Edinburgh Haunted Old Town Self Guided Ghost Tour
- 1h 30m
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
This is a self-guided exploration game where you'll be solving a paranormal case involving real people and their wandering ghosts. The file on Edinburgh's Old Town has been open since 1966. You, with your detective and observational skills, and a little help from the Questo app, will try to close it in 2 hours. The route takes you down the Royal Mile and through Greyfriars Kirkyard, past 13 of its darkest addresses. Your job is to take statements from the dead and check them against the record. You'll discover dark stories like the councillor who burgled the houses he fitted with locks, the woman who woke up after her own hanging, and the body snatchers who never broke a single law. Each location involves inspecting a real-world object and solving a challenge. Best after dark with your phone lantern. About 1.4 miles of walking, with unlimited breaks. Hints and 24/7 support available if you get stuck. Perfect for Halloween or any night you're in the mood for creepy ghost stories.
Inclusions
What's included
- Full availability: Every day of the year.
- Flexibility: start, take a break and continue at your own pace.
- Access to the self-guided city exploration game in the Questo app
What's not
- Live game master or physical guide
- Private transportation
- Meals
Itinerary
You'll start on Castlehill, just below the castle esplanade, where the app opens your case file and introduces the agent running it. Your first task will be to find a small iron fountain on the wall and work out what's hidden under the sticker in your photo. You'll learn that it's the only memorial to the more than three hundred women burned on this hill, and that it doesn't even run.
You'll walk to the foot of the tallest spire in Edinburgh and use two street signs on the railings to crack a five-letter password. You'll learn why it was built to be seen from the New Town, and why it carries the name of a building that no longer exists.
You'll stop at Deacon Brodie's Tavern on the Lawnmarket and compare its famous two-faced sign with your photo to find what's missing. You'll learn about the respectable councillor and locksmith who let himself into the houses he had fitted, and who later inspired Robert Louis Stevenson.
You'll go up onto Victoria Terrace, above the curve of Victoria Street, and find the word missing from a nearby sign. You'll learn about Major Thomas Weir, who confessed in 1670 to crimes nobody had accused him of, and why his house then stood empty for a hundred years.
You'll head down to the Grassmarket and find the stone plaque at the old gallows site to complete its inscription. You'll learn about Maggie Dickson, hanged here in 1724, who woke up in the cart on the way to her burial.
You'll walk into Greyfriars Kirkyard to the domed tomb of Bluidy Mackenzie, decode a scrambled instruction and inspect the door to answer it. You'll learn about the 1,200 Covenanters held through a winter in the field next to his grave, and the night in 1999 that started the hauntings.
You'll stop at the little bronze dog on the corner of Candlemaker Row and pick the real statue out of four photos. You'll learn what the council records say about Scotland's most loyal dog, and why one historian thinks there were two.
You'll walk along Chambers Street to the statue of William Chambers outside the museum and spot the detail added to your photo of one of its bronze panels. You'll learn how the man who bought Bobby's licence cut the city's death rate by a third, and what he demolished to do it.
You'll go round the back of the old Royal Infirmary, to the lane where the anatomy school took its deliveries at night, and decode a word from a weathered plaque. You'll learn what a body was worth in a hard winter, and why taking one was never against the law.
You'll walk down the Royal Mile to the brass line in the road where the city gate once stood, read the World's End sign, then compare the carved panel on John Knox House with your photo. You'll learn why the gate came down in 1764, and why Knox probably never lived in the house that carries his name.
You'll stop at the Tron Kirk and find the detail that exists only in your photo of its sign. You'll learn what was found under its floor in the 1970s: a whole sixteenth-century street, still paved.
You'll finish at the Heart of Midlothian outside St Giles', where you'll turn every fragment you've collected into one final question about the Mercat Cross. You'll learn why people still spit on the heart in the cobbles, and how Deacon Brodie tried to survive his own hanging.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- The game starts at the Witches' Well on Castlehill. After booking, we'll message you a code and activation link. Activate with your own email, then log in to the Questo app with that email. No message? Open the Questo app, tap "Bought a quest somewhere else?" and enter your booking reference number.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Operated by
- Questo
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- A charged smartphone with internet is required to play the game in the Questo app
- Comfortable walking shoes are recommended
How it compares in Edinburgh
- Its from-price is 96% below the median of the 1253 experiences we list in Edinburgh.
- It is shorter than most of them.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, rises on volcanic hills, with a castle on a crag, a medieval Old Town and an elegant Georgian New Town.
Edinburgh Castle crowns Castle Rock and keeps the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels. From there, the Royal Mile runs downhill through the Old Town, past St Giles' Cathedral and a warren of narrow closes, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament. Arthur's Seat, an ancient volcano, rises above the palace with sweeping views.
Top-ranked sights in Edinburgh: Royal Mile, Edinburgh Old Town, Edinburgh Castle.
Special offers in Edinburgh
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
