Edinburgh

Seasonal & Holiday Activities

This vaults tour takes you beneath the streets of Edinburgh's Old Town into a dimly lit space that many considered to be haunted. Your tour visits the vaults of the South Bridge that date back to the 1700s. These are the same vaults mentioned on Most Haunted Live as one of the scariest places on earth. Learn how the vaults have been used over the years, the living conditions endured by the poor and homeless residents, and the spirits that are supposed to haunt them. The darker side of Edinburgh's history will unfold as you wander through the candle-lit underground area. From your guide, you'll hear about the Burke and Hare murders and the persecution of witches. Discover the characters who stalked the streets of Edinburgh, and the paranormal stories associated with the vaults. The Haunted Vaults tour option will cover slightly more paranormal and ghost stories. Step into the torture exhibition and explore how and why these items were used.

Live and breathe Edinburgh’s darkest history, if you dare. The Edinburgh Dungeon is an award-winning, 70-minute interactive and immersive walk-through experience covering 1000 years of Edinburgh and Scottish history through 11 live actor shows, theatrical sets, special effects, and 2 thrilling rides. Visitors will come face to face with the most notorious rogues from the city’s dark past. Meet Agnes Finnie, Edinburgh's baddest witch! Enter the Witch Pricker’s interrogation chamber where you’ll come face to face with Agnes Finnie – accused of witchcraft in 1645. She’s mad, she’s bad, she’s not to be messed with! Well done! You’ve found Sawney Bean’s Family. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since they last ate and you look delicious… It’s the 16th century and you find yourself creeping through the Bean clan’s foul-smelling lair to discover the leftovers of lost travelers.

Join this late-night tour of Edinburgh to discover the city’s darkest and most frightening experience as you hear ghost stories of the city told above and below the ground of the Royal Mile. After walking through the famous wynds and closes of the Royal Mile, learning about the horrific living conditions and listening to stories of murderers who roamed the streets, you will be taken to the haunted underground vaults. Torture exhibits await for those with a strong enough stomach to learn how these devices were used in times gone by. Go to the home of “The Watcher” ghost, see the infamous stone circle vault, and discover why you should never step inside!

Explore Edinburgh's ghostly past on a guided tour through the streets of the Old Town and its underground vaults. Listen as your cloaked guide tells you tales of the city's dark and grim past as you are led along the Royal Mile. If you dare, step into the narrow alleyways, which are only a few feet wide. Make your way to the South Bridge, and head underneath, where Edinburgh's Vaults are located. Once storage areas for businesses and shops in the area, the vaults were taken over in the late 1700s and turned into living spaces. Eventually, the area became home to slums and the city's red-light district. As you walk through these now-vacant rooms, you will hear tales of the deplorable living conditions, as well as of the crime that once raged through the vaults. When you emerge from the underground, consider yourself lucky that it isn't in the dead of night.

Join an early afternoon ghost tour in Edinburgh and enjoy a walk with a professional local guide dressed in full period costume. See historic landmarks in the old town on this 1-hour tour as your guide tells you about Edinburgh’s dark past. Head down into the city’s underground vaults, located below the historic South Bridge, just off Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile. The vaults are known to be some of the most haunted in the world and many a ghost has been spotted lurking around by visitors and guides. Experience an afternoon filled with ghosts, torture, death, and horror in Scotland’s historic capital.

This 60-minute adults-only tour is a chilling way to explore Edinburgh after dark. Head underground for an unsettling introduction to the city’s unpleasant past. These tales are not fit for the glare of daylight or for telling to those under 18. Your guide will share true stories of sinister misdeeds and terrible consequences, starting aboveground around the wynds and closes of the Old Town. You'll hear of bloody plots that led to treason and torture, and secret lives that led to horrific deaths and tormented souls. To delve deeper, head to the Blair Street underground vaults, where there’s definitely an unsettling feeling. Your expert Mercat guide will tell you troubled tales as you continue this terrifying walking tour. Expect true stories of murder and hangings, all of which took place in these very vaults. There’s evidence of life in the distant past, lurking just beyond the faint beam of your guide’s flashlight.

The Story of the Underground This is a chance to visit our Underground Vaults – the deepest, largest and most extensive in the city in the company of a Mercat historian. After sitting unexplored for two centuries, there are many questions waiting to be answered…Why were the Vaults built? When and who by? Who used the Vaults? When and why? How did they work, and play? Your guide will recount their history, recall their stories and answer your questions during this glimpse into our past.

Discover Scotland’s mythical sites and Scottish faeries as you walk around the city of Edinburgh. Pass by graveyards, aged houses, and the sites where witches and warlocks were burnt on this sinister yet insightful walking tour. Learn about the black market for corpses in the 19th century and the serial killers William Burke and William Hare. Hear how they sold corpses for dissection at anatomy lectures. Visit the Old Calton Cemetery and Canongate Kirkyard. Enjoy pleasant views across Edinburgh whilst your guide talks about a particularly dark chapter in the city’s history, the burning of witches and warlocks. Be astounded by the number of people burned for witchcraft and what spells and beliefs caused this. Unearth the past as your guide explains about the doctors who cured those with the Black Death, a bubonic plague pandemic in the 1300s. Walk past houses where people lived in the 17th-century and explore the mystery and mysticism that surrounds Edinburgh.

Journey into Edinburgh’s ghostly past and uncover the secrets behind each turn on a guided walking tour. Descend into the underground vaults and finish your tour with a drink in an authentic tavern. Hear the troubling tales of Edinburgh's past from your guide, from the bloody crimes to the unsettled spirits that roam the city. Visit the shadowy corners of old Edinburgh that many say are haunted. Descend into the famously haunted Blair Street underground vaults where the ghosts of Edinburgh's past still cling to this day. Learn about the dark history of the vaults before finishing your tour with a drink and some storytelling at a local tavern.

Your ghostly guide is the deceased Alexander Clapperton, who was an Edinburgh Cemetery Director during the 1840s. Mr Clapperton will take you on a light-hearted journey through Edinburgh's dark past, telling tales of tortures, plague, witchcraft and invasion as he leads you through the Old Town's atmospheric closes and courtyards. En route Mr. Clapperton will introduce some Edinburgh characters summoned from the mists of time - so be prepared for a few laughs and well as the odd fright! The tour price includes a copy of the bestselling 'Witchery Tales' book - essential bedtime reading and an ideal way to delve further into Edinburgh's darker history!