Haunted Places in the UK & Ireland

George Heriot’s School

📍 George Heriot’s School, Lauriston Place · EH3 9EQ

A former staff member identified as Beverly has described a cluster of experiences at George Heriot’s School during the 1980s. She recalled abrupt cold spots, objects apparently moving without explanation and a particularly dramatic incident in which a vase seemed to lift before smashing. Colleagues also spoke of seeing a dark figure in the building. The value of the account lies in the workplace context: these were not visitors primed by a ghost tour but employees using the school routinely. The case still needs independent interviews or contemporary notes where possible, but the named witness and date range give it a much stronger foundation than a generic claim that the historic school is said to be haunted.

Ghillie Dhu

📍 Ghillie Dhu, Rutland Place · EH1 2AD

During the 2010 conversion of the former St Thomas’ Episcopal Church into the venue now known as Ghillie Dhu, workmen reported footsteps from empty upper floors, moving shadows and tools apparently turning up in different parts of the building. A contemporary report published on 5 March 2010 named foreman Ross McMillan, 29, and said some workers were reluctant to remain alone in the building after dark. The case is useful because the experiences were reported while the property was actively being redeveloped, rather than being attached retrospectively to a tourist venue. The nineteenth-century church history is well documented; the challenge is to preserve exactly what the 2010 witnesses said without adding later supernatural explanations.

Greyfriars Bobby Bar

📍 30–34 Candlemaker Row · EH1 2QE

Local accounts describe strange figures, unexplained sounds and eerie sensations at Greyfriars Bobby Bar, where ghost stories remain part of the site's folklore.

Greyfriars Kirkyard

📍 Greyfriars Place · EH1 2QQ

The site is associated with the Mackenzie Poltergeist, blamed for scratches, bites, trips, punches and other physical experiences among visitors.

5 Hazeldean Terrace

📍 EH16 5RU

In the late 1950s the Currie family at Hazeldean Terrace attracted local attention for a series of destructive disturbances later described as poltergeist activity. Modern summaries say objects moved or were damaged and eventually identify the supposed spirit as a soldier connected with Prestonpans, but the origin of that soldier story has not yet been traced. Eerie Edinburgh preserves the Currie family connection and says contemporary newspapers covered the case, making those reports an important further source. Even the address has suffered from database drift: No. 5 Hazeldean Terrace is in EH16 5RU, not the EH13 or EH4 postcodes repeated by some later sites.

Hunters Tryst

📍 97 Oxgangs Road · EH13 9NG

Hunters Tryst carries one of Edinburgh’s stranger pub legends. A plaque near the entrance claims the inn closed in 1882 after being ‘haunted by Satan’. Former manager Marilyn recalled a 1996 incident in which, after locking the building and walking her dog nearby, she watched sections of the pub’s lights switch on and off despite nobody being inside. Later staff have also reported unexplained incidents. The stories sit alongside the building’s long history on the road towards the Pentland Hills.

Lansdowne Crescent

A tenant reported a cassocked figure above his bed, an unseen force pinning him down, unexplained scratches and later violent disturbances.

Lauriston Castle

📍 2a Cramond Road South, Davidsons Mains · EH4 5QD

Ghostly figures, strange sounds and unexplained sensations have been reported at Lauriston Castle, adding to the site's long supernatural reputation.

Mercat Cross

📍 Mercat Cross, High Street · EH1 1RF

Before the Battle of Flodden in 1513, chronicler Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie recorded a supernatural warning at Edinburgh’s Mercat Cross. A mysterious voice, later associated with the figure Plotcock, was said to call out the names of men who would die in the coming campaign. Pitscottie names a Mr Richard Lawson as the only man to protest and appeal to God. Later writers struggled to identify him: the obvious Richard Lawson of High Riggs is independently recorded as dying in 1507, while his son Robert was killed at Flodden. The haunting tradition is therefore genuine as early folklore, but the identity of the supposed survivor should not be presented with false certainty.

Museum of Childhood

📍 Museum of Childhood, 42 High Street · EH1 1TG

The Museum of Childhood has a long modern reputation for unexplained sounds after hours, including crying, laughter, whispering and footsteps among the displays. Ghost Club material independently preserves the tradition of childlike crying, while later Edinburgh ghost guides have added more detail. The museum’s history is well established: collector Patrick Murray founded it in 1955 and it moved to 42 High Street in 1957. One point still requires care: some modern accounts attribute the experiences directly to Murray himself, but that first-person attribution has not yet been traced to an original source. The database entry therefore describes the reported sounds without turning an unverified attribution into fact.

Museum of Edinburgh

📍 Museum of Edinburgh, 142–146 Canongate · EH8 8DD

Staff testimony from the Museum of Edinburgh describes a quieter, more intimate kind of haunting than the city’s famous vault stories. A staff member identified as Linzi has spoken about unusual experiences within the Canongate museum buildings, providing a modern workplace source rather than an anonymous tourist tale. The property itself occupies a group of historic buildings, so any account needs to be tied carefully to the exact room or section in which it occurred. The current research preserves the staff testimony separately from later ghost-guide embellishment and can be strengthened further if former colleagues or written museum records corroborate the incidents.

