The Paranormal Database

Dread

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Private residence, Restalrig Crescent
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1988-1996
Further Comments: Eight years of cold spots, taps turning off and items being moved unaided, and a feeling of perpetual dread resulted in the family moving out of their home on Boxing Day.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2020-12-10   Last updated: 2020-12-10   ID: #14011

Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Property along Waterloo Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1997
Further Comments: A workman in an empty building heard footsteps running on the floor above. He investigated and found no one. Returning to work, he heard the footsteps again a short time later. Other workers reported disappearing keys and knocking on a toilet door.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2012-11-04   Last updated: 2012-11-04   ID: #11172

Most Haunted House in Edinburgh?

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Around 1780
Further Comments: Formally owned by Major Thomas Weir who confessed to witchcraft prior to being executed, this house was considered extremely haunted (one occupier fled after only one night, having encountered a phantom calf) and was thought to have been demolished. However, in 2014 it was discovered that it had been modified and incorporated into a new building.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2014-05-05   Last updated: 2014-05-05   ID: #11535

Fred

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - RAF Turnhouse (no longer operational)
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1974, 1982-1997
Further Comments: During the 1980s and 1990s, workers at the MOD transport section would say 'hello' to Fred, the resident ghost. It was said that if Fred were not acknowledged, the phantom would open lockers and move things around. It was thought that Fred was a worker at the site during the Second World War; he died after walking into a propeller. The ghost of a young man in a grey RAF uniform was encountered in 1974, as it walked over to a witness and touched their forehead before vanishing.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2016-12-17   Last updated: 2016-12-17   ID: #12326

Edinburgh's roads close to St Giles.

Lost Piper

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Roads close to St Giles' Cathedral
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A piper sent to investigate tunnels running under the Cathedral became lost, his piping occasionally heard under the ground.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2023-05-21   Last updated: 2023-05-21   ID: #14904

Centaur

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Royal Botanic Garden
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: 1960s
Further Comments: Robert Ogilvie Crombie claimed to have encountered several mystical creatures here, including a centaur, a faun named Kurmos, and Pan.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2015-03-30   Last updated: 2015-03-30   ID: #11779

Woman in White

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Royal Circus Hotel
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early 1970s
Further Comments: At least three night porters reported seeing this tall, beautiful woman in white with long black hair move quickly down the corridors. Workers demanded to work in pairs until the ghost had been exorcised.

Source: Historical Record, User Submission
First added: 2004-03-13   Last updated: 2004-03-13   ID: #5075

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

Woman in Blue

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Royal Lyceum Theatre, Grindlay Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Observed in the upper gallery, the woman in blue's history is unknown. She may be the same entity seen perched high up on a lighting rig. Phantom laughter is also said to occasionally echo around the site.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9901

Missing Tools

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Rutland Place church (as of March 2010, being converted into public house)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 2010
Further Comments: The local newspaper reported that workmen have refused to work on the site at night because of strange moving shadows, footsteps in empty parts of the building, and disappearing tools.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9899

Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Seventeenth century house near Dean Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s?
Further Comments: This house had an entity that opened the front door and could be heard ascending the staircase.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2024-02-04   Last updated: 2024-02-04   ID: #15267

Little Girl

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Sheep's Heid Inn, Duddingston
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2006
Further Comments: After building work restored the inn to its former glory, a visiting medium reported the ghost of a young girl close to the skittle alley. A former landlord known as 'The Major' is reputed to haunt the bar area.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2006-11-16   Last updated: 2006-11-16   ID: #7037

Headless Woman with Child

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Site of the Gillespie Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Before the construction of the hospital, the land was given to a mansion that was haunted by a headless lady carrying a small child. When this building was demolished, their bodies were found concealed beneath.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-29   Last updated: 2002-10-29   ID: #2941

St Mary's Street, Edinburgh.

Bloodied Woman

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - St Mary's Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Murdered in 1916, this woman is thought to still stand around the site of her death, looking dazed and confused.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9907

Stevenson at college (English Illustrated Magazine).

Robert Louis Stevenson

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Stevenson House (was a museum, now a private residence)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: A phantom which has made the occasional appearance at this locale is named as former owner Robert Louis Stevenson.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9906

The Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Woman

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - The Edinburgh Filmhouse (cinema)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Filmhouse was reported to be haunted by a phantom woman, though little is known about her and she has not been seen for many years.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2007-04-17   Last updated: 2020-09-29   ID: #7306

Alice

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - The Howard Hotel, 34 Great King Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Alice is named as a very kind spirit, and any visitation has left people feeling calm.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9903

The Scotsman Hotel, Edinburgh.

Printer

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - The Scotsman's News Building (currently the Scotsman Hotel), North Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2004
Further Comments: A phantom man wearing an apron and carrying a tray of metal blocks was spotted in the basement by a member of staff. Another phantom, this time of a woman wearing black, was said to haunt the former reception area.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9900

Pacing

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Theatre Royal, Waterloo Place (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Various people heard talking and pacing in the theatre when it stood, even though it would be devoid of human life.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-03-14   Last updated: 2003-03-14   ID: #3997

Tolbooth Tavern, Edinburgh.

Glass Mover

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Tolbooth Tavern, Canongate
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: The entity at work here is most likely to push around bottles and glasses, although the occasional shadowy figure has been spotted.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9898

Heavy Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Tollcross Fire Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2013
Further Comments: Control room staff have reported hearing heavy footsteps on the balcony surrounding the rest area and within the corridors of the control room area. The footsteps sound as if they are walking over a stone type floor even though the balcony is metal and the corridors all vinyl or carpeted.

Source: User Submission
First added: 2013-07-24   Last updated: 2013-07-24   ID: #11380

Legal Battle

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Trinity, exact location unknown
Type: Other
Date / Time: 1835
Further Comments: A landlord took a tenant who resided in the village to court, claiming the man had slandered the name of his house by claiming it was haunted, and had also caused great damage to the walls by shooting at the 'ghost'.

Source: Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-29   Last updated: 2002-10-29   ID: #2942

Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh.

Naval Officer

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Unknown building, Buckingham Terrace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: This former sea captain took his own life after murdering a baby whilst drunk. His scruffy form was seen racing around the building.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2002-11-10   Last updated: 2002-11-10   ID: #3100

Short Woman

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Unknown building, Forrest Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth or early twentieth century
Further Comments: Believed to be a former nurse who poisoned her sister on the site, this sinister spectre was seen in the basement of the building and standing over a bed upstairs.

Source: Historical Record
First added: 2004-09-19   Last updated: 2004-09-19   ID: #5475

Bearded Man

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Unknown hospital, Ward D
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This hairy man with mad-looking eyes was once a doctor on the site, killed by another medical practitioner over the love of a girl.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2003-04-02   Last updated: 2003-04-02   ID: #4078

Woman in White

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Unnamed residence along Blackett Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late nineteenth century
Further Comments: This tall phantom female had a preference for the staircase and was blamed for an accident where someone fell (or was pushed?). Another ghost, a male which haunted the dining room, possessed an evil looking face.

Source: Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18   Last updated: 2010-04-18   ID: #9902