Murder In Edinburgh Thomas Smithy

Thomas Smithy,

In 1786 Thomas Smithy was a normal everyday guy, he had a beautiful wife two amazing children, and some would say a good job. He worked in a Iron works factory in Edinburgh a about a mile form his house in Fishers close. He worked there in the wages department, but he always wanted more for his children and his wife. One day Thomas was on his way to work. Upon leaving his house he was to find at the bottom of the stairs a bundle of rags. Left just to the side of the close door way.
Upon stopping and looking through the rags. he made a find that turned his blood cold. For wrapped up in the rags was a 9/10 year old girl. She was badly cut up. Her poor body broken and cut open from top to bottom. It would seem to the police that came, that the body had been dissected. Her main body was so badly cut open, that her intestines were hanging out. Some of the police who came and saw the body, were very badly shaken by it. But to some it seemed Mr Smithy had not been moved by the find, and spoke normal when asked about the body and the find. The young girl was quickly forgotten by the police as know one came forward to report the young girl missing.
Nor did any one in the close seem to know her.
Thomas Smithy went about his daily routine, of work, home and play with his children. However severely months later. Two young women, were walking in the Cowgate part of Edinburgh. When one of the woman let out a scream. She had just found hidden behind a bin. The remains of a young girl of about 9/10 years old. The police came and removed the body. The strange part is they never linked the two bodies, of the young girls. You see the 2nd young girl was like the first. Very badly cut up, most of her body and been cut open. Some of her internal organs, had been cut open. What looked like someone had been opening her up for dissection in class. The police thought it may have been some of the young Doctors at the medical school. They were all asked of their movements, no matter how much the police looked no one could be found for the crime of murder.
Well that was until almost a year after the first body of the young girl had been found in Fishers Close. Poor old Thomas Smithy had been on his way to work. Nearing his work at Tollcorss He was to find yet another young girl. Same age as the last two between 9/10 years old. Plus she too was badly cut open. You have to think how unlucky must you have, to be to find two bodies. Both of them in the same way badly cut open. It would leave you very badly shaken. But it would seem that it did not leave Mr Smithy this way. It is reported that he spoke normally to the first police officer on the scene. Stating all the facts. Much like it was rehearsed, the police thought it to much that he should be like this.
At this point they thought to look more closely at Mr Smithy life. As he seemed just to ok with the finds. They asked his friends and neighbours about him. They all said the same thing, he was a very nice guy. Always had time to speak to everyone, would often help people even if it meant he was late for something. His work was always done on time, and he often stayed behind to finish jobs. He was kind and caring, very understanding person. The one thing they all seemed to say was that he loved his wife and children very much. But one day his wife had just up and left him, with their children. Was this the clue the police needed. The police now wonder why this man with such loving ways, to suddenly make his wife move out. The police spent the next few days trying to track down his wife. They were to find her in another part of town. Well away and well hidden from Thomas Smithy. She was staying with friends in the new town area of Edinburgh.
The police asked her what she was doing, why she had moved out so suddenly that night. Why she had taken great care not to leave any note of where she had gone. That it took even the police a few days to track her down.?
She told the police “that her husband was taking a strange look at her children, that he looked at them all most like he was looking inside them. Not seeing them.”. She went on to add “ that it was not just her children but that of her friends as well”. The police now had enough, they wanted to see inside the flat. She had told them that they were never to go inside the old room. Her husband would keep the door locked at all times even if he was in there which seemed like a lot of the time. She told them he had the room fitted with a sink and wash table.
The police returned to Mr T Smithy later that day, after going to his work and finding out he had gone home. They wished to get his side of things, and see if the stories matched up. As the police knocked on his door. they heard the sounds of foot steps. It seemed to them that he took a long time in getting to the door.  Just as they were about to knock again the door open and their stood Thomas Smithy. He looked like he had just washed and cleaned up. The police said they were there to go over, the statement he made to them about the finding of the 2nd body. As they went to the house, one of the young police officers, looked inside one of the rooms. Their he saw a table, on the table was signs of blood. Dripping down the side. On the floor was a pan that seemed to be full of blood.
Thomas Smithy was arrested and taken down to the Tollbooth, giving the police time to go over his flat.
It was when the police got into his flat, that they were to make the most horrifying discovery. The table the young police officer had seen, was covered in blood. On the table it’s self was maniacals used it looked like to hold a person down. Lying through out the room was medical texts books. There was also medical instruments lying on the floor and tables around the room. What could he have been up to? The police also wanted to know. On questioning it came out that he had applied to the medical school to be come a surgeon there. But during one of the tests it would seem his eyesight was not good enough. Nor was his hand movements. He told them that he was practicing, so he could reapply to the school some day like they said he could do. He wanted to be come a Doctor so he could give his family a better life. On the 22nd June 1786. He was taken to the gallows. Where is body was hanged. he was cut down and handed over to the young Doctors at the medical school for them to use during their lessons. None of the girls found murdered by Thomas Smithy were ever given a name. There was many a poor house around Edinburgh that he may have visited, where he could have picked these young girls up. We also may never know why he choose the young girls the way he did. No record has been to say why, he picked them. Nor why he went for such young girls in the first place. But in those days life was cheep, and sometimes meaningless but even then the deaths of three young girls must have stuck in the minds of the police officers that found them. Plus those that had to look in to their deaths.
Many people walking the streets of Edinburgh today hardly knows what can go on behind a closed door. Today we are more than likely not to even know our neighbours. You wonder back then how he kept this to himself all those months without someone finding out. It is also said that when you walk the streets of Edinburgh at night you can hear the sound of children crying out, is this the sound of many a child who may have been murdered, or could it be the sounds of children who died in the many plagues. Or even just the sounds of cats fighting.                

