Woman Holding Baby
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Bruntsfield Links, private house (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: Reported by a servant who finally quit after seeing the apparition too many times, this phantom lady holding a young child had no head.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2003-02-19
Last updated: 2003-02-19
ID: #3911
Lord Francis Jeffrey
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2003-06-08
Last updated: 2020-12-10
ID: #4348
Breaking Glass
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Cramond Inn, Cramond Glebe Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Like so many other public houses, The Cramond suffers from a poltergeist which is blamed when glasses break for no reason and small items move around.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18
Last updated: 2010-04-18
ID: #9917
Lady Mary Douglas
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2010-04-11
Last updated: 2010-04-11
ID: #9862
Johnny One Arm
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media, User Submission
First added: 2004-11-23
Last updated: 2004-11-23
ID: #5602
Deacon Brodie's Tavern, Edinburgh.
Brodie
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2020-05-28
Last updated: 2020-05-28
ID: #13817
Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.
Viscount Dundee
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-27
Last updated: 2002-10-27
ID: #2866
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Scotland.
The Magician
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2003-03-14
Last updated: 2003-03-14
ID: #4000
Suicide
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18
Last updated: 2010-04-18
ID: #9913
Fraser Suites, Edinburgh.
Basement Noises
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2010-02-14
Last updated: 2010-02-14
ID: #9795
George Street, Edinburgh.
Jane
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-10-21
Last updated: 2002-10-21
ID: #2781
Rolling Barrel
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2003-05-25
Last updated: 2003-05-25
ID: #4236
Grassmarket, Edinburgh.
Grizel
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-06-25
Last updated: 2002-06-25
ID: #1484
Greyfriars cemetery, Edinburgh.
Cutting Ghost
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2002-10-03
Last updated: 2002-10-03
ID: #2528
The Heart of Midlothian.
Spitting
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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).
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2019-11-08
Last updated: 2019-11-08
ID: #13413
Holyrood House Palace, Edinburgh.
Mary & Family
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Historical Record, Published Media
First added: 2002-06-25
Last updated: 2002-06-25
ID: #1487
Coachman
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18
Last updated: 2010-04-18
ID: #9919
Pale Woman
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Needs Review
First added: 2004-06-20
Last updated: 2004-06-20
ID: #5205
Jamaica Street, Edinburgh.
Red Hat
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2010-04-18
Last updated: 2010-04-18
ID: #9909
Kirkyard, Coventanter's Prison, Edinburgh.
Bluidy MacKenzie
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - 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.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2002-06-13
Last updated: 2002-06-13
ID: #1184
Elizabeth Elphinstone
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Large house to the north of Balcarres Street, Morringside cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1720s
Further Comments: Elizabeth was stabbed through the heart by her husband after he found her in the arms of his son from a former marriage. The husband killed himself soon after the incident. Elizabeth's ghost took to haunting the house until the death of her stepson, when all spiritual activity ceased.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2004-11-23
Last updated: 2004-11-23
ID: #5603
Headless Black Shape
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Lasswade Road, Liberton
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1897
Further Comments: Described as a strange black creature without a head, at least four witnesses watched the entity silently cross the road at night before it vanished.
Source:
Historical Record
First added: 2026-06-06
Last updated: 2026-06-06
ID: #16662
Last Drop Tavern, Edinburgh.
Maria
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Last Drop Tavern, Grassmarket
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2007
Further Comments: Identified by visiting psychics, Maria is believed to have been murdered in the eighteenth century. The phantom girl now makes her presence known by poltergeist-like antics; cups move and items fall from shelves, though nothing is ever broken.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2007-04-01
Last updated: 2007-04-01
ID: #7148
Running
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Lauriston Castle (aka Lauriston House), 2a Cramond Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1926 onwards
Further Comments: This entity creates the sound of footsteps moving quickly around the building. The sound is thought to be made by a former butler.
Source:
Published Media
First added: 2003-05-25
Last updated: 2003-05-25
ID: #4240
Old Fireman
Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Lauriston Place (old fire station)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: Normally appearing at night, staff have reported seeing a ghostly dark figure wearing an old style fire uniform. Footsteps have been heard in various parts of the building when it is known there is no one else on duty.
Source:
User Submission
First added: 2013-07-24
Last updated: 2013-07-24
ID: #11381
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