When visiting Edinburgh, don’t miss taking a ghost tour. They are authentic, historically-based and scary. You’ll be taken on a walk past ancient buildings and down dark alleyways, through scary underground bridge vaults and into spooky graveyards, while being told stories that will scare you out of your wits!
Ghostly Edinburgh
Edinburgh really is a great city for ghost tours. Founded over a thousand years ago it is full of history – the perfect source for scary stories.
The Old Town at night, where all the ghost tours take place, is an atmospheric place, well suited to the telling of frightening ghostly tales.
There are four aspects to the ghostly tours that make the Edinburgh ghost tours some of the best in Europe.
- The city is old, so it’s got hundreds of years of terrible happenings that have ended up as ghostly tales
- The buildings of the old town have given it a special eerie significance at night. There are towering old tenements that are centuries old, with little narrow alleyways called closes, running between them. At night, an Edinburgh old town close can be a scary place.
- As well as old tenements, it also has huge old bridges, built long ago to span the valleys that surround the old town. One bridge in particular is the focus for ghosty goings on, and that is the great South Bridge, built in 1788.
- In the 16th century, the old town was surrounded by a huge defensive wall. This meant that the graveyards needed to bury the dead had to be close by , inside the wall. Today, two of these graveyards still lurk in the old town, two of the spookiest graveyards you ever saw: the Canongate kirk yard and Greyfriars kirk yard (kirk is the Scots word for church).
These four scary ingredients make for a ghost tour that you just mustn’t miss when you come to Edinburgh.
There’s one more ingredient that needs pointing out however – the ghostly story tellers of Edinburgh’s ghost tours know their ghosts, know their history, and know their stories and how to tell them.
Before we go on to talk about the tours themselves, we should explain a bit more about the South Bridge, as it features in many of the ghost tours. The South Bridge was one of six great bridges built in Edinburgh between 1763 and 1815, to span the ravines, gullies and valleys that surround the old town.
The South Bridge
The great South Bridge was built between 1785 and 1788 to span the valley of the Cowgate. The Cowgate is one of the two deep valleys that run either side of the old town’s Royal Mile (the valley on the north side is better known as Princes Street Gardens).
These two valleys, gouged out 10,000 years ago by the glaciers of the last ice age, eventually presented a barrier to Edinburgh’s expansion, and in the middle of the 18th century two great bridges were built to span them. The bridge over the Cowgate to the south of the Royal Mile is called, as you might expect, the South Bridge.
It was a monumental engineering project for the time and carried a huge cost. To recoup the expense of building the bridge, houses and shops were erected either side. Then, the great arches that support the bridge were sub-divided into vaults and used as workshops for the exclusive and expensive shops that lined the bridge.
It is into these dark and forbidding vaults that the ghost tour companies will take you today as part of their ghost tours.
The Ghost Tours
Now that you know why Edinburgh is best destination in Europe for ghostly happenings, stories and tours, it’s time to meet the tour companies.
As you’d expect, there are many companies offering scary tours and they can’t all be covered, so we’ve listed the major ones here (in no particular order – they’re all good).
First up, Mary King’s Close.
Real Mary King’s Close
We’re starting with a tour that doesn’t go on walkabout through the town. This tour explores a close that was sealed up in the 17th century to contain a catastrophic outbreak of plague.
The close (remember, a close is the narrow alley that runs between the old town tenements) was abandoned in the middle of the 17th century and its tenements were eventually demolished in 1760 to make way for the building of the Royal Exchange (now the headquarters of Edinburgh Council).
But because both sides of the Royal Mile slope steeply away from the street itself, Mary King’s close and many of its apartments still survive underneath the Royal Exchange building. It is these old underground apartments and houses that you’ll visit during the tour.
Being an underground, buried close, there are many tales of paranormal activity that circulate about the close and of the people that lived there, hundreds of years ago. Indeed, if you’re of a nervous disposition, you’re advised to think twice before venturing down into the close!
As you walk down the slope of the close, and explore its warren of passageways and houses you’ll hear the stories of the people who lived, worked, and died here. And in many of these rooms, you might just feel the hairs lift on the back of your neck…
Here’s a tip. You might want to take a small child’s doll with you when you visit the close, to leave as a gift for the ghost of a little girl that’s said to haunt one of the rooms.
Tour Details
The tour guide is character-led. This means that your guide will act the part of one of four historical characters: a maid, Mary Cant; a “Foul Clenger” called Walter King, a doctor called Joannes Paulitius, and the 18th century poet, Robert Fergusson.
