Mysteries of Mythology

Mythology · Folklore · Ancient Belief

Redcap: The Murderous Goblin of the Scottish Borders

Published

Meet the blood-stained goblin of the Scottish Borders, explore its ruined castles and separate Henderson’s account from later Redcap retellings.

The Story in Brief

A ruined Border tower might look like shelter from the weather. In the Redcap stories, it could already have an inhabitant: a small, brutal goblin whose hat was stained with the blood of people who entered its home.

William Henderson’s nineteenth-century collection describes a heavily built old man with long teeth, clawed fingers, red eyes and grey hair. It carries a pike and wears iron boots. Its size offers no reassurance; the creature is supposed to be much stronger than a person.

The documentary’s warning, ‘If You See This Red Cap… RUN!’, captures the danger. But in the recorded folklore, running might not help. Christian scripture or a cross offered a better defence against a being that ordinary human strength could not overcome.

Behind the monster lies a particular landscape: the fortified homes, raids and ruined castles of the Anglo-Scottish Borders. Understanding those places helps explain why this was such an unsettling creature to imagine inside them.

What Henderson Recorded

Henderson’s Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders first appeared in 1866. His account is one of the clearest descriptions of the murderous Redcap familiar today. It also records the names Redcomb and Bloody Cap.

The goblin inhabits old strongholds associated with tyranny and wicked deeds. A traveller who takes refuge there after dark risks having large stones thrown at them. If the creature kills its visitor, it soaks its cap in the victim’s blood.

The iron boots are a striking detail. Iron often has protective associations in British supernatural traditions, yet this particular being wears it. Folklore does not always follow the tidy rules that modern lists of fairy weaknesses suggest.

Henderson’s description is a record of belief, not evidence that such creatures existed. Nor should it be treated as a universal account of every spirit called Redcap. Names and stories vary, and the castle spirit in the Lord Soulis ballad behaves differently.

Why the Cap Was Red

The blood-stained hat gives the creature its name. Henderson describes the cap being dyed with the blood of its victims, turning an ordinary piece of clothing into a sign of violence.

A familiar addition in later retellings says the Redcap must keep that blood fresh: if its hat dries out, it dies. That rule makes the creature dependent on finding new victims. However, it is not stated in Henderson’s account and should not be attributed to him.

The distinction matters because a modern monster description can easily blend a nineteenth-century record with later storytelling. The older account is already frightening without adding a condition that its collector did not record.

The Violent Border Landscape

Cross-Border warfare and raiding shaped life in this region. Reiver families on both sides took livestock and pursued feuds, while tower houses offered households a place of defence. Smailholm Tower is a surviving example of this fortified landscape.

Hermitage Castle stood at an important position in Liddesdale. Historic Environment Scotland explains that the present stone castle began around 1360 and was altered by subsequent owners. The union of the crowns in 1603 reduced its strategic importance; it later became a ruin.

The suggestion that a blood-stained goblin fitted the memories of violent strongholds is an interpretation of the folklore. It does not prove precisely why the story began. Likewise, Henderson’s report of beliefs about blood being used at castle foundations is evidence of a belief, rather than proof of an actual building practice.

Old Redcap Sly and Lord Soulis

In John Leyden’s ballad ‘Lord Soulis’, published in Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Old Redcap Sly acts as the lord’s supernatural adviser and protector. This is a familiar spirit, rather than simply a goblin attacking travellers in an empty tower.

Redcap promises protection against weapons and ordinary bonds, but warns that ropes made from sifted sand could bind Soulis. The legend ends with the lord wrapped in lead and boiled in a cauldron at Nine-Stane Rig. The impossible ropes and terrible punishment belong to the ballad’s supernatural world.

The historical William de Soulis became involved in the 1320 conspiracy against Robert the Bruce, lost his lands and died in captivity. The gruesome cauldron ending is a later legend, not the documented manner of his death. The castle visible today is also later than his lifetime.

Keeping those versions apart lets us see how a real nobleman and a real stronghold acquired a different life in storytelling. Old Redcap Sly belongs to that transformation, and should not be used as evidence that William practised sorcery.

How the Stories Said to Escape

Henderson records that repeating words of scripture or holding up a cross could drive the Redcap away. It might cry out or vanish in flames, leaving behind a large tooth.

The tooth is one of the tale’s oddest details. The account supplies no clear reason for it. It is better to preserve that uncertainty than invent a symbolic explanation and present it as part of the tradition.

The unsettling reversal remains: a building constructed to keep danger outside becomes, in folklore, a place where danger is already waiting within. The red hat announces that shelter may be the last thing the traveller has found.

Watch: If You See This Red Cap… RUN!

Watch the Mysteries of Mythology documentary for the Redcap’s appearance, the violent Border setting, Old Redcap Sly and the surprising defence recorded in the folklore.

Sources and Further Reading