The Paranormal Database

George Street, Edinburgh.

Jane

Location: Edinburgh - George Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: Jane once owned a shop along this street, which she sold on the recommendation of her friends. She regretted it almost immediately, though, and died soon after. She was seen several times post-mortem, heading along the street to her former property.

Rolling Barrel

Location: Edinburgh - Grange House (demolished 1936)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Pre-1936
Further Comments: The sounds of a barrel being rolled around the building have been reported - on investigation, no such item could be found.

Grassmarket, Edinburgh.

Grizel

Location: Edinburgh - Grassmarket
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The face of this lady, heavily scarred by fire, has been seen around the area of the Grassmarket - her and her brother were killed by the local authorities for sex crimes and black magic. Some people have also reported seeing her in a phantom coach being pulled by a team of six horses.

Greyfriars cemetery, Edinburgh.

Cutting Ghost

Location: Edinburgh - Greyfriars cemetery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: The spirit, or spirits, here are said to be most upset about the way they were treated in life, and now extract revenge on the living by causing cuts and bruises on anyone who visits the graveyard. That is what the tour guides will tell you, anyway.

The Heart of Midlothian.

Spitting

Location: Edinburgh - Heart of Midlothian
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Edinburgh's Heart of Midlothian, found in the centre of the City, marks the site of Old Tolbooth, a prison demolished in 1817. Local legend says if you spit upon it, luck shall befall you (and it's still spat upon today, so don't go too close).

Holyrood House Palace, Edinburgh.

Mary & Family

Location: Edinburgh - Holyrood House Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Darnley and David Rizzio (Mary's private secretary) all haunt this building. Rizzio's death was most gruesome - he was stabbed 56 times by Lord Darnley and a group of Scottish lords. The outer door of the Queen's apartments is said to be still stained with Rizzio's blood which will not wash away. Meanwhile, in the garden, a naked ghost named Bald Agnes appears. Agnes was striped and tortured on the belief that she was a witch in 1592.

Coachman

Location: Edinburgh - Hopetoun House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: A few phantoms are said to have made their home at Hopetoun, including a former coachman seen in the restaurant (the former stables) and another figure spotted in the staff toilet.

Pale Woman

Location: Edinburgh - Hunter's Tryst Inn, Oxgangs Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1985
Further Comments: This white, spectral woman lurks around the one time coaching inn. One guest felt invisible lips kiss his cheek as he lay in bed.

Jamaica Street, Edinburgh.

Red Hat

Location: Edinburgh - Jamaica Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late eighteenth / early nineteenth century
Further Comments: This area was haunted by a copper-coloured man in a red hat - a landlord took his tenant to court as it was believed the 'haunting' was created to control low rent prices.

Kirkyard, Coventanter's Prison, Edinburgh.

Bluidy MacKenzie

Location: Edinburgh - Kirkyard, Coventanter's Prison
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1996
Further Comments: While George MacKenzie has been blamed for the phantom attacks on sightseers at this locale, other people say it is the spirits of the prisoners. Either way, many visitors on the local 'ghost walks' have been pinched, pushed, pulled, and even cut while at this spooky site.

St John's church, Edinburgh.

Crying Girl

Location: Edinburgh - Princes Street and St John's church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1987?
Further Comments: The crying girl haunts both the church and Princes Street. The little girl sobs into her hands, slowly fading away until completely gone. The gardens of Princes Street were once the 'Nor Loch' - when drained hundreds of bodies were found when the water was drained.

Shadowy Figures

Location: Edinburgh - Private flat in Bruntsfield Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2004
Further Comments: Several entities reportedly haunt this building, including cats, a dog, and possibly several people who were mistaken as 'real' by one witness.

Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh - Private flat, Bruntsfield area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003-2008
Further Comments: Disembodied footsteps were heard by members of the family at night and in the early hours of the morning.

Lurking Man

Location: Edinburgh - Private residence along Glenlee Avenue
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1970s
Further Comments: A member of the family living in this house reported, on more than one occasion, seeing a man lurking in the kitchen doorway. On the day the family moved out, they were told that a former owner hanged himself from a wooden beam the cellar, directly under the kitchen door.

Crockery Smasher

Location: Edinburgh - Private residence in The Inch
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1950s
Further Comments: A poltergeist started to throw crockery around the kitchen, breaking all of it. The replaced crockery was also smashed, so the residents bought plastic utensils, but other kitchen items were still damaged by the entity. A priest tried to exorcise the spirit but failed.

Vanishing Children

Location: Edinburgh - Private residence, Comely Bank
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2017
Further Comments: A couple standing outside of their home had a conversation with a young boy and girl who vanished before their eyes.

Bearded Man

Location: Edinburgh - Private residence, Leith
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2007-2008
Further Comments: After one of the occupants spotted a large, bearded man in an overcoat standing by the kitchen door, the flat experienced a period of poltergeist disturbances that including running footsteps, bangs, rustling bags and finding family photographs placed face down in the kitchen. Guests to the property reported feeling as if they were being watched.

Dread

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Most Haunted House in Edinburgh?

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Fred

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Edinburgh's roads close to St Giles.

Lost Piper

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Centaur

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Woman in White

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

Woman in Blue

Location: Edinburgh - 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.