Murder In Edinburgh Story of Lynn

Miss Lynn Summers and Kevin White;
In 1789 a young woman was just starting out in life having moved to Edinburgh to find work. Starting in one of the mills, she was to find work hard but fun she would make new friends very easily, she was a very well liked young girl. During her breaks with friends she would often talk of her life before coming to Edinburgh she even said she was hoping one day a young man would come and take her away to far off places. Most of the other young girls would say that is what they to hoped for.
She did not know at the time but she had caught the eye of the foreman James Hill, although he was almost 30 years older than her, he set his sights on bedding her and more. Lynn was the perfect girl for him, slim hips long dark hair and a very bewitching smile. He would watch her as she worked on the line, how her hands would pick off what was not wanted. He would also walk by her and smile her way or talk to her about work and what she was doing after it.
Lynn being young and with James being her foreman would always talk back with know harm she thought in it. However one of the woman started to notice that James would always make to Lynn first in the morning. She knew something was up by the way he looked her over each time they met. She said to Lynn about this at there breaks but it would seem Lynn brushed it off.
However James changed the way he worked he started taking breaks at the same times as Lynn did he would sit close by her and her friends and would often speak to her even when she was talking to her friend. Then he started asking her to stay back and work on more hours, needing the money she agreed to this. However one day he asked her to stay back after work.
By the end of the month she had told some of her friends that she was looking for a new job. That was until, a new trolley boy started Kevin she was soon in love with his jokes and take on life how he always seemed to look on the bright side. Although he was older and not very tall he got to her heart. Lynn would talk to him more and more as he passed by her work station. This did not go unnoticed by the foreman who soon started making sure Kevin was kept away from Lynn.
At the end of one day Kevin asked Lynn to join him she said yes and the went to the near by Inn the Whiteheart Inn for a meal.
It was their that there love became real for the first time they laughed and talked all night. At the end of the night he walked her the short distance to her house. When they said goodbye they knew they would see each other again. They did not know they were being watched from the dark alleyway by the foreman James, evil on his mind he set out after Kevin. Meaning to have words with him he caught up to him at the end of the Grassmarket and called to him to stop.
Kevin must have knew what was going to happen he ran up the street calling for help. A shot rang out Kevin fell blood coming from the open wound to his back. James now fearing for himself started to run but was caught by two of the town guard who had been making late night call of their own. James was taken to the Tollbooth there he told of his crime. That he could not live without Lynn and had tried to kill Kevin. He said all he wanted to do was to warn Kevin off Lynn tell him that he was no good for her, but when Kevin ran he saw red and shoot him.
Kevin was taken to a near by house and a doctor was called Kevin died in the house that night never seeing Lynn again. It is said his last words were I love her.
On the 26th September 1790 James Hill was hanged for murder, he always said he did not mean to kill him and it was to protect Lynn from harm that he had to have words with Kevin that night. He went to the hang mans rope still calling out that he loved Lynn.
After words Lynn was often seen in the graveyard at Kevin’s grave tears running down her face. To this day her ghost is said to still sit by his grave with tears in it’s eyes and sadness in her heart.

PARANORMAL TALES SILVER MAN BATHGATE

Silver Man
Location: Bathgate Hills - Area known as Knock Forest
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1990’s

Everyone enjoys going for a driver in the country. What better than on a sunny evening you decide to take your kids and wife for a drive to the local country park. The Bathgate Hills has been a country park for years, surround by open land and part forest. The roads intertwine with trees and open farm land. There is great views over not only Bathgate and on to the Pentland Hills. In the distance you can almost see all the way to Goat Fell on Arron.
Over the other way you can see the towers of the Forth Road Bridge and on in to Edinburgh. The kids are busy taking in the country side around them waiting on getting to the climbing ropes and slides in the parks main play area.
You set off down one of the narrow roads that lead deep into the trees and the play park beyond. As you make your way down the narrow country lane your wife looks out the window of the car. She wants to take in the sights of the road ahead and looks out over a small loch. You take the sharp bend and head down the steep road. Your wife gasps a little you think it must be something she has seen out the window and you look the way she is.
It that moment you see it just to the side of the road just behind the hedge row, a silver object. That is just sitting there waiting. The cars headlights picks up more of the silver object you can now see that it looks like a man, but no normal man it is about 7 feet tall. It is silver from head to foot. It stands up and looks across the road towards you. The car is moving towards it you are not sure if you should stop or go faster past it. You look around you then go faster, as you get near to it the man stats to run. You pick up speed and it shoots off into the distance it must be travelling at over 70 miles an hour.
You look at your wife and she looks at you both of you are not sure what you have seen. The kids in the back then speak “Did you see that?” “What was it?” “Look you can still see it run” It is at that point you know you have seen something very strange running through the Bathgate Hills.

