Folklore & legend

Bluidy Tam and the Devil's Card Table

Also known as: Bloody Tam

House of the Binns, near Linlithgow

Tradition; table found 19th century

Wikipedia's article on the house says the Devil threw a marble table at the general after losing, and that it landed in the Sergeants' Pond and was found two hundred years later when the pond dried up. The house displays the cards, goblet and spoon said to have been used, and the marble table can be seen in the entrance hall. The article on Tam Dalyell says a drought exposed a marble table in the pond in 1870 and that in 1930 a local craftsman was hired to repair its legs. A different gazetteer gives 1885 for the find. A popular retelling adds that Dalyell tried to cheat by putting a mirror behind the Devil.

Dalyell told the Devil that he would build a turret at every corner to pin down his walls, in reply to a threat to demolish the house, the Wikipedia article on the house says. The table's discovery is a real object with a story attached, and gives the legend more credit than most. The house is run by the National Trust for Scotland.

House of the Binns is a National Trust for Scotland property with limited seasonal opening.
Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open, admission charged
Location
55.991, -3.523 (Sited to the building or field)

Sources: Wikipedia, "House of the Binns" [other]; Wikipedia, "Tam Dalyell of the Binns" [other]; The Scotsman, "Bloody Tam Dalyell and his card games with the devil" [other]; Must See Scotland, "Haunted Locations in Scotland" [other]

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