Lord William de Soulis is a legendary figure of British folklore, believed to have been a powerful and wicked warlock who terrorized the local community near Hermitage Castle (of which he was reported to own and reside in, the castle itself is now considered extremely haunted due to its dark history, with de Soulis' black magic infesting every area of its being).
Legends[]
As is common with folklore around the world many different stories were spread about de Soulis but the most popular told of a mad, evil warlock who resided in Hermitage Castle around about the era of 1280 to 1320.
During his reign the warlock would summon a demonic fay by the name of Robin Redcap, who would grant de Soulis a number of dark powers, most notable being an immunity to all earthly weapons, together the pair would terrorize the local communities, capturing children and women to torture, kill and defile as well as engage in all manner of depraved acts, which were said to become so heinous that the castle began to sink into the Earth to "hide its sins from God".
The tyrant was eventually defeated when the terrorized locals rose up against him and devised a means to kill him, boiling him alive in a large cauldron in a field near the very castle he had reigned over for so long, with the warlock gone peace seemed to come over the area but not fully victory as Robin Redcap continued to haunted the lands, albeit in secret.
Perhaps with aid from Robin Redcap or simply via his own evil will the spirit of de Soulis is said to manifest every seven years to haunt the vaults where he used to torment his many victims, with his frightening presence and the scream of innocents being reported several times.
While a fictional character several people have tried to link de Soulis to real historical events but must historians have dismissed the legend as de Soulis was in reality arrested at the time of his alleged execution for treason against Robert the Bruce and died in his prison cell.
The likely source of the "evil warlock boiled alive by servants" came from Sir Ranulf (Randolph) de Soulis of Liddel (born c.1150 and murdered by his servants in 1207/8).