We are not sure what this silver man could be. He has been seen s few times running through the trees and a cross fields. Normally he is seen just as it starts to get dark just as the sun sets. He has been seen near the top road that leads down towards the park.
Could he be from another world? Could he be from another time? We shall never really know until we catch he and ask. Loads of people that drive these roads at night now look out for this strange man running at 70mph.    

ST ANDREWS HOUSE EDINBURGH.

St Andrews House,

You are sitting in your office look out the window and see the sun is shinning for once. You think to yourself why not for lunch I sit outside today in the little seat just over from my window. You go upstairs too the canteen and pick up your lunch and take it outside. As you cross the car park too the little seat your mind is on the sunshine and the warmth of the gentle breeze blowing across Edinburgh. Your eyes are drawn too the sights around you. Edinburgh looks amazing from where you sit you can see right across to Arthur Seat and Holyrood House.
As you sit there thinking what a nice day it has turned out to be you look back at St Andrews House and across the west car park, you may not know you have walked over one of Edinburgh’s first jails. In 1791 Robert Adam designed the Bridewell prison. Bridewell prisons were so called after King Henry 8th palace in 1553 was made into a prison too deal with vagrants. The palace took on the name Bridewell as it was near too Holy well of St Bride in London. After that all prisons took on the name of Bridewell.
Bridewell prison in Edinburgh was too be built at the top of Waterloo place on the side of Calton Hill. The prison was started in 1791 and finished around 1795. When finished it had room for 134 sleeping closets and each room had a bed and bible in it. On site there was a chapel where they had 52 working parlours or cages where prisoners worked. This was mostly for rehabilitation rather than punishment.
Hardened prisoners were sent to work on the treadmill often for up to 6 hours a day. This was more monotonous than for any other reason. In fact some of the judges at the time thought the prison was to soft with the offenders, due to the fact the prison was more open and the openness of the cells, this let the prisoners talk not only between each other and the outside world. The prisoners could even talk to people that walked past on Calton Hill through their cell window.
In 1814 an Act of Parliament meant that Bridewell was now to be enlarged into a castellated prison. The new Calton Hill jail was built between 1815 and finished around 1817 as part of the work on Waterloo Place by Archibald Elliot, This was at the same time as Regent Bridge was being built and now connecting the wilds of Calton Hill to the newly built Princes Street. The new prison included a school for illiterate prisoners and also there was accommodation for the turnkeys. To make sure the prisoners had something to do, the public would bring their dirty laundry for them to wash. To the East of the prison was the debtors part in 1859 a person named William Brown spent a week there for not paying the Annuity Tax. The design of the prison included a large gatehouse leading onto Regent Road. In his novel Backwards to Britain Jules Verne in 1859 described the prison as small scale version of a medieval town presented perfectly as if it had been polished.
To the South of the jail it was guarded by a curtain wall and drum towers with the design completed by the imposing Governors house. The first was John Young who lived there in 1823 Then John Smith who stayed there for 30 years with his wife and mother in law (ok may not have been the best idea having his mother in law stay with him). A census was taken in 1841 which showed there was 500 prisoners inside these were made up of both men and women in fact even children were in the jail. The different jobs they had when they were not in prison shows you the way Edinburgh was in the 19th Century. The jobs were listed as fleshers, booksellers, masons, blacksmiths, watchmakers, shoemakers, even hatters in shows you everyone could end up in jail no matter your job or life style. In the census in even had the ages of the children these were two girls aged 9 years old which made up part of only 11 women held there at that time. The jail had 8 wardens, 2 watchmen and 4 matrons living within the jail. The Calton Hill jail was also the site used for executions after the last public hanging took place in 1864 (please see Paranormal Tales Murder blog for this) which went wrong in so many ways. The black flag would be flown from the Governors house on the day it was to take place.
In fact as you sit on your seat over looking the West car park you may not think but some of those that were hanged at the jail never left. The first person to be hanged at the jail was Eugene Marie Chantrelle on the 31st May 1878 for poison (see Murder Blog) he along with 9 others still today rest below the grounds of St Andrews House West car park. The bodies are
Robert Flockhart Vickers, William Innes executed March 1884 for murder,
Jess King executed 1889 for murder,
John Herdman executed 1898 for murder,
Patrick Higgins executed 1913 for murder,
John Henry Savage executed 1923 for murder,
Philip Murray executed 1923 for murder and the last to be hung at the jail.

