[Edinburgh] .. Ghosts of the northern Athens.

Being an engineer, I spend 90% of my time doing practical things, which is great but I reserve the remaining 10% being a die-hard harry potter fan patiently waiting for my Hogwarts invitation.

#HowToBeSpooky

 Since the invite never came, I followed it all the way to the city where it all began, where one Joanne Kathleen conceived a magical world on a train ride, the city of enchanting tales and fables, the city of Edinburgh. I was curious to find out why it has been nicknamed the Athens of the North and I wasn’t disappointed.

At the elephant house

My first stop was predictably the Elephant house, a regular looking café that for obvious reasons has been a writing spot for various authors.  I got to see the backroom where the view of the Edinburgh Castle inspired Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. Whether it’s the view, the ambience or the sweet treats I got to understand why writers like JK Rowling, Ian Rankin and Alexander McCallSmith and of course tourists kept coming back.

the castle on the hill

Having seen the Castle on the Hill, it was inevitable that I make the Edinburgh Castle my next stop. Gradually built over a millennium ago, it has served various functions including a royal residence, a garrison, prison, a home for the Scotland’s royal honors and currently an historical site. It was a steep climb up but well worth it. I got to see it all, or most of it, the scepter, the sword of the state and the crown that make up the royal honors, took a guided tour through the batteries, the barracks, the war museum, the soldier’s museum ending at the one o’clock gun to see it being fired at 1 pm. Later I made my way to the lovely St. Margaret ‘s Chapel which the oldest building in Edinburgh simply because it was the first to be built of stone enabling its survival over the years.

In the castle

Thanks to its long history, the castle now hosts both the living and the dead, and of particular interest to me was the latter, for obvious reasons.

 For military purposes, the castle has underground tunnels to the Royal Mile. These tunnels were only discovered a few centuries ago, so a piper was sent to investigate them.  They followed the sound of his bagpipes to trace out the tunnels only for the piping to stop halfway through the Mile. They sent a rescue party after him but no trace of him was found although some have claimed to hear his music from the castle and the streets above the tunnels. Another ghost musician known to haunt the castle is a headless drummer boy who for unknown reasons only reveals himself when the castle is about to be attacked. Since the Cromwell’s attack in 1650 the boy has kept his tradition, though he is rarely seen, his drum can be heard in various locations of the castle.

See, it’s not just ghost musicians who haunt the castle, prisoners form another group claiming their residence at the castle. One such victim was one Janet Douglas, a royal noble woman who in 1537 was accused of sorcery. She was burned at the stake on 17^th July 1537 while her young son was forced to watch. To this day, hollow knocking sounds can be heard at night, the sound of the workmen who made the platform on which she was burned. 

Janet Douglas in her prime

Various other prisoners are said to appear in the form of orbs in photographs. One peculiar ghost goes as far as shoving visitors down the battlements, accompanied with the smell of dung. This unnamed ghost is to trying to avenge is death which happened as he tried to escape the torturous dungeons by hiding in dung barrow hoping to be carried down the Royal Mile. Unfortunately for him, the dung was thrown down the rocky steep slopes of the castle, ending his life, rather unpleasantly.  

Turns it’s not just Edinburgh Castle that harbors ghosts, since the Scottish are not fans of death and they won’t let it go if it happens unjustly. It explains why there are numerous tales of Black Agnes, all of which tell of a different Agnes still wandering the streets of Edinburgh. They may or may not be fairy tales but a true story is one of Burke and Hare, two money mongers who literally killed for money. They both migrated from Ireland in the 19 century, during which time the number of executions were dropping. This created an increasing demand for cadavers in medical school, an opportunity the pair quickly grabbed. 

Burke and Hare

Rather than stealing fresh bodies from tombs, they went a step ahead to slaughter the alive. By burking, an efficient suffocation mechanism they invented, they were able to trade lucratively, with one Dr. Robert Knox. In little under a year of 1828 they killed 17 people leaving no trace behind. They were eventually caught and Burke’s punishment extended well beyond his death. Like his victims, his body was anatomized and his skeleton is currently on public display at the Anatomical Museum. 

Burke's skeleton

Hare was exiled to Carlisle where little is known about him afterwards. 8 years later, while a group of small boys was hunting for rabbits on Arthur’s Seat, they inadvertently found 17 miniature coffins with shrouded figurines on Arthur’s Seat.  It is no coincidence that 17 similar people were murdered by the duet. It is unknown who made the coffins, but being the closest to a peaceful resting place they could get, the city has been saved from 17 more ghosts.

Like in Harry Potter, magic is rarely ever accepted in the muggle world. In the Middle Ages, sorcery became as unacceptable as treason. Such a crime was tried for in peculiar ways, in Edinburgh for instance, the trial venue was Norloch. A valley protruding from Edinburgh Castle that today is adorned with tranquil Princes’ Street Gardens, museums and tourists. It wasn’t anything like this six centuries ago; back then it served, a complete opposite function, namely a dumping ground. It was open cesspit where the grossest waste you can think of was dumped, from sewage to slaughter house refuse to humans, dead or alive. Although many reported seeing ghosts from the valley, it is equally probable that they are neurotoxin-induced hallucinations or it is actually true that the city is doomed for torturing the sorcerers.

