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.