Bones Reveal Gruesome Fate of Scottish Clan Members Who Were Smoked to Death in a Cave

More than 400 years ago, the Macleod clan massacred about 400 of the Macdonalds on the Isle of Eigg in Scotland, when the Macleods smoked them to death in a cave in which they took refuge. Now a group of tourists have found more bones of the Macdonalds clan in that cave.

The attack on the Macdonalds wiped out most of the island’s residents after a clan feud erupted over some Macleod men possibly molesting some Macdonalds girls. As many as 400 Macdonalds islanders were slain in this outbreak of clan warfare.

Entrance to the cave on Eigg where the Macdonalds clan bones were found in October. Authorities intend to rebury the bones after researchers are done with them. (Wikimedia Commons/Christian Jones photo)

Archaeologists have dated the 53 bones, discovered in October, to roughly the same era as the massacre, which happened in or around 1577.

The feud dated back to earlier in the 16^th century, when Macleod of Dunvegan’s son was beaten and left to die in a boat, says the BBC. The legend says the boat drifted back to Skye, his home.