The Dark Side of the Mile: Murders, Monsters and Ghosts of Edinburgh

(6 reviews)

Edinburgh audio tour: The Dark Side of the Mile: Murders, Monsters and Ghosts of Edinburgh

This is a 2.2mi walking tour

It takes an average of 90 mins to complete.

Edinburgh

The United Kingdom

$9.99

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About the Tour

Picturesque Edinburgh didn’t always have such an inviting atmosphere.

The Royal Mile has seen plenty of murderers, thieves and psychopaths lurking in its shadows over the centuries. On this chilling walking tour, you’ll traverse the length of the city’s oldest and most famous street, and meet a handful of them along the way.

The tour starts at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the death of Italian courtier David Rizzio triggered a chain reaction that would derail Mary Queen of Scots’ rule. As you make your way up the Mile, you’ll hear the threads of Mary’s tragic tale. I’ll also tell you about cannibalistic earls, murderous entrepreneurs and more than one figure of authority who abused their power – and paid the ultimate price for doing so.

Along the way, we’ll pass the site where the Netherbow Port once controlled entry to the city limits, and visit Greyfriars Kirkyard, the graveyard that’s reputedly home to the most haunted spot in Europe. The tour ends at Hunter’s Square, where you’ll hear the tale of the poor little bagpiper whose music still floats through the air to this day.

During this 90-minute journey through Edinburgh’s dark past, you’ll have a chance to:

Listen to the heart-wrenching story of Mary Queen of Scots’ doomed reign
Learn how a thirst for knowledge inspired a thirst for blood at the hands of the infamous double act, Burke and Hare
Witness what may well be the world’s first concentration camp at the Covenanter’s Prison
Pass by the mausoleum of “Bloody Mackenzie,” the city’s most troublesome poltergeist
Hear the tale of Half-Hangit Maggie, who survived her own execution, and meet Major Thomas Weir, otherwise known as the Wizard of West Bow
Stroll through the Grassmarket, where public executions drew crowds by their thousands
Learn about the witch trials that claimed the lives of around 2,500 people
Discover the double life of Deacon Brodie, who inspired Jekyll and Hyde

Take a walk on Edinburgh’s dark side and discover the macabre stories that still echo through its ancient streets and closes. You’ll gain an insight into how a city that inspires awe today once inspired little more than horror.

Tour Producer

Jonny Sweet

1 tour

With a background in English Literature, I have always loved stories in all their forms. From folk tales and ghostly goings-on to historical trips down memory lane, there's something about a good yarn that reels me in and keeps me captivated. Over the last decade, I have channelled that passion into my work as a tour guide in both English and Spanish, taking visitors around Edinburgh and Scotland and sharing with them the most beautiful parts and most interesting stories about my country. I'm a firm believer that a knowledgeable, personable guide who cares about their work can make all the difference to a holiday - and I'm eager to bring the same enthusiasm to your Scottish experience.

Preview Location

Location 24

Bloody Mackenzie

Coming up on the right is the Mausoleum of Sir George Mackenzie. If you're unsure what to look for, there's a picture on your screen. Stop once you reach it.

Here lies Sir George Mackenzie, former Lord Advocate of Edinburgh, scourge of the Covenanters and one of the most no... Coming up on the right is the Mausoleum of Sir George Mackenzie. If you're unsure what to look for, there's a picture on your screen. Stop once you reach it.

Here lies Sir George Mackenzie, former Lord Advocate of Edinburgh, scourge of the Covenanters and one of the most notorious men in this city's history. Today, the mausoleum is said to be one of the most haunted places in all of Europe, with well over 500 reports of paranormal activity in the last 25 years. Advance warning - this part of the tour is undoubtedly the heebiest and jeebiest of all the stops, so settle in while I tell you about Edinburgh's most infamous ghost.

What kicked off this avalanche of poltergeist activity? Well, the story goes that in 1998 a homeless man was looking for shelter from the inclement Scottish weather and took his chances inside Mackenzie's tomb. In those days, the building was not locked, you see. Not content with taking advantage of the roof over his head and waiting out the storm, the vagrant descended into a basement chamber of the mausoleum and happened upon a number of coffins, which he then attempted to ransack for valuables. It was at this point that the floor gave way beneath him and he fell into a third, hitherto-unknown chamber beneath, which had apparently been used to illegally dispose of plague victims, hundreds of years earlier. Despite the passage of time, the chamber had apparently been sufficiently airtight that the remains were not completely skeletal, and the poor homeless man found himself elbow deep in putrefying flesh. The stench that these rotting cadavers gave off must have been quite something.

It is this incident which apparently roused the ghost of Bloody Mackenzie, as he came later to be known, and visitors to the graveyard reported a startling number of phenomenon immediately afterwards. These included inexplicable drops in temperature, strange noises such as growling and wailing, as well as numerous physical attacks, from skin gouges and hair pulling to mysterious bruising and sudden shoves. Almost 200 people are said to have lost consciousness in the vicinity of the tomb. Keen to calm the rising hysteria, the Edinburgh City Council eventually slapped a padlock on its door and hoped that might be the end of things. No such luck.

In 2004, a couple of young teens broke into the mausoleum and, horrifyingly, decapitated Mackenzie's skeleton using a penknife. The boys then proceeded to run around the graveyard with the severed head, apparently using it as a hand puppet, before a tour guide on his way to the tomb spotted them and raised the alarm. The pair were charged with "violation of sepulchre", an ancient piece of legislation that had initially been introduced to combat graverobbing. It was the first time the law had been invoked in well over a century.

Today, the mausoleum is completely off-access to visitors... unless you book a ghost tour with the City of the Dead tour company. With exclusive access to both the Covenanters' Prison and Bloody Mackenzie's Mausoleum, they're sure to raise those hairs and tingle those spines. More information can be found at the small shop at the exit to the graveyard, which is where we're heading now - if you've not already scarpered!

Now, make your way back onto the street by following this path along the wall, then turning left and exiting the graveyard by the same gates you entered. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Palace of Holyroodhouse
Canongate Kirkyard
Surgeons' Hall Museums
Old College
National Museum of Scotland
Bobby’s Statue
Greyfriars Covenanters' Prison
George MacKenzie Mausoleum
Covenanter Memorial - Greyfriar’s Monument
West Bow
The Witches Well
Heart of Midlothian Mosaic
Old Tolbooth
Hunter Square

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Canongate, Edinburgh EH8 8DX, UK
Total distance

4km
Final location
3 Hunter Square, Edinburgh EH1 1QW, UK
Distance back to start location

956.43m

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins outside the gates of Holyrood Palace, which is located the bottom of the Royal Mile. The start point is positioned right in front of the picture of the unicorn on the side of the Queen's Gallery.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

The tour passes by many of the city's most popular attractions, which can all be detoured to enter at your whim. These include Holyrood Palace, Surgeon's Hall Museum, the Old College and the National Museum of Scotland. In terms of places to eat and drink, the World's End Pub, Maggie Dickson's and Piper's Rest all take their name from stories mentioned on the tour, while Harry Potter fans can get their fix of retail therapy on Victoria Street.

Best time of day

Scotland's weather is notoriously unpredictable, so wrap up warm and bring waterproof layers whatever time of year you visit! Listeners should also be mindful that daylight hours are severely reduced in the winter (and generously extended in the summer!). Having said that, Edinburgh is a very safe city at all times, so it may be that the dead pose more of a threat than the living when darkness falls!

Precautions

Bring a comfortable pair of walking shoes, fully charged headphones and an appetite for the eerie!

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“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”