In 1925 the new jail at Saughton just outside Edinburgh was being built by the end of 1925 all prisoners were now moved to the new prison. Calton Hill jail was now to be demolished the stones were used to build the Hope dam some 25 miles away in the Lammermuir Hills. The door to the death cell was taken to the Beehive Inn in the Grassmarket. Some of the cells were left in place when the built the new St Andrews House on the site.

As you take your lunch in the car park sitting on your seat you may not think of what was here before the 1930’s building before you. You maybe thinking about work, you maybe thinking about getting home and putting your feet up. What you will not think about is the bodies under the cark park and what they did to end up there, or even the fact of the harsh conditions the prisoners had to put up with in the prison. Your mind not even go to the fact the two of the worst kind of killers (child killers) are under your feet as you walk back to work on the sunny afternoon. Today St Andrews house has been made over and most of the cells still left were made ore open plan but you can still see the marks on the ground and floors where they once stood. Some even say that today some of the prisoners are still there, not the ones in the car park but wondering the corridors of the building. Security and staff have reported doors opening and closing. Feeling of being watched even though they know they are alone. Some have heard the sound of cell doors being slammed shut. Plus voices calling out in the darkness. Some of the staff hate to go down to the basement part which is left over from the jail. So what is under St Andrews house well it history, it is pain and suffering, it is life taken away from the most horrible people alive at that time. It is memories of the past. Plus 10 people who committed murder and paid the price for it with there own life.  

MURDER IN EDINBURGH Queensberry house.

Queensberry House, The Royal Mile,

Queensberry House has been change through out it's life first it was a house owned by Charles Maitland of Haltoun, who in 1680 up set Edinburgh crafts men by hiring cheep masons and labourers from the country side to build his house. This was to prove hard for the builders and costly as the people of Edinburgh would run off with there tools and landlords would refuse to sell them ale. There was many angry exchanges between locals and his workers, so much so that Mr Charles Maitland had to go to court to get his house finished he only stayed in the house for about one week, after which he sold the house in 1686 to William 1st Duke of Queensberry (Lord Drumlanrig) he never really wanted the house but he was confined to live there due to his opposition to the pro-catholic policies of King James 7th, the Duke was to support King William 3rd (orange) to the throne in 1690. He left the house hoping he would never have to return there, he even said as he left the house "The devils pike oot his een that looks herein". However that was short lived as after only a few days back in his own house at Drumlanrig he fell ill fearing his was to far away from medical help he returned to Queensberry House in Edinburgh once more it was in the house that he died in 1695. It was at that point a fate was to befall another for a seaman in Sicily was to have told of a great coach drawn by 6 horses head towards Mount Etna the coach driver was heard to yell "Make way for the Duke of Drumlanrig" he said the volcano blew flames and smoke when the coach dropped in to it.
Another person in the house was to loose them self to a fire and flames in 1700 some five years after the Dukes trip in to the volcano Williams daughter Anne was to burn to death, it was said her nightdress caught fire and although servants rushed to her aid they were to late they found the flames had burnt off her nose and burnt her tongue and eyes out. She was to die of her wounds a few days later. However death did not stop there for there was yet more to come this one was caused by a madman. In 1707 the English and Scottish Parliaments were to join. As a great supporter of this James the 2nd Duke of Queensberry was given the some of £12,325 for being one of the Commissioners to the drawing of the Treaty of Union, this was not liked in Edinburgh and where ever the Duke went he had to take an armed guard with him.
On the day of signing of the Treaty the Duke left his house with everyone from the house going with him all but a young kitchen boy how was left to look after the roast on the fire. On that day most people of Edinburgh was out at Parliament Square waiting for the Duke, so taking the whole house hold might have been a good idea. After the work was done the Duke headed home with the household close behind them. What was to meet them next is not fully known and a lot has been written about it. What we do know is the Duke had a son that he had kept locked away in rooms with the windows closed up tight and the door always locked. How the madman for that is what his son was got out is not known. We have a report in the papers that he cought the kitchen lad and cooked him over the oven it was that seen that may have meet there eyes on the return from signing the Treaty. The Queensbery family gave up the house in 1832, it was then used by the council to houses poor children. in then fell in to disrepair until opening as a hospital then closed down again until the parliament took over the house in 1999 to use as part of there building, you can still see the oven today as it was back then as the oven was uncovered during work on the building in 1926. Today staff say some times they can smell cooking or night staff have said there is the sounds of screams from the kitchen what we do know is not many people like being in the old kitchen after dark. This may be due to the fact they may not want to end up the same way as the kitchen lad back in 1707.
Bottom of the Royal Mile big white house. Walk down the Royal Mile right hand side of the street, near the bottom set back off the street you will see white house with silver gates next to a bus stop and well head. This is the house. To the left is said to be the room in which he was kept locked up in.

