Dotted around Edinburgh are famously haunted graveyards, amongst them Canongate Kirkyard. With a mix of soldiers, poets, philosophers and murdered courtiers among the gravestones, an unsurprising number of ghost stories take place right here.
Visit Canongate Kirkyard with us on a Doomed, Dead & Buried ghost tour of Edinburgh.
Resurrection Men
It wasn’t only the dead that haunted this graveyard—body snatchers made good (if morally dubious) use of freshly buried bodies.
19th century Edinburgh had a problem with body snatchers. You see, there was a demand for corpses for the study of anatomy at the medical school. And the Resurrectionists, as they were known, were happy to supply.
Poor people could only pray that their loved ones would rest in peace. The rich employed watchmen and placed mortsafes (or iron bars) over the grave to protect the body.
This did not always stop the body snatchers, however. They dug down several feet between the bars to the wooden coffin, smashed open the lid and using iron hooks and ropes, hauled up the body to the surface.
You might imagine that such disturbance would create more than a few restless spirits...
The Cannibal of Canongate
Let’s go back another century or so to 1707, to our first restless spirit. This story takes place on the evening the Treaty of Union came into effect.
James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, lived in Queensberry House at the bottom of the Royal Mile, not far from Canongate Kirkyard. In honour of the treaty celebrations, his servants were all given leave to enjoy the festivities—all but one: Tom, the kitchen boy.
Tom sat in front of the kitchen’s blazing fire, slowly turning the spit of a sizzling, roasting boar. Little did he know, he was not alone...
In the excitement of the day, a servant had forgotten to lock the door of a room in the basement. The duke’s secret, violent son had been locked up in that room for most of his life. Upon discovering he was free, he began roaming the house, drawn in by the smell of food.
Soon, servants were hurrying back down the Canongate to put the finishing touches on the duke’s celebratory banquet. As they entered the kitchen, a horrifying sight met their eyes.
The duke’s son sat by the kitchen fire. On the flagstones in the middle of the floor lay the wild boar they had left on the spit. But the spit was turning. There was something else on it...
Stories of the Cannibal of Canongate permeate this area of Edinburgh, haunted by horrifying tales of the things that roam at night. Perhaps he, or the souls he tortured, still haunts the graveyard...
Restless Spirits: David Rizzio
Another century and a half earlier, Mary, Queen of Scots and her companions were relaxing in the Queen’s Apartments in Holyrood Palace, just downhill from Canongate Kirkyard.
It was the evening of 9th February 1566, a night that ended in tragedy.
David Rizzio was Mary Queen of Scots’ trusted advisor. Unfortunately, he was also mistrusted by her husband, and many Lords of the Council.
That night, a group of nobles entered her chambers through a secret staircase and threatened the queen. Rizzio was grabbed as he clung to Mary’s skirts. As he was torn away, he begged for mercy in broken English.
Rizzio was stabbed over 50 times and legend has it that his blood is still seen today on the very spot where he died. His body was taken to Canongate Kirkyard. Rumour has it that he was soon moved, deposited in Holyrood’s tomb of the kings.
His makeshift grave remains in Canongate, though.
Superstition warns that if a person was buried in the incorrect way, in the wrong position or without the appropriate ceremonies, the soul would be punished, regardless of how their life had been lived.
Was David Rizzio indeed properly buried, or does his restless spirit linger? One walk through the graveyard at night might give you your answer...
Immerse yourself in these stories of the Canongate Kirkyard on a Doomed, Dead & Buried ghost tour of Edinburgh. Explore Old Town and the Blair Street Underground Vaults before venturing into the centuries-old graveyard.