In History, there have been some barbaric and brutal execution methods which saw a condemned prisoner killed in terrifying ways. Henry VIII even boiled alive a man who was accused of poisoning, and the Romans would throw condemned victims to animals and lions. But there was one execution in Scotland which was worse, and it was carried out upon a royal Prince, and a man who had successfully plotted to kill the Scottish King. Walter Stewart was the uncle of the King James I, and he then plotted to kill him and along with dozens of conspirators they broke into the King's residence. James I was then slaughtered in a monastery, but for his actions as the mastermind of the murder, Walter Steward the Earl of Atholl was sentenced to death.

But his execution was a 3 day ordeal which saw him being hoisted up on a crane and then dropped many times to begin with. He was then dragged through Edinburgh and maimed with hot pincers on the second day before on the third day he was drawn, quartered and beheaded. His ordeal was prolonged and his suffering would have been immense.

Join us today as we look at the most horrific execution in Scottish History.