RIP (or not) Lord Lovat; Simon "The Fox" Fraser

Photo Credit: Wikipedia 

It was on this day, April 9th, 1747 that the real life Simon Fraser aka Lord Lovat aka Jamie Fraser's wicked grandda...was the last person to be beheaded in the UK, due to his participation in the Jacobite Uprising of 1743. 

Photo credit: John Morris on flickr

Apparently there was a giant crowd at the execution and a "timber stand" collapsed (a scaffolding, built to hold spectators), killing 9 people. Fraser laughed as he thought this was amusing, thus creating the phrase "laughing your head off." 

Photo Credit: The Crown Cronicles

Simon Fraser was thought to have been buried at the  Wardlaw Mausoleum, Kirkhill, Inverness.  
However in 2018, the crypt was opened and the coffin was exhumed. What did they find? The remains of a woman. They now believe he was never the Tower of London and may be buried somewhere on site.