Halloween

my first ever jack o lantern! how cool, i'm so proud!

The Uk loves it's halloween, the shops over here have been full of costumes, and all things spooky for weeks...

so what better way to celebrate than to take myself off on a ghost tour of the city's most haunted graveyward! i decided on The city of the Dead tour after a few reviews from people i know..

i wish i got scared easily!

the tour started on the royal mile (just outside st giles cathedral) where we met our guide Tonks, and set off up towards the castle... Edinburgh has such a grisly past it's no wonder the whole city is haunted!

after visiting the site of many a witch killing at the base of the castle, we headed down into the grassmarket where we were all lead to the hanging tree.

Before heading on towards the haunted graveyard... Greyfriars' Kirkyard

this tour has the keys to the locked graveyard...
nothing like being locked in a graveyard on halloween night!

The wind was howling, the sky was dark, the screams were many!


The kirkyard is creepy enough by daylight (although definitely worth a look), let alone at night.

nothing like the thought of millions of bodies piled everywhere..

There are a couple of stops in the cemetery where you learn about serial killers Burke and Hare, and the bodysnatching problem that Greyfriars had. Then we headed to the Covenanters Prison, the most haunted section, and also the darkest.

it's not open for the public unless you're on a tour with this company...

our guide lead us into the Black Mausoleum, home of the "Mackenzie Poltergeist."

of course being the brave sod that i am i headed in first, to be met with darkness that surrounded me...

you had no idea how big the space was, and we crammed our 50 odd people in there...

They claim that hundreds of people have been attacked by the poltergeist.
unexplained scratches and the like...

Nothing happened to the people on our tour, but the atmosphere in the mausoleum is frightening.

You can't see the person next to you, and the guide's storytelling buildup is enough to get your heart racing.

I enjoyed the tour, I was ready to get out of that mausoleum!

oh and i found the Real hogwarts...!

From there headed back up to the royal mile where they were having a pagan parade and performance...

it was fantastic...

i have a video of some pipers with drums that were fantastic, but blogger won't let me upload it...

i'll try again later