As the full moon rises over St Giles’ Cathedral on the Royal Mile, glinting off the brass plate marking the site of the final execution in Edinburgh, we sit nursing our wrath – and our coffee – on the perfect Halloween scene.
Edinburgh is the city of grave robbers, witch dunking and hidden closes, where stories of ghosts and murders lurk in every shadow.
This is where Deacon Brodie, Burke and Hare and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde blazed their bloody trail – and thousands of people were drowned in a bid to find out if they were witches.
If they sank they were innocent – if they floated, they were guilty and burned at the stake. Either way they died, such was justice in our capital city of the past.
My son, Matthew, and I had travelled from our hotel just outside Edinburgh, the Bridge Inn at Ratho, to see a plaque commemorating one of its former residents – George Bryce, known as the Ratho Murderer, who was the last man hanged publicly on the Royal Mile in 1864.
He was executed in front of a crowd of thousands after being found guilty of killing the nanny at a neighbouring house.
After we had settled in to the Bryce Room – and caught up on the story of its namesake – we noticed a room along the corridor named after bodysnatcher Burke, who apparently worked on the nearby Union Canal at Ratho before meeting his accomplice Hare and going on to commit their infamous killings.
Preparing for a night of horror, we ate a delicious last supper in the gastropub at the Bridge Inn, looking out on the canal built to bring coal from the pits of the area into the city of Edinburgh between 1818 and 1822, and which is now still in use for canal and walking holidays.
Stappit foo and unco happy, as would suffice Tam o’ Shanter, we headed for the Lawnmarket in Auld Reekie to find the exact spot where our infamous former room mate met his sticky end – after four minutes on the rope and the executioner pulling on his feet, so the story goes.
We toasted his memory with a drink of blood-red wine at Deacon Brodie’s pub, named after another ne’er-do-well who inspired the Stevenson classic Jekyll and Hyde. A cabinetmaker by day and criminal by night, Brodie ended his life hanged on the very gallows he designed and made.
Making our way up the Royal Mile we passed the Witchery, before taking in the shadowy outline of Edinburgh Castle. Here on the castle esplanade in the 1500s, more than 2,000 people, mostly women, were strangled and then burned as witches – more than anywhere else in Scotland. A horror indeed.
Travelling back towards our next stop, The Real Mary King’s Close, we enjoyed some comic relief, posing in the mirrors of the Camera Obscura, before passing the dark outline of the Ghost Bus, all burgundy curtains and flicking lamps, where conductor Devious Davie and bloodthirsty driver Angus take poor unsuspecting tourists on a ghostly tour of the Old and New Towns, stopping for a walk through the haunted St Cuthbert’s Graveyard – rich pickings for the body snatchers of old and a perfect setting for some grim tales of the past.
Finally a real step into Edinburgh’s history as I joined a group descending the stairs under the City Chambers building and into the hidden scenes of Edinburgh’s past, revealed in a guided tour around The Real Mary King’s Close.
This award-winning attraction beneath the Royal Mile is an underground walk through a perfectly preserved series of streets and homes showing life in 15th Century Scotland.
I joined a group being guided by 400-year-old daughter of Mary King, Jonet Nimmo, an enthralling storyteller who appeared to drift from room to room spinning tales of poverty, doctors, plague and royal visitors as she went.
We were also introduced to the ghost of Annie, a young girl apparently trapped in the close, who visitors are encouraged to leave toys for. These are then handed over to a children’s charity, along with any cash donations left behind.
This was an eye-opening trip into the past with tales of quarantine, the plague doctor, leeches and boils – oh and the “gardyloo” flushing its way down the streets of the old city into the manmade Nor loch below Edinburgh Castle. Yes the same place where the witches were ducked.
Thousands of skeletons were uncovered when the loch was drained in the 1820s to create Princes Street Gardens, where we found an oasis of calm far from the horrors of Halloween.
Returning to the Bridge Inn for our night in George Bryce’s room, I wondered if he’d make himself known. The hotel is known to be haunted after all.
Nothing to see here – although when Matthew asked if I’d slept well, I said I had, despite that big commotion a couple of hours before which had woken me. Some noisy hotel guests I imagined.
He had heard nothing and neither had the night porter… now that’s spooky.
Travel facts
The Bridge Inn at Ratho has rooms starting at £100 and the Gastropub was very busy on the Monday evening we visited. Best to book – the reputation for good food there travels far and wide. Bridgeinn.com
A bus outside the hotel takes you to the Park and Ride at Ingliston for £1.40, and then the tram into Princes Street is £1.80. A short walk up The Mound takes you on to the Royal Mile.
The Ghost Bus Comedy Tour costs £21 each and lasts an hour, with very easy walks included.
Mary King’s Close is £19.50 for adults and £12.95 for children for an hour-long tour and should be booked in advance. The groups for guided tours are small and it is an award-winning attraction. The Close is doing special Halloween walks throughout October. A True Crimes tour is £21, and a Lantern-led tour in complete darkness apart from the flickering candle is £23. Both are for over 18s only and special deals include an option with Halloween cocktails or food. See the website for details realmarykingsclose.com
Conversation