Lammikin: A Scottish Folklore

A Scottish folklore that can be traced back to 1775 tells the story of a mason named Lammikin. Lammikin was hired by a nobleman to build a castle for him. However, after finishing the castle, he never received any single centavo or any type of payment from the nobleman.

The Scottish Folklore about an Alleged Vampire

According to the Scottish Folklore, Lammikin devised a plan to get even with the nobleman. He seeks the help of a nursemaid who works inside the castle. One night, the nursemaid let Lammikin into the castle in order to kill the nobleman along with his entire family. Unfortunately, they were discovere by the uthorities. Lammikin together with the nursemaid was captured and they were both executed for the crime that they committed.

But the Scottish Folklore didn’t end there. The ballad has some distinct variation and development as time passed by. There were 22 different variation of the story of Lammikin. In one of the version of the story, Lammikin is not only a mason but also a vampire who feed on the blood of the mothers with young kids. The ballad tells how the Lammikin would enter the house at night and find the room of the child. He will then poke the child continuously until it cries. Naturally, the mother would come to check what is wrong with her child. During this time, the Lammikin would attack the mother and drain her of her blood. He would then drain the blood of the infant and pour it into a bowl.

Scholars believed that Lammikin is a man who has leprosy. On ancient times, taking a bath with a blood is considered a cure for leprosy. This cure was apparently still popular by the time that the Scottish Folklore came into existence.