A Whisky on a Former Execution Ground? Glen Moray’s Eerie History and Gentle Taste
2026.10.05
In short: Glen Moray Distillery in Elgin, Speyside, stands on what was once “Gallows Hill,” a place of execution during the witch trials — and seven skulls were found when Warehouse No. 1 was built in 1962. Yet its whisky is fruity, light and gentle. From a 2018 visit by Mika Tanimoto, Bar Little Happiness, Hiroshima.
Elgin, a beautiful town in Speyside.
On its outskirts stands a distillery with a very strange contrast.
Its name is Glen Moray.
Did you know that behind this malt — praised as “great value, creamy, with bright fruitiness” — lies a frightening history of “death and curses”?
Today, with stories from my own visit, I’d like to introduce the “darkness and light” of Glen Moray’s history.
A distillery on “Gallows Hill”
The land where Glen Moray Distillery stands was once called “Gallows Hill.”
As the name suggests, from the 16th to the 17th century this was the town’s place of execution.
Elgin in particular was a place where witch trials were very active, and sad records remain of women accused of crimes being executed here after terrible trials.
Today the area is a peaceful residential neighbourhood, but it was once a place of execution.
The “seven skulls” found on the building site
There is an incident that proved this story was not just a legend.
In 1962, while digging the ground to build the distillery’s Warehouse No. 1, workers unearthed human skulls — seven of them.
Before the remains were reburied, they were apparently kept on the site for a while.
An engineer at the time, feeling sorry for the skulls, put them on the dashboard of his car and drove them around town, saying, “Let’s show them today’s Elgin” — a story still told among people connected with the distillery.
Like something out of a horror story, yet somehow very human — an anecdote unique to this place.
The contrast between a dark history and a gentle taste
If the whisky made in such a place tasted “heavy and murky,” that might make sense in its own way.
But the reality was the complete opposite.
Glen Moray tastes surprisingly fruity, light and gentle.
(Hand-filling at Glen Moray Distillery!)
A glass, thinking back on history
Glen Moray stands quietly in a residential area of Elgin.
Please come and feel the contrast between the heavy history this land once had and the gentle taste born after overcoming it.
📍Glen Moray Distillery, Elgin
Every encounter is meant to be. Welcome to the world of Rum&Whisky.
[About the author]
Mika Tanimoto
CEO, Little.m Inc. / Owner-bartender
Since 2006, I have run Bar Little Happiness, a whisky and rum bar in Nagarekawa, Hiroshima. I visit distilleries in Japan and around the world and write about the people who make the spirits. Recipient of the Hiroshima City Excellent Skilled Worker Award.
“Whisky and rum taste even better when you know the hearts of the people who make them.”
[Visit the bar] 📍 Bar Little Happiness
Rolling Nagarekawa 1F, 5-14 Nagarekawa-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Mon–Sat 7:00 pm – 12:30 am / Sun 7:00 pm – 12:00 am (closed when I travel to visit distilleries)
No cover charge, no reservation needed
