As every ghost hunter worth their salt knows, there are few cities in the world as haunted as Edinburgh is reputed to be.
With its abundance of creepy closes, underground vaults and spooky-looking streets, Scotland's capital has no shortage of reported ghost sightings and supposedly haunted sites.
In fact, over the years hundreds of people have reported everything from seeing ghostly apparitions to physical encounters with the other side.
Scores of Edinburgh's reported sightings have been collected together and are available on website The Paranormal Database, which examines folkloric, paranormal and cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond.
And with Halloween fast approaching, we thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at a dozen of the most notorious spooky Edinburgh incidents from down the decades. Read on if you dare.
Invisible Energy
Where: Chalmers Close
Activity: Paranormal manifestation
Reported: 2006
An invisible force of energy hit a mother and son in the chest before rushing past them at the top of Chalmers Close - both were shaken by the event. A few seconds prior to this, the pair had seen a red headed girl running towards them - they stopped to let her pass, but she turned off.
Figure in Black
Where: Canongate
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: 1980s
Standing tall, this figure in black was spotted by a witness as they walked towards each other. It vanished when they reached touching distance.
Ghost hound
Where: Beehive Public House
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: 2012
Someone drinking at the pub felt a firm nudge on their left leg, as if a dog had pushed against them, although no canine was present.
Rosie
Where: Banshee Labyrinth, Niddry Street
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: Unknown
Rosie was a prostitute who walked in the vaults beneath this Niddry Street pub and is now said to scratch and mark male members of staff. Another phantom, 'Six Finger Bill', sits under tables and grabs customer's ankles.
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Female Form
Where: 36 Rutland Street
Activity: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Reported: 1887
A doctor who lived her reported seeing the apparition of a female patient he had seen the previous night. The doctor later found out the woman had died at the exact moment of his encounter.
Curse of the Mummy
Where: 15 Learmonth Gardens
Activity: Curse
Reported: 1930s
The figure of an ancient priest was seen in the building after the family returned from a trip to Egypt - it was said that the ghost had accompanied a bone that had been illegally removed from a tomb by a family member. When the piece of skeleton was destroyed, the haunting stopped.
Veiled Woman
Where: Chessels Court, Canongate
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: 1986
Wearing a black dress, this veiled woman is thought to be the ghost of a suicide which took place many years previous. One former occupant reported hearing heavy breathing just outside their bedroom door, while in 1986 a resident felt something climb over their bed as they lay in it. An older story relates to the original building which stood here, which was set on fire to conceal the murder of its beautiful owner. The plan worked, and several buildings were constructed as a replacement. However, when a fire broke out and devoured these newer premises, the murdered woman was seen in the flames, screaming 'Once burnt, twice burnt, the third times I'll scare you all!'.
Johnny One Arm
Where: Dalry area
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: 1979
John Chiesly's ghost haunted the area for 300 years, running around with a bloody stump where his arm should have been, screaming and cackling. When a one armed skeleton was found hidden under the floorboards of a local house and removed for burial in 1965, the entity was thought to have vanished forever; however more sightings were reported between 1976 and 1979, and poltergeist-like occurrences in the mid-1980s.
The Magician
Where: Edinburgh Festival Theatre
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: Since May 1911
This tall, dark stranger who lurks in the shadows is thought to have been part of the entourage of magician the Great Lafayette who perished in a blaze at the theatre in May 1911.
Grizel
Where: Grassmarket
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: Unknown
The face of this lady, heavily scarred by fire, has been seen around the area of the Grassmarket - her and her brother were killed by the local authorities for sex crimes and black magic. Some people have also reported seeing her in a phantom coach being pulled by a team of six horses.
Bluidy MacKenzie
Where: Kirkyard, Coventanter's Prison
Activity: Poltergeist
Reported: 1996
While George MacKenzie has been blamed for the phantom attacks on sightseers at this locale, other people say it is the spirits of the prisoners. Either way, many visitors on the local 'ghost walks' have been pinched, pushed, pulled, and even cut while at this spooky site.
Laughter
Where: Museum of Childhood, 42 High Street
Activity: Haunting Manifestation
Reported: 20th century
Laughing, crying and whispering are all said to have been heard coming from empty rooms within the building, and phantom footsteps walk on the upper floors.
Visit the Paranormal Database for further information.
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