High Baltersan Cairn sits close to a piece of ground known as Foul Hole, described as ‘a portion of waste land or common at the intersection of two roads viz. [namely] Whithorn to Glasgow and Glenluce to Carty Port’. Overlooked by Shakeabodie Rock, which is said to have derived its name from ‘a legend connected with a place called the ‘Foul Hole’. It appears that the Foul Hole has been notorious among the ignorant and superstitious as a place much frequented by spectres, witches, warlocks etc, which caused passers by to shake or tremble from the proximity of the rock’.
Wigtownshire OS Name Books, 1845-1849