The Paranormal Database

Lady Royston

Location: Edinburgh - Caroline Park House (also known as Royston)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1976 (babysitter's encounter)
Further Comments: This green tinted ghost is said to rise from the ground somewhere in the garden and drift slowly towards the front door before disappearing. Loud banging is sometimes heard coming from one of the rooms and is thought to be a cannon ball bouncing around - its motivation is unclear. A babysitter working here heard furniture being flung around in the room above her, although the following morning it was discovered that nothing had been moved.

Castle Hill and The Royal Mile, Edinburgh.

Deacon Brodie

Location: Edinburgh - Castle Hill and Royal Mile
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Brodie is reputed to walk this area, carrying a lantern. A coach pulled by a team of black horses (which sometimes breath fire) s also said to start its journey here before travelling along the royal mile. The coach is filled with people in black garb. Another phantom, General Dalzell, rides the same route, but this time on a white horse.

Punch

Location: Edinburgh - Cathedral
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa early twentieth century?
Further Comments: A woman visiting the cathedral felt three sharp blows to the back of her neck but was unable to see anything which may have caused the strikes. She spoke to a worker at the cathedral who told her that the blows had been reported previously, and that the person had later received bad news. Sure enough, the woman later discovered that her son had died in an accident which had occurred at the same time as the blows had been felt.

Chalmers Close, Edinburgh.

Invisible Energy

Location: Edinburgh - Chalmers Close
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 02 March 2006, around 20:30h
Further Comments: An invisible force of energy hit a mother and son in the chest before rushing past them at the top of Chalmers Close - both were shaken by the event. A few seconds prior to this, the pair had seen a red headed girl running towards them - they stopped to let her pass, but she turned off.

Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.

Piano

Location: Edinburgh - Charlotte Square
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late twentieth century
Further Comments: The tinkling of phantom ivories can sometimes be heard over the noise of traffic. In total, four apparitions have been reported from the Square - a coach, a woman in old fashioned clothing, a scruffy beggar, and a monk.

Chessel Court, Edinburgh.

Veiled Woman

Location: Edinburgh - Chessel Court, Canongate
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1986
Further Comments: Wearing a black dress, this veiled woman is thought to be the ghost of a suicide which took place many years previous. One former occupant reported hearing heavy breathing just outside their bedroom door, while in 1986 a resident felt something climb over their bed as they lay in it. An older story relates to the original building which stood here, which was set on fire to conceal the murder of its beautiful owner. The plan worked, and several buildings were constructed as a replacement. However, when a fire broke out and devoured these newer premises, the murdered woman was seen in the flames, screaming 'Once burnt, twice burnt, the third times I'll scare you all!'.

Crying Infant

Location: Edinburgh - Corn Exchange public house, Leith
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twenty-first century
Further Comments: Heard by the staff, the spirit of the crying child also creates cold gusts of wind and flickers the lights. It is thought the child spend much of its short life locked away in a cupboard.

White Lady with Sword

Location: Edinburgh - Corstorphine Sycamore Tree (only the stump remains)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This lady, angry at being (once again) stood up by her secret lover, murdered him with his own sword. She now haunts the scene of the crime.

Cowgate, Edinburgh.

Criminal

Location: Edinburgh - Cowgate area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lurking near the place he was executed, this ghost has the rope burns from the hangman's rope still visible around his neck.

Lord Francis Jeffrey

Location: Edinburgh - Craigcrook Castle, Blackhall
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 1970 (poltergeist), 2013/14 (footsteps)
Further Comments: A poltergeist in the building threw small metal items at staff, including paperclips and screws. Many years later, a member of staff reported hearing footsteps in an empty room above them and the following year two other people witnessed doors opening unaided. One story says that the castle is haunted by Lord Francis Jeffrey.

Breaking Glass

Location: Edinburgh - Cramond Inn, Cramond Glebe Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Like so many other public houses, The Cramond suffers from a polt which is blamed when glasses break for no reason and small items moved around.

Lady Mary Douglas

Location: Edinburgh - Dalmahoy House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Mary, manifesting in the form of a white lady, is said to wander along the corridors, looking into the original rooms. Her presence is reported to be calming.

Johnny One Arm

Location: Edinburgh - Dalry area, in particular West End Place
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1979
Further Comments: John Chiesly's ghost haunted the area for 300 years, running around with a bloody stump where his arm should have been, screaming and cackling. When a one armed skeleton was found hidden under the floorboards of a local house and removed for burial in 1965, the entity was thought to have vanished forever; however more sightings were reported between 1976 and 1979, and poltergeist-like occurrences in the mid-1980s.

Deacon Brodie's Tavern, Edinburgh.

Brodie

Location: Edinburgh - Deacon Brodie's Tavern and Brodie's Close
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Deacon William Brodie, respected upstanding citizen by day, sly robber at night, was caught and hanged for his crimes in 1788. The novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was based (loosely) on his life. Brodie's ghost is now said to leave the tavern and quickly cross the road to the close which has also taken his name.

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.

Viscount Dundee

Location: Edinburgh - Edinburgh Castle
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Viscount Dundee was seen by Lord Balcarres while the lord was held in the castle. He later discovered that the Viscount had died at Killiecrankie around the time of the sighting. Note that Colinburgh Castle also claims this event for itself. A phantom drummer has been reported at the castle, said to forewarn of bad news. This ghost was blamed when the arms of a tunic on display apparently moved as if beating an invisible drum. Early in the twenty-first century, a group of workmen claimed to have photographed a glowing ball of light, though the image looks more like the reflection of the flash in glass.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Scotland.

The Magician

Location: Edinburgh - Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This tall, dark stranger who lurks in the shadows is thought to be part of a magic act which perished in a fire on the site.

Suicide

Location: Edinburgh - Former council offices, St. Giles Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The offices were once thought haunted by a man who hanged himself on the site.

Fraser Suites, Edinburgh.

Basement Noises

Location: Edinburgh - Fraser Suites
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2010
Further Comments: Staff have reported hearing strange bangs in the basement, and a certain area down there has a cold spot which never grows any warmer, no matter the temperature outside.

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 stripped 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.