The Paranormal Database

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.

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.

Elizabeth Elphinstone

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Headless Black Shape

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Last Drop Tavern, Edinburgh.

Maria

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Running

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Old Fireman

Location: Edinburgh - 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.

Whistler

Location: Edinburgh - Learmouth Hotel
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Door opening and closing are the trademarks of this spirit, though it is also known to whistle down the corridors.

Portrait Photograph

Location: Edinburgh - Liberton House
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A photograph taken in the building is reputed to show a huge phantom face, though it is said that you must use your imagination to see it properly!

Riders

Location: Edinburgh - Lochend Loch, Restalrig
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Sixteenth century
Further Comments: As Bessie Dunlop tied her horse to the edge of the loch, she heard dozens of people on horseback dash past her into the water, although nothing could be seen.

Old Fashioned Figure

Location: Edinburgh - Lochinvar Camp (aka Wardie Playing Fields), Granton Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s-2009
Further Comments: The ghostly figure wearing old fashioned clothing was reported to have chased a teenager in the mid-twentieth century and was seen by other people during the 1970s through to the 1990s. Stargazers may have last seen the entity in 2009.

Lady in White

Location: Edinburgh - Lymphoy House, Currie
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This property was said to be haunted by a woman in white, a soldier's wife who died on the steps of his parents' house after they refused to let her in. A ghostly bagpiper is also said to hang around the site, after entering a tunnel beneath the house and never returning.

Flying Cookware

Location: Edinburgh - Marchmont Hardware (shop), Warrender Park Road
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2020s
Further Comments: Inventory, including hammers, knives and cookware, has flown off the shelves in this shop. The owners featured in the local press, claiming the entity could be a family member who died in 2018.

Mary King's Close, Edinburgh.

Plague Victims

Location: Edinburgh - Mary King's Close, currently buried under the City Chambers
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 1685 - 2020s
Further Comments: A whole host of spectres haunt this area; women, children, old men and even animals have been reported haunting the site over the past 350 years. More recently, there have been reports of a ghostly little girl and an 'impish' young boy. The last occupant of the close was forced to move out in 1898 to make way for the City Chambers extension, which now stands over the area.

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.