The Fortune Telling Mirror.

Lady Eleanor Primrose And The Conjurer Of Canongate
According to John Ingram, Sir Walter Scott's (Born 15 August 1771 – Died 21 September 1832) story 'My Aunt Margaret's Mirror' was based upon events surrounding Eleanor Countess of Stair. In his book 'The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain' (1897), Ingram gives the following full account which he compiled using the work of Robert Chambers and other Scottish writers.
Lady Eleanor Campbell was youngest daughter of James, second Earl of Loudon (Died 1684), and, therefore, granddaughter to that stern old Earl who played so important a part in the affairs of the Covenant, and who was Lord Chancellor of Scotland during the Civil War. [This being John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun (Born 1598 – Died 1662)]. Whilst very young, in the beginning of the last century, Lady Mary was married to James, the first Viscount Primrose [and also 3rd Baronet of Carrington]. Her husband is described as a nobleman of bad temper and dissolute habits, and is averred to have treated his young wife with great brutality. Eventually his conduct became so outrageous that the unfortunate lady went in fear of her life. One morning, it is stated, whilst she was laboring

under this dreadful anticipation, she was dressing herself in her chamber, near an open window, when she saw her husband enter the room with a drawn sword in his hand. He had opened the door softly, and approached his wife with stealthy steps, but she had caught a glimpse, in the mirror, of his face, upon which his horrible resolution was depicted, and before he had time to do her any injury, she leaped  through an open window into the street. She does not appear to have sustained any important injury by her dangerous leap, and was enabled, half-dressed as she was, to get to the house of her husband's mother and claim her protection, which was, of course, accorded.
After such proceedings, it was impossible to think of a reconciliation, and, in future, the ill-assorted couple lived apart. Soon after this escapade, Lord Primrose went abroad, and for a very long while Lady Primrose heard nothing whatever about him. During this lengthy separation a foreign fortune-teller, or necromancer, came to Edinburgh, and, among other accomplishments, professed to be able to inform anyone of the present condition or position of any other person in whom the applicant was interested, irrespective of their distance. Hearing of the marvels performed by this foreigner, and incited by curiosity, Lady Primrose went, with a lady friend, to his lodgings in the Canongate for the purpose of inquiring about her absent husband.
The two ladies, escorted by their servants, duly reached the place of their quest. Lady Primrose having described the individual in whose fate she was interested, and having expressed her desire to know how he was occupied, was led by the conjurer to a large mirror. Upon looking into it, she perceived distinctly the inside of a church, within which, grouped about the altar, a marriage ceremony appeared to be proceeding. What, however, was Lady Primrose's astonishment when, in the shadowy bridegroom, she recognized her own husband, although the bride's face was entirely strange to her! The magical scene thus wonderfully displayed before her bewildered gaze, she described as not so much like a picture, or the delineation of the pencil, as a living, moving tableau of real life. Whilst Lady Primrose gazed, the whole ceremonial of the marriage appeared to be taking place before her. The necessary arrangements had been made; the priest appeared about to pronounce the preliminary service; he was, apparently, on the point of bidding the bride and bridegroom join hands, when, suddenly, a gentleman, whom the party seemed to have been waiting for some time, and in whom Lady Primrose recognized a brother of her own*, then abroad, entered the church, and hurried towards the bridal group. At first the aspect of this person was only that of a friend, who had been invited to the ceremony, and who had arrived late; but when he arrived near the party, the expression of his countenance suddenly altered. He stopped short; his face assumed a wrathful expression; he drew his sword and rushed at the bridegroom, who also drew his weapon. The whole scene then became quite tumultuous and indistinct, and speedily vanished away.
Upon her return home, Lady Primrose wrote out a minute account of the whole affair, and appended to her narrative the day of the month on which she had seen the mysterious vision. This account she sealed up in the presence of a witness and then deposited it in a place of security.
Eventually the absent brother returned home, and naturally went to visit his sister. Lady Primrose inquired if, in the course of his wanderings, he had happened to see or hear anything of her husband. The young man only responded that he wished never to hear that detestable person's name mentioned. Pressed closely by his sister, however, he confessed at last that he had met Lord Primrose and under very strange circumstances. Whilst he was making a stay in Amsterdam he became acquainted with a very wealthy merchant whose only child, a beautiful girl, was the heiress of his enormous fortune. This merchant informed him that his daughter was engaged to a Scotchman of good position who had recently come to reside in Holland, and asked him, as a fellow-countryman of the bridegroom, to the forthcoming wedding. He went, but was a little late for the commencement of the ceremony, yet arrived, fortunately, just in time to prevent the marriage of the beautiful and amiable young Dutch girl to his own brother-in-law, Lord Primrose!
Lady Primrose had so far succumbed to the prevalent superstition of her time as to write down a full account of the vision she had beheld in the magic mirror, but she was so confounded and overcome when this wonderful confirmation of its truth was revealed to her that she almost fainted away. But one important fact had still to be ascertained. When did Lord Primrose's attempted marriage take place? Her brother was fully enabled to answer this. Upon receiving his reply she took out a key, opened the drawer containing the account of her vision in the mirror, and, handing the manuscript to her brother, desired him to read it. He did so, and found that Lady Primrose's narrative not only tallied in every important particular with the scene he had taken part in, but, also, that it was dated on the day that her husband's attempted nuptials were interrupted in the way he had described!

