Edinburgh Royal Mile Mysteries Free Tour

This free tour of the Ghosts of Edinburgh will take you through the most enigmatic corners of the Old Town, where history is mixed with the most eerie legends. Over the course of a 2-hour walking tour, you'll relive the events that have marked this city shrouded in mystery since its origins.

The experience begins in Parliament Square, next to St Giles' Cathedral, where you'll learn about Edinburgh's Celtic origins and how epidemics, plague and poverty forged a setting for the supernatural. From there, you'll follow a route that takes in the most iconic sights of the old city centre:

• Mercat Cross: former site of public executions and exemplary punishments, where medieval justice left indelible marks.
• The Closes: narrow, dark alleys where apparitions and mysteries are still told after the great fire of 1824.
• Tron Kirk: a disused church where testimonies of paranormal phenomena continue to raise concerns.
• North Bridge: a bridge associated with tragedies, superstitions and presences that refuse to disappear.
• Calton Cemetery: a walk among historic graves where the documented and the unexplained merge in a unique atmosphere.
• Calton Hill: the finishing touch, with spectacular views of the city and tales of Scotland's cruelest witch hunts and trials.

This tour is more than just a scare trail - it's an immersion into Edinburgh's darkest history, where you'll learn how fear, religion and popular belief shaped the city's identity. Each stop combines real events, eyewitness accounts and legends that will make you look at the streets in a different way.