Picture - Greyfriars Kirk
Strange things have been happening the last few years on one of Edinburghs many ghost tours. Edinburgh has been noted many times in the past as being an extremely haunted city. Many tales abound of ghostly sights and happening, but none seem to have caught attention like The MacKenzie Poltergeist.
The City Of The Dead Tours was started in 1999 by Jan Henderson and a partner. It was a hit from the start. Like the other ghost walk tours in the Scottish capital, it takes in many parts of the city where a haunting was said to occur. Hendersons tour winds up in The Black Mausoleum, situated in The Covenanters Prison. When the tour party reaches this part of the walk, those who are pregnant or with a weak or nervous disposition are told it might be best if they wait outside.
In the Black Mausoleum, some members of the tour party may experience something they probably wished they hadn’t. People have reported feeling like they were being touched by an invisible force while inside the mausoleum and then come out to find they have either scratches, cuts or bruises on their face, back and hands, wherever they felt something strange. Some have to stumble out of the mausoleum because of feeling incredibly nauseous and ill. Most frightening of all, others have fainted, only to come around after being carried out of the mausoleum, more than a bit stunned by what just happened.
All of this has been attributed to The MacKenzie Poltergeist, supposed by some to be the spiteful ghost of Sir George MacKenzie, or ‘Bluidy MacKenzie’, Lord Advocate of Scotland in the late 17th Century.
During this time, Scotland was in a great religious upheaval. Some people practiced Presbyterianism and were determined to carry on with their religion, which was outlawed at the time. They became known as the Covenanters. MacKenzie came down hard on the Covenanters, locking them in The Covenanters Prison, found today in the Greyfriars Kirkyard, for months on end without food or water. Many died and some were hung. Their bodies were buried in the prison. Nearby is the tomb of Sir George MacKenzie.
The spirits of those who died there still roam the Prison, most considered to be benign. It’s believed that the close proximity of MacKenzies tomb to the graves of The Covenanters, is causing a lot of conflict, The MacKenzie Poltergeist being a result of it.
Because of the events happening in the Black Mausoleum, the gates to the Covenanters Prison are now locked, access only being gained by those taking part in The City Of The Dead Tours.
City Of The Dead Tours website with updates on the ghost
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