The Paranormal Database

Spottiswode

Location: Edinburgh - Mitre Public House, Royal Mile
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Archbishop Spottiswode is reported to haunt the building where he concealed his episcopal chair, even though the haunting takes the form of poltergeist activity.

Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh.

Laughter

Location: Edinburgh - Museum of Childhood, 42 High Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Laughing, crying and whispering are all said to have been heard coming from empty rooms within the building, and phantom footsteps walk on the upper floors.

Chimney Sweep

Location: Edinburgh - Nicol Edwards public house, Niddry Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This young lad managed to trap himself behind the old chimney stacks in the area and suffocated. He has been reported by members of the public not aware of the story or history.

Fighting

Location: Edinburgh - Old Fish Inn (no longer standing), Murrayfield
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1945-1957
Further Comments: This building was said to be the haunt of a gang of bandits, one figure was seen in the bar, while the sound of fighting could occasionally be heard in the evening.

The Edinburgh Playhouse.

Albert

Location: Edinburgh - Playhouse, Greenside Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dressed in a grey great coat when seen, Albert prefers to make his presence known by creating cold spots. He is thought to have been either a stagehand who died in an accident or a night watchman who killed himself.

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 in 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 included 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.

Missing Tools

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Little Girl

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Headless Woman with Child

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

St Mary's Street, Edinburgh.

Bloodied Woman

Location: Edinburgh - 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.