A few words about Lady Primrose's career will not be out of place here. In 1709** her husband died, leaving her still young and beautiful. She had many good offers, but, more than dissatisfied with her experience of the married state, she formed a resolution never to remarry. Among her suitors was the famous John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair (Born 20 July 1673 – Died 9 May 1747), who for twenty years had made Edinburgh his place of residence. Lady Primrose preferred him to all her wooers, but even on his behalf could not be persuaded to relinquish the comforts of widowhood. In order to change her resolution the Earl hit upon an expedient which, as one authority remarks, "certainly marks the age as one of little delicacy."' He bribed one of her servants to admit him into her dressing-room, the window of which looked out upon the High Street. At this window, when the morning was somewhat advanced, the Earl showed himself en dishabille to the passers by. The fatal effect which this exhibition threatened to have upon the lady's reputation, induced her to accept Lord Stair for her second husband. As Countess of Stair the lady is said to have had a fairly happy life, especially after she had succeeded in weaning the Earl from over fondness for the bottle. In 1747 she was left a widow for the second time, and in November 1759, after having long exercised sway over the first coteries of the Scottish capital, died there, at a very advanced age.

Regent Terrace Edinburgh Yellow Eyes

yellow eyes regent road,

Regent Terrace is a Georgian block of buildings in the New Town, not far from Edinburgh's Faerie Hill, Calton Hill and between London Road and Holyrood Park.
 In 1979 No 25a was subject to a fairly classical poltergeist infestation which, unlike the Mackenzie Poltergeist, does not seem to have persisted.

The Haunting


In June 1979, the same year the late and unlamented (except by her family ) Margaret Thatcher came to power in England 25a Regent Terrace caught a poltergeist infection, described in Fortean Times 55 (Autumn 1990) by Bill Gibbons, who was also a member of the 1996 expedition to the Congo in search of a rumoured dinosaur survival known as Mokele Mbembe. Coincidentally I moved into Edinburgh the year his article appeared.
In June 1979 Bill had been discharged from the Army on medical grounds and was sharing 25a Regent Terrace with three friends. At that time the streets were not very different from what they were in the 19th Century and earlier. The flat was in reasonable condition for Edinburgh student accommodation at that time, a dingy basement flat with bars on all the windows, rising damp on the walls and creaky floorboards: many had worse. It wold have been comfortable with two people living there but not four.


Bill immediately noted the cold atmosphere and an atmosphere of gloom in the place and, when left alone in the flat, he had the sense of another presence. In the kitchen he started to fill a kettle to make tea when a voice close to his right ear barked “yes?”. After jumping and finding no one was there he searched the flat for practical jokers and found only the cat under the sink with claws drawn and hackles raised. The voice could have been an auditory hallucination, but the feline reaction suggests a genuine presence.
A week later he told a flatmate about the voice, The flatmate called down to the kitchen to ask his girlfriend to put the kettle on for tea and a voice, not that of the girlfriend, answered “Yes?”. When they reached the kitchen they found it empty. Soon after the front door opened and the girlfriend walked in. The students had moved in in March 1979 and been kept awake by strange noises, most commonly the sound of a baby crying that would reverberate through the flat getting louder and louder and suddenly stop. Sometimes there would be the sound of heavy breathing and objects would vanish an reappear in odd places (some people attribute this sort of vanishing to pixies and recommend asking them politely to give the missing items back). In one case a watch vanished from a bedside table and reappeared two days later in a biscuit tin kept in the pantry.


After a while all three beds in the house were moved into a one room the three young men were nervously sharing. One night a warm furry animal jumped onto one bed and the student began stroking it and talking to it. When asked to stop talking to himself he said he was talking to the cat, at which point the others each claimed the cat was on their bed, as did a friend staying the night. When the friend switched the light on the room was catless. The same entity visited Bill one night prompting a check for rats, and a week later one of the others woke about 5am and found themselves unable to move, at which point the bed began to vibrate alarmingly and something heavy and furry leaped onto the bed and crept up towards the man. Suddenly the vibration stopped and the thing vanished: as much as anything evident to other senses but not seen CAN vanish. The cat, incidentally was on the outside of the living room window with teeth bared and claws drawn. It refused to enter the flat for days.


The next night before sleeping they locked the door to the room and put a stout chair against it. Then they heard heavy footsteps approach the door. They stopped, the handle began to turn and the door bent inwards as if pushed by something very strong. This happened three times. The footsteps then retreated and they heard the kitchen door open and shut with a slam. One of the men had decided to sleep in the kitchen and one night he and his girlfriend saw the kitchen door glide open, despite the fact the kitchen door was hard to open because of a thick carpet. It then closed and opened again. When the man got out of bed to lock the door it slammed shut.


