The Paranormal Database

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.

Making a pact with the Devil.

Hobgoblin Builders

Location: Gifford - Yester Castle (ruins)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present, although only subterranean 'Goblin Hall remains'
Further Comments: Warlock Sir Hugo de Giffard is said to have made a pact with the Devil, and in return had an army of Hobgoblins build this castle for him. A staircase in the hall was filled with earth as it was believed it led straight to hell.

The Farmer's Wife

Location: Gladhouse Reservoir - Area before it was flooded
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was said that the area was haunted by a couple murdered by an enraged farmer, the victims being the farmer's wife, and the young servant with whom she had been having an affair

Sir James Stanfield

Location: Haddington - Amisfield House (now ruins within Amisfield Park)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Sir James is said to have been murdered by his son, and the body thrown into the well. The area around the well is said to be haunted by the white spectral figure of Stanfield.

Lady Kitty

Location: Haddington - Area around Nungate bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Lady Catherine Charteris, known as Kitty, has been named as the female form spotted in old fashioned clothing by the bridge.

Tall Gentleman

Location: Haddington - Garleton House (no longer standing, though foundations may remain)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Late eighteenth century
Further Comments: This ghostly figure was said to be desperate to find a volunteer who will listen to his story - no one has ever been found.

The Duke of Lauderdale

Location: Haddington - St Mary's Church
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This former duke is seen in the church and has been blamed for disturbing his own coffin in the crypt.

Storm Forecaster

Location: Inveresk - Routing Well (current status not known)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It was said that the well would wail before a storm, although even in the nineteenth century, it was acknowledged that the sound was caused by the wind during a storm, rather than prior to one.

Lantern Man

Location: Lasswade - River Esk
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This figure reportedly walks alongside the river, his storm lamp swinging in the wind. One author named the figure as Thomas de Quincey.

Excuse Me

Location: Linlithgow - Alan Steel Asset Management
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: November 2006
Further Comments: An elderly gentleman has been spotted by several of the workforce, and the company PA heard someone say 'Excuse me' while alone. The building was formally a dynamite factory where several people died in an explosion during the First World War.

Mount Badon

Location: Linlithgow - Boudon Hill, also known as Buden Hill
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This is one of the locations named as the legendary battlefield of Mount Badon, where Arthur fought one of his most important battles.

General Dalyell

Location: Linlithgow - House of the Binns
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A one-time owner of the building, General Dalyell has been seen on horseback on the estate. The seventeenth century commander may return to gloat over his constant poker victories, in which he even beat the Devil himself! A phantom monk has also been reported on site.

Mary of Guise

Location: Linlithgow - Linlithgow Palace
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1999
Further Comments: Accompanied by a slight smell of perfume, this phantom lady in a white dress has on occasion been mistaken for a real person. Mary Queen of Scots is also reported to frequent the chapel, and Margaret Tudor haunts Queen Margaret's Bower.

Water Sprite

Location: Linlithgow - River running through area
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This malicious little entity is reported to lure the unwary into the water to drown.