Edinburgh Ghosts & Gore

**Warning, this post contains references to some not so nice parts of history that some may find unpleasant- I will warn you before we get to it!**

Also - this is a long one, so get yourself a cuppa!!

Unlike our previous locations, our time in Scotland, six days, was centered completely around one city, Edinburgh. After weeks of moving from city to city every 2-3 days, it was delightful to unpack, settle in and actually get to know a place. It was a very good decision. Edinburgh is especially easy to get around in. You can just tap your card when you get on the bus in the morning and get a day pass for 5 pounds. If you just get single trips, the system will cap it at 5 pounds, so you never pay more than the day rate.

Prince's Street

We were fortunate that our Inn was on a good bus route. We only ever had to take a single bus, no matter where we were going. I'm sorry, "Good Old #5" from Venice. The "44" might have replaced you in our hearts!

If you are a tourist, and we were, there are two main streets to know in Edinburgh. Prince's St. is the road with all the transit routes, big hotels and modern shopping. It has a huge park, the Art Gallery and Museum, oodles of statues and the best view of Edinburgh Castle. It is in what's called New Town, built by the Georgians. If you are meeting a bus tour, or the Hop On Hop Off buses, you start on Prince's St. That's the best way to get to other notable locations, like the Yacht, the zoo or the Botanical Gardens.

Parallel to Prince's St is the Royal Mile, in Old Town. Construction started in medieval times, when towns were built adjacent to castles. For defensive purposes, castles were built on high ground, so some steep walks are involved. As I've said before, the Royal Mile extends from the Castle to Holyrood Palace. It is lined with tourist shops, restaurants and pubs, cathedrals and other tourist spots. Much of it is blocked off for traffic. If you are going on a walking tour, you would meet it somewhere along here. 

The Writer's Museum, in a Close

Once we had done our two days of Hop On Hop Off, using it as efficiently as possible to get to locations too far to walk to. We had 3 unscheduled days ahead of us. We spoke to the ticket man from Hop On Hop Off and discovered that their company also does some full day, out of city tours. We booked one for the last day. (You will have to wait to find out).

So that left Sunday and Monday with no specific plans. Back at the Inn, after our lovely breakfast with our new friend, we took advantage of the Wifi. I used an app, Get You Guide, that we have had success with in the past. There are countless walking tours, experiences and activities that you can book. For our first night, I booked the Edinburgh Ghosts and Gore Walking Tour. I love a good ghost story.

We had to meet in the evening, outside a restaurant called the Witchery. Very appropriate. The tickets informed us that we would be meeting our guide, Alexander Clappinton (deceased). 

While we waited, we made friends with some lovely young women from New York. As we compared notes on our respective international travel experiences, the subject of public bathrooms came up. They said that since public bathrooms were hard to find in New York, they had memberships to a gym with lots of locations, so one was always close by! Creative solutions!

Anyway, back to my story! A rather distinguished fellow in a great coat and top hat appeared and introduced himself as Alexander Clappington (deceased). He had another ghoul with him as his assistant who presented us each with a small volume of stories to take home as a souvenir.

The Royal Mile used to be referred to as the Fishbone, because it had one main street with several small alleys coming off of it which led to buildings. Some of these don't look like they lead anywhere and are so narrow you can touch the walls on either side. Then they open up into a courtyard that is called a Close. This is how the tall buildings of Old Town are accessed. There are apartments, businesses and even public buildings, like the Writer's Museum off the Close. 

**If you don't like unsavoury subjects, stop reading here!**

Market seller accused of witchcraft

The tour was less about ghosts and more about the unsavoury past of  Edinburgh and Scotland. For each segment of the tour, our host led us down the Royal Mile to a different Close that was relevant to the story. The first was about the witch trials and burnings. Complete with thumb crews and the the tour group playacting a mob accusing a member of being a witch. Janis was a rather enthusiastic accuser! (I'm not judging, just observing!)