Eventually they held a seance where they contacted a French Trader and later time traveller from the future who wanted release from the 20th century. When one of the group made a joking remark the glass shot across the table and fell over. After that the lights went out, two of them men found themselves wrestling on the floor while the other three found the kitchen door would not open.


About 2am that morning there was a tremendous crash from the kitchen and the sound of the kitchen table being dragged across the room and objects being thrown around. After ten minutes the sound stopped. The following morning they found nothing was out of place in the kitchen


Three of the flatmates moved out but Bill, being curious, arranged to share a room with a young chef at the top of the house. One night something cold and furry grabbed his wrist as he was about to put the light on. He ran up the stairs and, looking over the banister, saw two slitted yellow eyes staring at him out of the darkness. A couple of weeks later he left the flat.

On the face of it this is more or less a standard poltergeist case, with no mystery fires or pools of water involved. The voice is unusual and contacting a time traveler from the future suggests someone's unconscious was playing tricks. The infestation seems to have started gently, as these things do and become more and more extreme, again typical of poltergeists.
But thinking of Sabot's experiments recreating an American CivilWar soundscape and hearing anomalous voices at a roll call perhaps this was a case of creating a poltergeist by playing out standard culturally defined roles expected when a poltergeist occurs. But in that case, the cat would have been likely to remain unimpressed unless a real entity had been created.


Another unusual element is the two slitted eyes seen on the stairwell. Hennessy believes Edinburgh to be built on a system of caverns inhabited by an alien race and cites tales of reptilian creatures being encountered in underground cellars. But this creature was cold and furry not scaly and green, so the notion that Regent Terrace harboured or harbours an entrance to this underground world does not quite fit the facts either.
As a teenager my parents home suffered the vibrating bed syndrome and my parents had a phantom cat would walk up the bed, the real cats moving aside for it. I cannot dismiss this case with a mundane explanation
Like the Mackenzie Poltergeist this case defies easy explanation. After all this time no explanation is likely to be found, but the events may shed light on other cases. In the spirit (!) of speculation, perhaps a member of a tribe of extraterrestrial werewolves (vegetarian since Bill survived) decided to play pranks on the group and projected the voices. I suspect the truth, if it is ever found, to be stranger than that.

Kirk of Shotts Possible ghost

WILLIAM SMITH?
LOCATION, KIRK OF SHOTTS CANTHILL ROAD NEAR WATCH TOWER,
DATE, PRESENT,
TYPE, MANIFESTATION,

Late in the evening some time in 1990 a young female driver, was travelling home along the Canthill road which runs up the side of the church. It was misty as the road normally is. When out of the mist just to the edge of her head lights she, caught sight of a man, heading towards her. Although she braked hard and moved the car towards the other side of the road, she hit the man. For now she could see it was a man, which she said had a top hat, and a dark coat on. She heard him travel over the top of the car hitting the roof as he did. She looked behind her in the rear view mirror, and she could see he had landed on his feet. She stopped the car and got out to see if he was alright. The man looked at her then vanished. She told local people what had happened and the local paper ran the story. People started coming forward to say the same things had happened to them on this road. The local minister of the church said she traveled

the road almost all the time but had seen nothing on the road. But as more people came forward, the tales were the same. Some said they had to walk the road and as they did would rush past the church and it’s grounds, some even said if they smoked they would light two cigarettes to make it look like someone is with them. As they could see what looked like a man standing at the gates to the church yard watching them as they walked along the road. It was always cold, ice cold in fact as you got near the gate to the church yard.
The minister of the church was having pictures taken of the grounds, the person taking them was a professional photographer, when he got the pictures to the church after development. They found a mist on some of the pictures most notable of all William Smith grave.
William Smith was a Covenanter who fought in most of the battles around the area, but took part in the Pentlands up rising. He was killed on that road by the Duke of Monmouth horses, which knocked him down, then some of his men stabbed him to death in 1678.
Could this be the same person who now steps out in front of cars instead of horse, for ever to live out his death.
It is very strange that you not only see the person but also hear the person travel over your car. You can watch the person land on the road on their feet then just vanish before your eyes.
It must worry some people from the local area as it said they rush past the graveyard, some even go out their way not to pass it at night. The area is always dark very few lights on the road it’s self. Although now the church is lit up at night. The road it’s self is still dark. The graves in the grounds date back to the start of the Covenanting wars at around 1649.

Photo of possible Orb in Greyfriars Church yard Edinburgh

The photo you see bellow was taken on one of our Discover Edinburgh Ghost tour. The tour was inside Greyfriars Graveyard. There was about 22 people on the tour and it was in November, it was very cold and had just rained that night. In the picture you can see different graves on the one just up from the girls walking you can see what looks like an orb on the ground near to the rear wall of the grave. As you can see the orb has different colours through it and seems to be shining. We are not sure of the type of camera used believe it to be a phone camera used to take the photo. It was sent into us due to the fact it looks like an orb.