- The tour lasts approximately one hour.
- There are a total of 58 steps to be descended and 38 ascended as part of the tour. There is no lift access and it is not accessible for wheelchair users.
- Children over 5 and under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
- Sturdy footwear is recommended. Don’t wear your heels – it’s rough underfoot!
Book through the website at https://www.realmarykingsclose.com
Mercat Tours
Mercat (their name comes from the old Mercat Cross in the Royal Mile) offers five ghost tours. Not all are at night either, which means that if you’re kind of nervous about spooky tours in the dead of night, you can choose a tour in the daylight.
Their five ghost tours are:
- Ghostly Underground (day and night): 1 hour 15 minutes
- Ghostly Edinburgh (day): 1hour 15 minutes
- Doomed, Dead and Buried (night): 1 hour 45 minutes
- Hidden and Haunted (night, over18s only): 1 hour
- Evening of Ghosts and Ghouls (On request tour, over 18s only): 2 hours, includes a whisky pick-me-up!
Mercat Tours, like most of the ghost tour companies, has access to the vaults under South Bridge, so on all the tours except Ghostly Edinburgh, you’ll descend down into the vaults of the bridge and experience the ghostly experience of the bridge itself.
All tours depart from the Mercat Cross, next to St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile. Book all the tours through their website, mercattours.com
Ghostly Underground Tour
The Ghostly Underground tour will take you into the vaults to hear tales mischief-makers and murderers, vagrants, and torturers.
Ghostly Edinburgh Tour
Ghostly Edinburgh is a day time only tour that will take you through the Old Town’s closes and wynds (old streets) where you’ll hear how the Edinburgh Mob took an execution into their own hands, of pained and sorrowful spirits, and why you might have reason to fear if there is a certain number on the door of your accommodation.
Doomed, Dead and Buried Tour
Doomed, Dead and Buried will first take you into the South Bridge vaults before walking down the ancient streets of the Cowgate and the Royal Mile to the Canongate Kirkyard, one of the two spooky graveyards in the old town, where it’s rumoured that David Rizzio, secretary to Mary, Queen of Scots was secretly buried after being stabbed to death in 1566 in front of the queen and her ladies.
Hidden and Haunted Tour
Hidden and Haunted is for 18 year olds and over. You’ll hear of bloody plots that led to treason and torture – as well as secret lives that led to horrific deaths and tormented souls. And then, you go underground!
City Of The Dead
Aptly named, City Of The Dead tours will take you on a scary journey through Edinburgh’s ghostly, scary and macabre past. There are three tours to choose from. All make scary use of the underground vaults of the South Bridge.
- Underground City Of The Dead ( day & night in summer, night only in winter): 1 hour 20 minutes
- Haunted Graveyard Tour (night): 1 hour 20 minutes
- The Double Dead Tour (night): 1 hour 45minutes
All tours leave from the tree beside St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile. Book all tours through their website, https://www.cityofthedeadtours.com
Underground City Of The Dead
This tour was written by novelist and historical author Jan-Andrew Henderson and takes you into ‘most haunted section’ of the underground city of the South Bridge, where people, mostly immigrants from the Scottish highlands, once lived in utter misery. The part of the vaults explored is called Damnation Alley, with good reason apparently, as the tunnels and alleys are stalked by a malevolent presence known as the South Bridge Entity.
Haunted Graveyard Tour
The Graveyard tour combine history with stories blended together with a wild humour. You’ll be taken into one of the two creepy graveyards in the old town, Greyfriars Kirkyard, where you’ll visit the Covenanter’s Prison and the Black Mausoleum, the lair of the world famous Mackenzie Poltergeist.
An encounter with the poltergeist is the highlight of the tour, with hundreds of people claiming to have been attacked by it! It’s not surprising then that you’re warned before you start the tour that the Mackenzie Poltergeist can ‘cause physical and mental distress’. You join the tour at your own risk.
Double Dead Tour
This tour is essentially a combination of the above two tours. Again City of the Dead tours advise that the tour can ‘cause genuine physical and mental distress’. You have been warned.
City Of Edinburgh Tours
City of Edinburgh tour guides are in full period costume as they lead you in five ghostly journeys through some of the creepiest parts of Edinburgh. Their motto is ‘Be Enlightened & Be Frightened’ and say all their tours are based on real people and actual real life events.
