William Mackenzie (20 March 1794 – 29 October 1851) was an Anglo-Scottish civil engineer and civil engineering contractor, one of the leading European contractors in the 1840s.^[1]

Mackenzie died at his home, 74 Grove Street, Liverpool, and was buried at the church of St Andrew, Rodney Street, Liverpool. He left almost his entire estate valued at £341,848, equivalent to more than £50 million as at 2025,^[a]Calculated using the retail price index.^[2] to his youngest brother Edward, who in 1868 erected the pyramidal tomb in memory of his brother at St Andrew’s.^[1]

The unusual structure has spawned a piece of local folklore, that Mackenzie was an avid gambler who had made a pact with the Devil, promising him great wealth in return for his soul. The wording of the contract stated that the price was to be paid when Mackenzie was “in the ground”. Mackenzie attempted to outwit the Devil by being interred above ground, inside the pyramid. Some versions of the tale suggest that Mackenzie was entombed while seated upright at a table with a winning hand of cards between his fingers. But then unable to enter either Heaven or Hell, his soul was doomed to wander Rodney Street for ever.^[3][4]

The tale is of relatively recent origin, first appearing in the 1990s in the first of the Haunted Liverpool series of books. And Mackenzie had been buried “in the ground” seventeen years before the pyramidal tomb was erected, time enough for the Devil to have collected his dues.^[3]