Who Was Mr. Boots, The Watcher? - Edinburgh Vaults Ghosts

Hidden away underneath the bustling city centre lies a world full of echoes from the past. Uncover the city’s dark secrets and visit the Blair Street Underground Vaults yourself on an underground ghost tour. 

Back in April, we welcomed beloved ghoul boys Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej into the Blair Street Underground Vaults—or, as they like to call them with much fanfare, the Scottish tunnels. 

Enough visitors suggested us over the years that they came to the Edinburgh vaults for their first ever international ghost hunt. 

Ever since the vaults reopened in the 1980s, they have had a reputation for strange apparitions: figures lurking in doorways, footsteps resounding in the corridors, voices from nowhere, the icy touch of invisible hands…  

The list goes on. And for the most part, the alleged ghostly encounters don’t do much more than send a chill down an unsuspecting visitor’s spine. 

However, if you’re particularly unlucky, you might become acquainted with a presence known as the Watcher. 

  

Watcher in the Blair Street Underground Vaults 

We have come to call him the Watcher because he likes to keep a close eye on the living whenever we venture into his vaults.  

Those who have claimed to see him describe him as a tall, imposing man wearing a dirty blue coat and heavy, worn-out leather boots. Some storytellers call him Mr. Boots because of that.  

 

When he is not glaring at us from a doorway, he might be pacing the corridors, letting us know that he does not want us there.  

Some visitors have even heard him growl the words ‘Get out.’ 

If he decides that he has had enough of us strangers intruding on his space, he has been known to get a bit… touchy. Over the years several visitors have reported marks on their skin after their Edinburgh underground vaults tour. 

 

Who Was Mr. Boots in Life?  

Who is this spirit that seems so protective of the vaults?  

We can only speculate. His territorial behaviour suggests that he might have something to hide. Could he have been a smuggler, thief, or even a body snatcher guarding his ‘merchandise’? 

From the 1820s onwards, the South Bridge Vaults were a breeding ground for illegal activity. Sadly, they were also a place of refuge for the poorest of the poor.  

Perhaps the Watcher acted as some sort of slum landlord, terrorising and exploiting those who could not fight back. 

However, we like to give our ghostly residents the benefit of the doubt. Maybe his motives are entirely honourable. It's been suggested that he might be protecting the White Room, in particular.  

Maybe he was fond of the young woman visitors report seeing, who allegedly died there. Feelings of grief, guilt or jealousy could be what causes him to guard it to the point of intimidating those who enter uninvited.  

There is another, far less sinister or tragic, theory. Given that he is quite active in the section of vaults that was once used for storing goods, perhaps the Watcher was just that: a watchman hired by a merchant.  

Since so many businesses shared the space, it made sense to have a dedicated caretaker who could keep an eye on your valuable property. 

It was probably not the most desirable job, spending your days stuck in damp, dark Scottish tunnels, likely sleeping there too. He might simply be doing his job to this day. Could you blame him for still being overprotective of the vaults? 

Whatever his backstory might be, if you ever encounter the Watcher on an Edinburgh underground tour, the only advice we can give you is to treat him with respect and… well, hope for the best. Good luck. 

Experience Edinburgh’s darkest secret and visit the very places Shane and Ryan hunted for ghosts in. Who knows, maybe the Blair Street Underground Vaults will reveal more secrets to you.