- Underground Ghost Tour (night): 1 hour 15 minutes
- Old Town and Underground Ghost Tour (day & night) : 1 hour
- Extreme Paranormal Ghost Tour (night – brave people only): 1 hour
- Famous Underground Ghost Tour (night): 1 hour 15 minutes
- Fright Night Tour (night): 1 hour 15 minutes
All tours leave from the old police box at 124 Royal Mile, Edinburgh, EH1 1QS (adjacent to Starbucks). Book tours on their website, https://www.cityofedinburghtours.com
Underground Ghost Tour
You’re led round dark side of the old town by people like Cassandra Bean or Dr Knox. Who are they? You’ll just need to turn up and find out.
Cassandra or Doctor Knox will lead you up the Royal Mile to the Greyfriars Kirkyard, one of the two graveyards in the old town, where you’ll be terrified by stories of poltergeists and the notorious bodysnatchers and serial killers, Burke and Hare.
For the last part of the tour you’ll follow your guide to the underground, a section of a former seventeenth-century close absorbed into South Bridge, where some of the people that have died over the centuries are still around!
Old Town and Underground Ghost Tour
This is an afternoon ghost walk led by a guide in costume. After learning about the gruesome happenings in the Royal Mile over the centuries you’ll be taken into the South Bridge vaults where many ghosts have been spotted lurking around the dark corners of the vaults.
Extreme Paranormal Ghost Tour
This scary tour will lead you through the old town’s squares, wynds and closes, to hear the chilling stories connected to these historic sites that will get you into the right scary frame of mind before going through the forbidding gates of the old graveyard.
Walking around the Greyfriars Kirkyard you’ll hear tales about poltergeists and unfortunate bodysnatchers who got more when they bargained for when they disturbed the dead!
Leaving the graveyard you’ll have time to draw breath before you descend into the vaults and arches of the South Bridge for more ghostly tales from centuries past.
Famous Underground Ghost Tour
If you’re a bit apprehensive about the Extreme Paranormal Ghost Tour, then perhaps this tour will suit you. The tour follows much the same route as the Paranormal tour but is slightly lighter in tone.
Fright Night Tour
You’ll hear dark tales about bodysnatchers, witchfinders, murderers, and even cannibals as your guide leads you through the narrow closes of the Royal Mile before entering the Greyfriars Kirkyard, one of the two graveyards in the old town.
Then you’ll enter the underground vaults of the South Bridge and see the walls from former houses, eighteenth-century bridgework and even the modern street above through the spooky skylight.
Auld Reekie Tours
Auld Reekie (their name is taken from the old name for Edinburgh, which means old dirty or smokey) take you on scary tours around the old town and underground into their own section of the South Bridge vaults.
Their three ghost tours are:
- The Terror Tour (night): 1 hour 15 minutes
- Haunted Vaults Tour (evening & night): 1 hour
- Vaults and Graveyard Tour (evening): 1 hour 30 minutes
Tours start at the Tourist Information Police box (beside at the Bank of Scotland building) at 300 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2PH.
The Terror Tour
This is an underground tour for 18s and over. and isn’t for the squeamish.
First you visit Auld Reekie’s medieval torture exhibition to view instruments of torture taken from German castles, specifically Nuremberg and Bamberg, which date to the late 1500s and early 1600s. When you’re suitably scared by what happened to unfortunates in the past, you’re guided underground, to another part of the vaults of the vast South Bridge.
Auld Reekie claims that their area of the vaults is paranormally active and haunted and is ‘renowned as the world’s scariest and frightening place’!.
Haunted Vaults Tour
You’ll descend directly into the vaults of the South Bridge where the guide will enlighten you to the dark history of these former slum dwellings, home to the poor and destitute as well as a criminal underworld. Hear tales of the paranormal activity and ghostly apparitions that are said to haunt these vaults.
Vaults and Graveyard Tour
You start the tour in the spooky Greyfriars Graveyard, which, they point out, is also the last resting place of the famous Greyfriars Bobby, the little Skye terrier who lay every night on his master’s grave until he himself died. The little dog – and his master – lie in the same graveyard as the rotting corpses whose names were made famous in many novels and history books, and sent chills down many a reader’s spine.
After the graveyard, you’re taken to the aforementioned haunted underground vaults of the South Bridge, once home to the destitute, prostitutes, criminals, witches and a ‘hellfire club’, and which ‘is possessed by something evil that awaits you!’. Not for those of a nervous disposition.
Free Ghost Tours
As well as the tours listed, you’ll also find free ghost tours online. Generally speaking, the tours are free but you’re expected to tip the tour guide at the end of your tour. It’s the only way they get paid!