Palace of Holyroodhouse

📍 Canongate, The Royal Mile · EH8 8DX

Reports from Palace of Holyroodhouse include apparitions, strange noises and the feeling of an unseen presence moving through its historic rooms.

Queensberry House

📍 Scottish Parliament, Holyrood · EH99 1SP

Visitors report unexplained footsteps, shadowy figures and sudden cold spots inside Queensberry House, where ghost stories remain tied to the property's history.

26 Rutland Street

📍 EH1 2AN

On Christmas Eve 1887, Edinburgh physician William Allan Jamieson reported seeing the figure of a woman in his home at 26 Rutland Street. He did not immediately identify the apparition, but later learned that one of his patients had died at around the same time and came to associate the figure with her. The account entered the records of the Society for Psychical Research, giving the case an unusually strong paper trail: a named witness, exact address and contemporary psychical-research source. Paranormal Database lists the incident at 36 Rutland Street, but the original SPR account explicitly gives No. 26, making this a clear example of why the source record must take precedence over modern databases.

Star Bar, Edinburgh

📍 1 Northumberland Place · EH3 6LQ

The Star Bar’s supernatural reputation centres on a human skull kept in the cellar. Its origins are unknown, although one tradition links it with an earlier burial ground said to have occupied the site. The cellar also connects with old tunnels beneath Northumberland Street. Owners and regulars have long treated the skull as a dangerous object, with stories claiming that attempts to disturb or move it have been followed by misfortune. The object, rather than an apparition, is the focus of this Edinburgh pub’s haunting lore.

The Real Mary King's Close

📍 2 Warriston's Close, High Street · EH1 1PG

Local accounts describe strange figures, unexplained sounds and eerie sensations at The Real Mary King's Close, where ghost stories remain part of the site's folklore.

The Sheep Heid Inn

📍 The Sheep Heid Inn, 43–47 The Causeway, Duddingston · EH15 3QA

Two distinct ghost traditions are associated with the Sheep Heid Inn: a male figure known as the Major, sometimes described as a former owner, and a young girl linked to the historic bowling alley. John Tantalon also says an investigator called Kerry filmed an experiment in which one of four lights repeatedly flashed in apparent response to questions. The footage, date and setup have not yet been independently reviewed, and the historical identity of the Major remains uncertain. The database description therefore keeps the traditional apparitions separate from the modern investigation claim until the original video and staff accounts can be examined.

Whistlebinkies

📍 4-6 South Bridge · EH1 1LL

Whistlebinkies occupies rooms connected with Edinburgh’s South Bridge vaults, and its ghost stories are tied directly to those underground spaces. Three spirits are especially associated with the venue: Mr Boots, The Watcher and The Imp. Mr Boots is linked with heavy footsteps in the dark, while staff, visitors and paranormal investigators have reported figures, noises and other unexplained activity around the vaulted rooms. The setting beneath South Bridge gives these reports a close connection with one of Edinburgh’s best-known haunted locations.

White Hart Inn

📍 White Hart Inn, Grassmarket · EH1 2JU

The White Hart Inn’s reputation is often wrapped in broad claims about centuries of murder and execution, but the most useful modern evidence comes from staff experience. John Tantalon says Georgia, the daughter of his partner Joss, worked at the pub and knew of unexplained movement and noises heard after closing when staff believed the premises were empty. It is not yet clear which events Georgia witnessed herself and which came from colleagues, so a direct interview and a map of where the incidents occurred remain useful research. That testimony is more valuable than simply repeating the generic claim that one of Edinburgh’s oldest pubs must therefore be haunted.

Woman in White at Royal Circus Hotel

📍 Former Royal Circus Hotel, 16–20 Royal Circus · EH3 6SS

In October 1973 three night porters at the Royal Circus Hotel reported seeing a tall woman in white with long dark hair moving through the corridors. Porter James Brand, 42, told the Daily Mirror that the figure vanished, while the General & Municipal Workers’ Union pressed for staff to work in pairs and for a ghost-hunter or minister to be called. Reports appeared on 24 and 25 October 1973. Contemporary hotel advertising and a 1979 official planning notice identify the premises as 16–20 Royal Circus; the former hotel is now divided into residences. The record preserves the reported workplace dispute without presenting the apparition as proven.

Dalmahoy Hotel

📍 Dalmahoy Hotel & Country Club · EH27 8EB

Lady Mary, the White Lady, is reported at the foot of beds in her former room. Other sightings include phantom servants and a cloaked woman floating above the main staircase.

Callendar House

📍 Callendar Park · FK1 1YR

Visitors report unexplained footsteps, shadowy figures and sudden cold spots inside Callendar House, where ghost stories remain tied to the property's history.

Falkirk Old Parish Churchyard

📍 Falkirk Old Parish Church, Manse Place · FK1 1JN

Visitors to Falkirk Old Parish Churchyard report unexplained footsteps, fleeting figures and an eerie atmosphere, particularly around the older parts of the site.

Blackness Castle

📍 Blackness · EH49 7NH

Ghostly figures, strange sounds and unexplained sensations have been reported at Blackness Castle, adding to the site's long supernatural reputation.