Alexander Clappington &
The Plague Body Collector

The second segment was about the plague in Edinburgh. Mr. Clappington's assistant returned in a new costume, complete with a beaked plague mask. He related to the group what it was a like to be a body collector during the plague. Remember the beautiful grounds behind Holyrood Palace, where Queen Elizabeth had her famous garden parties? Underneath the pristine lawn is a mass grave of plague victims.

As these mass graves cannot be built upon, not out of respect, but because they make the land unstable, many have become parks and other recreation areas. They don't put that on the brochure!

 

Segment three took place in the Close by the Edinburgh Writer's Museum, which features the lives and work of Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Lewis Stevenson. Scotland is very proud of her literary history - they love a good story! Here is where we learned that Stevenson's tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was based on a real person. Deacon Brodie was a well respected business man and local politician by day, and a cat burglar by night. He was a cabinet maker and locksmith, who kept copies of the key from locks he made. He eluded suspicion for years, until greed got the best of him and he hired a crew. No honour amoung thieves. Ironically, he was hung from the new-fangled gallows with a hinged trap door - which he designed!

On the ghost side, this location does have a regular haunting. Apparently a ghost likes to hang out on the stairs by the Writer's Museum! Our next appearance by a historical character was a high class beggar. You read that right, a high class beggar. The right to beg in those days was regulated. If you were a tenant farmer who fell on hard times, you could appeal to the local church and get permission to beg by the church. If you were a tradesman or shopkeeper who couldn't work due to injury, illness or some other reason, you could apply to the town council for permission to beg in the town. 

The height of fashion for the upper echelon of beggers 

If you came from higher status, there was another option. The King, once a year on his birthday, had a medallion made. One person a year could apply for it. If successful, you received a special blue cloak and the medallion which showed you had friends in high places and you could beg anywhere and could move freely from town to town in a way that no one else could. If you were caught begging anywhere without the appropriate credentials, they would chop off your hand.

Our character of the night represented the king's bookkeeper who contracted gangrene from a cut. After six months of being deathly ill, he survived but lost the use of his right hand. He couldn't use his left hand, of course, because that would mean he would be accused of witchcraft. 

Moving along, we were introduced to the case of the Bodysnatchers. Two unscrupulous men, Burke and Hare, discovered the lucrative business of selling fresh corpses to Robert Knox (a leader in medical research who needed cadavers for teaching medical students). By law, only the bodies of criminals, suicide victims and from founding homes could be used. There was good money in supplying bodies, which led to grave robbing. Eventually cemeteries became too well guarded. Burke and Hare started murdering lodgers at Hare's house to obtain bodies to sell. 

They were eventually found out and reported by other lodgers. Unfortunately, medical forensics at the time was unable to conclusively prove the most recent victim was murdered (and all the previous ones were long gone). They offered a deal to Hare to turn Crown's evidence against Burke. He was found guilty, executed and, ironically, his body donated to medical research as a cadaver. There is an Anatomical Museum at the Edinburgh Medical School where his skeleton is still on display.  (As a massage therapist, I would love to visit the Anatomical Museum - Janis said that was a "Hard No" - next trip!)

The final segment of the tour was about the Scottish rebellions against the English. It included details about how kilts were used, weaponry and battle tactics. All with the delightful participation by our highland warrior!

Even though this tour wasn't so much about ghost stories, like I was expecting, I was absolutely delighted with it. It was charming, quirky and informative. We saw parts of the Royal Mile that we never thought to explore. There are plaques, markers, statues and dedications all over the place. Without a guide, it can be difficult to know the reference to them. 

How else would we know that John Knox is buried under the parking lot behind St Giles' Cathedral. Under parking spot #23. I kid you not, you can look it up!

Storytelling is a rich cultural heritage that should not be lost in our fast paced digital age. These gifted actors gave us a glimpse into Scotland's past that a museum tour just can't capture. I only related a portion of the stories we got that night. The book we were given as part of the tour has even more, and I can't wait to read it! Perhaps in the next post I will tell you about Half Hangit Maggie!