The trial for sorcery proceeded in two steps: First, the suspects were tied head to toe, dragged down the muddy slope and thrown into the water, if they died, they were innocent but if they survived they definitely had magic, for which burning at the stake proceeded. Either way, death was guaranteed. Incest was another crime that was heavily punished. We know of one Mr. Sinclair who was punished for incest with his two sisters in 1628. There were all locked in a chest with holes and dumped in the cesspit, only for their remains to be recovered in 1820. No one in the right state of mind would admit to sorcery or incest but in 1670 one Major Thomas Weir admitted to both.

Major Weir

 Being a political authority, devout Presbyterian and anti-Catholic, no one would imagine that he practiced sorcery or incest with Grizel, the unmarried sister he lived with. He confessed to learning sorcery from his witch mother, meeting the Devil who gave him his staff, among other things that surprised everyone. It wasn’t just the actual acts that were disturbing, it was the context, the timing and the matching testimonies that Grizel gave. The church declared him insane, but he insisted on pleading guilty. He and Grizel, were eventually charged with incest and sentenced to death by strangling and burning. Drama continued even as they died where Thomas’ staff wiggled around as it was thrown in the flames and Grizel stripped naked before hanging. If you see a large female ghost or hear strange noises around West Bow at night, then its most likely the siblings reliving their weird but adventurous life.

Mary Queen of Scots

The practice of ghosting knows no status nor power, not even the famous Mary Queen of Scots is excused. Born in France, she became queen, before she could even complete sentences. Being a go getter and ambitious, she became of Queen of Scotland, France and almost Queen of England. She was perhaps too ambitious that it led to her downfall when she plotted to kill her cousin Queen Elizabeth for the throne of England. She surely left her mark when her son James VI inherited the throne of Englland from barren Elizabeth. If that’s not enough reminder, her ghost together with her lover Rizzio are known to wander about the corridors of the Holyrood Palace. She definitely knew what she was talking about when she said my beginning is at my end.

greeting at geyfiard kikyard

Mary among other notable men and women was buried at Greyfiard Kickyard, a garden cemetery Mary gifted to the city. As if graveyards are not spooky enough, it is definitely the spookiest graveyard you will ever encounter. In the graveyard you will encounter monuments, mausoleums and gates are engraved with skeletons, skulls, coffins to serve as a warning of the paranormal activities you should expect. For one you can expect torturing by the ‘Poltergeist Mckenzie’. During his lifetime George McKenzie was an advocate who persecuted the Covenanters. Karma hit in 1999 when a clueless and homeless man opened up his grave and unleashed his angry ghost. His eternal sleep has been disturbed only to find that he is buried next to the Covenanters. He has the right to be angry and he takes it on the stubborn and perhaps clueless living.

It seems that every other palace or alley in Edinburgh has some kind of spookiness. You wouldn’t expect that from within the Parliament complex but in the Athens of the North spookiness knows no bounds. At Queensberry house in the complex, there once lived James Douglas, 3^rd Marquess of Queensbery. Due to his peculiar appetite for food and violence, he was always locked up in his room. That arrangement seemed to work until one night in 1707 when the palace residents were distracted by festivities of the act of union. 10-year-old James utilized the loophole to not to play but kill and eat a kitchen servant boy. It will be foolish not to expect a ghost of a small boy to been in the palace.

In addition to the spooky places, I also got to see other places like the Princes Street Gardens, the Writer’s Museum, Scottish National Gallery, National Museum of Scotland, Scott’s memorial, Nelson Memorial among others. Due to the extreme cold I didn’t run but I walked the leith walk to the Royal Yacht and hiked up Arthur’s seat.

The Leith walk deserved selfie breaks..

scenery of the Leith Walk

Views from the Royal Yatch

Royal things from the Royal yatch

Nelson's monument

Arthur's seat

#Views

 I found the history and culture of the Scots to be very interesting, especially their obsession with life after death. Paranormal experiences are so common that a legit research group led by Dr. Richard Wiseman is working to understand those experiences and perhaps solve the mystery of death. Perhaps it’s true as Scottish writer, Robert Stevenson once wrote, “Only a few inches separate the living from the dead”.

Tempted by the proximity, I found myself in Glasgow for a day where I got to see St. George’s everything, the square, the street, the station, church making it clear how much the dragon slaying saint is revered in this city. Inspired by Harry Potter’s St. Mungo’s hospital I visited St. Mungo museum of religious life and art which led me to the heavenly Glasgow Cathedral, the Necropolis burial site and the Provand Lordship, the oldest building in Glasgow from 1471. While aimlessly wandering I stumbled upon Watt’s statue at St. George’s square, beautiful graffiti, the fireworks before inevitably getting lost.

If you look closely, you'll see Watt in the background

Museum things

Gardens at the Provand lordship

Graffitti in Glasgow

After a week in Scotland, I finally understood the roots Harry Potter. It is not by accident that a magical world was conceived on that train ride. It was the ghost stories, the historical structures, literary giants like Walter Scott and Robert Stevenson, the bedtime stories that celebrate magic, all of above were subconsciously cooking up something. I was left with no option but to embrace my Ravenclaw self and acknowledge magic. 

PS: In Brussels I visited the Harry Potter Exhibition where the Sorting Hat did confirm that I’m a Ravenclaws.

Its a Ravenclaw!