The Paranormal Database

Stevenson at college (English Illustrated Magazine).

Robert Louis Stevenson

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

The Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Woman

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Alice

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

The Scotsman Hotel, Edinburgh.

Printer

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Pacing

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Tolbooth Tavern, Edinburgh.

Glass Mover

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Heavy Footsteps

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Legal Battle

Location: Edinburgh - 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'.

Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh.

Naval Officer

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Short Woman

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Bearded Man

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Woman in White

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Breathing

Location: Edinburgh - Vaults beneath South Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2000
Further Comments: Experiments carried out by Dr Richard Wiseman while investigating the alleged haunted vaults resulted in one participant being reduced to tears after hearing heavy breathing in an empty room. Another person reported seeing a ghostly figure in an apron walk past.

Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh.

Angus Roy

Location: Edinburgh - Victoria Terrace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A seaman forced to retire after a near fatal accident, Roy can still be heard dragging his crushed leg around the neighbourhood where he spent the last years of his life.

Suicide

Location: Edinburgh - Victorian house along Garscube Terrace
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 1955
Further Comments: A painter working in the bathroom heard footsteps and was suddenly struck by an electrical shock. He staggered towards the door, which opened itself to let him out. After he left the room, he burst into tears, not understanding why. A short time later he discovered that a young girl had committed suicide in the bathroom only three weeks earlier.

Shadow

Location: Edinburgh - Wardie Steps, Granton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s-1981
Further Comments: A shadowy figure is reputed to haunt the steps, occasionally ringing the bars at the top.

Whistlebinkies Bar, Edinburgh.

The Watcher

Location: Edinburgh - Whistlebinkies Bar (aka Whistle Binkies)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s
Further Comments: Wearing seventeenth century clothing, this long haired man is nicknamed The Watcher. A poltergeist-like entity, known as the 'Imp' stops clocks and plays with doors, while other people have reported a strange mist in the basement.

White Hart Inn, Edinburgh.

Shadows

Location: Edinburgh - White Hart Inn, Grassmarket
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990s onwards
Further Comments: A shadowy figure materialises by the door behind the bar and walks down to the cellar. A pair of disembodied legs have also been reported in the cellar, while an unseen hand turns off the beer pumps.

Lady Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh

Location: Edinburgh - Woodhouse Lee (or Woodhouslee) ruins and meadow, on the outskirts of the city
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Snowy nights (others say 25 December, after dusk)
Further Comments: After her husband's castle was taken by force, Lady Hamilton was banished into the frigid winter night without clothing - needless to say, she froze to death soon after. Her naked shade has been reported in the area, though it never leaves any prints in the fresh snow. Some say she holds the body of her child who also died of exposure.

Long Haired Man

Location: Edinburgh - Yew tree at the Manse, Colinton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This pallid spirit can sometimes be seen hiding behind the large tree.

Humming

Location: Edinburgh - York Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late
Further Comments: While working in one of the offices here, a witness could hear a young child humming a tune in the basement. The witness investigated but could find no one there.

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).