Greyfriars Kirkyard

Never one to shy away from an opportunity to experience paranormal activity, I booked myself and Luke on the City of the Dead ghost walk as they claim to have exclusive access to the Covenanters area of the Kirkyard and have highly recommended reviews about the tour itself.

The tour began outside of St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile. Our guide for this walk was Morag who provided a brief history of the area before we walked down through the Cowgate then into Greyfriars Kirkyard.

Morag then gave us a quick ‘reality’ version of the Greyfriars Bobby story. She explained why the gravestone of his master is not actually his master’s grave, but that of someone with the same name and that the real master is buried two miles away in another cemetery. The site of the dog’s body is unknown too and Walt Disney, who did their usual spin on facts when they created the film of the wee dog, misinterpreted the accuracy of the story. Some people in the crowd were clearly disappointed by such earth shattering revelations.
We walked further into the cemetery. It was very dark now and the crowd stood closely together. Many nationalities were in the group and a majority of them were American. Morag gave us a grim history of the Kirkyard and the names of famous people connected with it before moving on to the Covenanters Prison section, which remains locked at all times except to these tours and the local council.

As we waited for Morag to unlock the gates, she asked if anyone had any health conditions that may affect them in the event of an attack. She then warned us of what could happen if things went terribly wrong. I could see some concerned faces in the crowd but once the gate were open, we all went inside.

We walked about 60 meters to a mausoleum that was an apparent hotbed of activity. Morag ushered us inside then continued to talk about ghosts and the violent history of the deaths of the poor souls buried here.  As we all stood in the mausoleum two burly Americans had to leave and made claims that they felt ‘freaked out’ by the atmosphere. The tour ended when a man wearing a mask and sheet jumped into the mausoleum to give everyone a fright and relieve the tension through laughter (apparently).

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The tour now over, we headed out of the Covenanters. I took a few snaps on the way in the hope of getting some evidence. Once the gates were locked behind us, everyone went their own separate ways so Luke and I went on our own exploration of the dark kirkyard to get some more photos of the unusual and interesting gravestones.

As we walked down the slope of the kirkyard we came across a crypt with a small iron gate that, on closer inspection, was found to be unlocked. I snapped some shots of the inside and asked Luke to open it and go inside. He opened the gate but didn’t want to go in. As the entrance was small and the ground wet, I decided not to either. But, I suddenly felt a shiver run up my back and the feeling that I was no longer alone.

The temperature seemed to plummet and I could feel the chill on my hands. We continued to walk down the path and head for the exit. I continued to take snaps of graves as we passed them but I was made aware of something else. I asked Luke to stop and remain quiet. I was sure I could hear something following, like a shuffle of feet on the loose stony path. I shrugged the suggestion off and carried on though I felt even more acutely aware that the temperature was really cold now and something definitely felt close by that was unseen to us both. Luke said he didn’t feel anything and I felt fairly excited that something might happen.

There have been stories of people fleeing the kirkyard with various scratches and burns caused by some invisible assailant. This was not the confirmation of spirit contact I wanted, but a visual or auditory sign would do me just as well. We were now standing by the church and again as we walked I was a convinced footsteps shuffled behind me, the sensation of being accompanied by something unnatural was immense and exciting. I snapped the camera and asked for a sign but sadly my request remained unfulfilled. I noticed the gates to the cemetery were closed and wondered if we were now locked in, yet another unexpected twist to the evening. 

Before trying the gates Luke and I walked over to the large crypts for a few more pictures and to look more closely at the infamous crypt where the Mackenzie Poltergeist is said to originate from. Maybe this would be the moment when my curiosity would be satisfied? We peered through the doors of the crypt and asked for a sign or something to happen but it seemed whatever the poltergeist was doing right now, it was not interested in entertaining us. The sensation I had previously had also evaporated and the chilling bite of the cold had climbed the temperature ladder up to plain old night chills.

We headed for the gates and found them to be closed, not locked as I’d hoped to myself. If we were being followed it no longer seemed to be the case. But all in all I had a camera full of photos, visited a now off limit area of the kirkyard and had a somewhat unusual experience. For me that was a good evening out and the City of the Dead walk is one I’d recommend to anyone.

There are a number of companies offering ghost walks in Edinburgh and I've provided a link for the company who provides this walk below.

Links

• City of the Dead Tour
• Greyfriars Kirkyard Photo Gallery

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