ting Holm without being killed by the victim's family would be legally pardoned.
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Contributors:
Tom Naughton