Terror Tales of Torry - Fully Loaded!

Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom

£515

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We hit 100% of our original target

21 supporters

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Aim

Hidden Aberdeen Tours: bringing Torry's dark history to the public stage with your help!

Hidden Aberdeen Tours is the city's only commercial walking tour company combining storytelling and live professional theatre.  Last year we ran a sell-out Halloween tour set in Old Torry, one of Aberdeen's most ancient fishing communities; now we want to host another "Terror Tales of Torry" tour as our end-of-season finale.  We need funding for a full cast of professional actors, costumes and effects, and we can only do that with your help! 

Our retelling of local history is unique to our company, aimed at our fellow citizens, in our native Doric dialect.  Help us bring these terrifying true tales back to life again in Torry, a noted area of urban deprivation which actually has an amazing, tragic, thrilling history which deserves to be shared.  

Torry was a separate royal burgh, founded in 1495; it was always a thriving fishing community, but many chilling stories stand out in its history.  We already proved we can make a success of this, but we need help to do it now in a short space of time! 

£500 is our target; with that we:

  • pay our team of professional actors, including Aberdeen-born Alec Westwood, who has appeared on stage and screen, most recently in the locally-filmed "Redwood Massacre" and the internationally-acclaimed "Utopia" by local producer, Chris Robb.
  • employ our professional musician, Haworth Hodgkinson, local sound artist, who created a unique soundscape for us in 2015
  • employ stewards to ensure safety for our customers 
  • put on a great performance of five "Terror Tales" from Torry's history

Stories:

  • The Wallace Relic - according to legend, William Wallace's severed arm was buried in the medieval kirkyard of St Fittick's by some "local patriots" in 1305.
  • The Wreck of the Oscar - hear the first-hand account of Captain John Innes, whose whaling ship, the Oscar was battered against the rocks at Greyhope Bay, Torry in 1813, while locals watched helplessly as all but two of the crew drowned before their eyes
  • The Fisherwives' Charm - the Corbie Well was believed to have healing properties which the fisher women knew how to activate; the Church of Scotland condemned what they saw as witchcraft; who will prevail?
  • The Murder of Betty Hadden - Torry's famous unsolved murder; 18yr old Betty Hadden, a good-time girl goes missing in December 1945, but all that is ever found of her is her forearm, hacked off her body with a saw.  We reimagine what could have happened to this feckless teen on a dark night in Old Torry
  • The Battle of Justice Mills - in 1644, Aberdeen was attacked by the Marquis of Montrose's army; William Milne, a Covenanter, enemy of King Charles I, fought bravely to protect his home in Kincorth, but would ultimately lose his life and be buried in St Fittick's kirkyard.  

The scripts are based on historical evidence, folklore and legend, combining to present a fantastic piece of live street theatre unique to Aberdeen.  With your help we can entertain, educate and showcase our skills looking forward to future projects.  Please help us succeed!

This project successfully funded on 30th August 2016

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