Scott's introduction to the ballad says the door of the chamber where Soulis is said to have held his conferences with evil spirits was supposed to be opened once in seven years by the demon to whom he had committed the keys. When leaving the castle for the last time he threw them over his left shoulder and told it to keep them until he came back. The chamber is really the dungeon, and the peasants were afraid to look in. A willow twig pushed into a chink of the door was said to come out peeled of its bark.
In autumn 1806, Scott says, the Earl of Dalkeith was camped near the castle shooting and had workmen clear rubbish from the dungeon door. They found a large rusty iron key a little way from the door, and a big iron ladle like a plumber's. Onlookers agreed the demon had now given the key up to the heir of the domain. Scott says both objects were in Lord Dalkeith's possession. In 1805 a boy looking for bird's nests had found an old silver ring in a wall recess, marked with Douglas hearts.
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