Orbs are meant to be spirits energy and we can see them in photos ect. This is said what a ghost is meant to be made up from. As you can see from other photos orbs can be caused by a number of things including dust, flies, rain, marks on the camera, insects, cold spots, light reflection, so forth. Almost 99% of the time and orb is one of the above and nothing more. Ghost hunters try hard to not say and orb is a ghost until it can be proved that it was not one of the above doing it. Then ghost hunters can say it is an unexplained light phanoa this is the term used by sceptics and such like. I will leave it up too you to say what you thing this picture is off

Kirk of Shotts

Could this be the grave of the man that is seen playing chicken with cars on the side road leading too Shott's prison.  Or the grave of the man seen to give people the shivers if they walk past the church.

More information on this haunting coming up later.

Grave of one of Edinburgh's most famous ghosts

Who is this grave of and why do people run away from it? Why does this grave or person in the grave like attacking people who walk past, or even dare too look in? Find out on the ghost tours that run Edinburgh's dark graveyards and streets.

BROTHWICKS CLOSE EDINBURGH'S ROYAL MILE

BROTHWICKS CLOSE,
DATE, PRESENT,
LOCATION, THE ROYAL MILE,
TYPE, HAUNTING/ MANIFESTATION,
Annmarie Taylor and John Gunn,
Annmarie was said by all accounts to be a very fine looking woman,she was in her late teens early 20s when she met John Gunn
 ( no age is given for him) she lived at Allans close or near to it with her father and mother and her two sisters. They were a rich family her dad part owned a mill down by the water of Leith, she was not ment to meet let alone fall in love with John Gunn he was a common worker a charge hand working on the farms in Prestonpans, some how these two met and fell in love. To keep there love a secret they used to meet in Borthswick close just down from Allans close which is now under the City Chambers. This was done by the help of Annmarie's maid who would stand guard while she would go down the close to meet John. He would stand just down by the door in to George Herots school for hospital doctors. Although at the time the door was used to get into the printers there. He would be hidden from site, Annmarie would stand with her back to him so they could touch and hold each other in the dark close without being seen from the street level. How ever one day John Gunn was to have an accident he fell into a thrasher face first and was killed out right.
However love is strong at times and between these two it was, Annmarie left her house that night unaware of what happened to John, as she
got to the close she would have gone down as normal to the meeting spot, John was there waiting as he always did for her. As Annmarie got
close to the spot she knew something was wrong she could feel it, as always she turned her back and he reached out this time as she
turned to face him a horrible site met her eyes his face was hanging off Annmarie screamed and ran. When she returned to her house not
far away her father knew something was not right and he called the doctor who then in turn called a minster in, as all Annmarie would say is
"his face it was hanging off".
Now John Gunn is said to haunt part of Borthwicks close near to the spot of his meetings with Annmarie, He is said to hold out his hands
looking for his true love to fall into them once more. The story now goes that if a young woman does not fall into his hands, he will pick
one and fallow her home to try and find love and warmth from her.
The part about the accident is noted down in the parish records of Prestonpans, this is dated 23 sept 1641 at Mains farm and is written
by a Mr A Cuningham, The part about there meetings is taken from both the dairy's of Annmarie and her maid Julie these can be found in
The Edinburgh room, also taken from parish records of St Giles as it was the minster from there who came to see to her.
The first reported sighting of John Gunn was by a merchant walking home late one night, he reported that he heard a scream in Borthwicks
Close and went to look. There he met a young woman running up the close towards him, when asked if it was her that screamed she said "
that she had saw a man with his face hanging off and dripping blood had try to grab her". The merchant on hearing this took the young woman
to the police station where he reported what happened. The report states that a woman brought in to the station by a Mr Huntington
was crying and in a panic she was in a high state of fear. Two police officers were sent to look for the gentleman in question in the close
a search was carried out when no body was found. The report goes on to say that, there was a search during the day but no blood was found
at the site or anywhere within the close. The report is dated June 21st 1729.
The close has undergone some change due to the fire there in 1824, but it still is in part how it was when the two of them met each other, over the years people have heard screams and seen shadows. This may be in part to the tour companies and guides giving tours, but not all the screams seem to be at times the tour companies are out on the Royal Mile. The last known sighting of Mr Gunn was in 2010 when a young woman was visiting her uni friend. They had been out late at one of the many pubs that are on the Mile and taking a short cut home were walking down Borthwicks Close, when they heard a noise behind them of a man coughing they turned to meet a horrible site a man was standing bleeding from a bad face wound, the girls took to there heels and ran. They reported it as soon as they got back to there flat to the police, the police records show no one was found and again no blood was found at the seen, could this have been Mr Gunn still looking for his true love.