Lore 282: Auld (ad-free)

Few cities in the world contain as much darkness, pain, and evil as the capital of Scotland. Join us for a chilling tour—but be careful where you step.

Narrated and produced by Aaron Mahnke, with writing by GennaRose Nethercott, research by Jamie Vargas, and music by Chad Lawson.

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Sources: 

• “About Us.” Tolbooth Tavern. https://www.tolboothtavern.co.uk/about-tolbooth-tavern.

• Addison-Swan, Catherine. “Scotland’s ‘Most Haunted Pub’ That’s Home to a Terrifying Wailing Banshee.” Edinburghlive. Updated 10/19/2021. https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/scotlands-most-haunted-pub-thats-21890799.

• “The Banshee Labyrinth.” The Banshee Labyrinth. https://www.thebansheelabyrinth.com/.

• Bennett, Rachel E. Capital Punishment and The Criminal Corpse in Scotland, 1740-1834. Warwick: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Digital. https://archive.org/details/oapen-20.500.12657-28421/page/n3/mode/2up.

• “Botched Executions.” Death Penalty Information Center. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/botched-executions.

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• “Broadside Regarding the Execution of Margaret Dickson.” The Word on the Street. National Library of Scotland. https://digital.nls.uk/broadsides/view/?id=16830.

• Brown, Hannah. “The Haunted Tales Behind the Pubs Which Lie Above Edinburgh’s South Bridge Vaults.” Edinburgh Evening News. 1/1/2021. https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/the-haunted-tales-behind-the-pubs-which-lie-above-edinburghs-south-bridge-vaults-3070228.

• “Canongate Tolbooth.” Edinburgh World Heritage. https://ewh.org.uk/canongate-tolbooth/.

• Chambers, Robert. Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, 1833. Digital. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Minor_Antiquities_of_Edinburgh/oswg4Y4b29sC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA208&printsec=frontcover.

• Chambers, Robert. Traditions of Edinburgh. London: W. & R. Chambers, Limited, 1912. Digital. https://archive.org/details/traditionsofedin00chamiala/page/n19/mode/2up.

• City and Royal Burgh of Edinburgh. Handbook to the Museums of Local History. Edinburgh: Libraries and Museums Committee, 1958. Digital. https://archive.org/details/handbooktomuseum0000unse/page/46/mode/2up.

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• “Edinburgh, 163 Canongate, Canongate Tolbooth, City Museum.” Canmore National Record of the Historic Environment. https://canmore.org.uk/site/52527/edinburgh-163-canongate-canongate-tolbooth-city-museum.

• Fleetwood, John F. “The Dublin Body Snatchers: Part One.” Dublin Historical Record, Vol. 42, No. 1, 1988, pp.32-40. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30100854

• Fraser, Elisabeth. Tales From Scottish Lairds. Norwich: Jarrold Publications, 1995. https://archive.org/details/talesfromscottis00norw/page/100/mode/2up.

• Grant, James. Cassell’s Old and New Edinburgh: Its History, Its People, and Its Places. New York, Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., [1881-1883?]. Digital. https://archive.org/details/cassellsoldnewed01granuoft/page/n5/mode/2up.

• Harris, David Fraser. Saint Cecilia’s Hall In the Niddry Wynd: A Chapter in the History of the Music of the Past in Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Oliphant Anderson and Ferrier, 1889. Digital. https://archive.org/details/saintceciliashal00harr/page/6/mode/2up?view=theater.

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• “The History of Edinburgh’s Old Town.” Hidden Scotland. https://hiddenscotland.com/journal/the-history-of-edinburghs-old-town.

• “How a bloody corpse was used in a 17th century forensic test.” Strange Remains. October 5, 2006. https://strangeremains.com/2016/10/05/halloween-horror-post-5-how-a-bloody-corpse-was-used-in-a-17th-century-forensic-test/

• Ian. “Major Thomas Weir’s House.” Mysterious Britain & Ireland. Updated 12/18/2018. https://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/hauntings/major-thomas-weirs-house/#:~:text=In%20his%20Letters%20on%20Demonology,as%20that%20of%20Major%20Weir..

• “Ian Rankin Investigates Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for BBC Four.” BBC. 6/13/2007. https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2007/06_june/13/rankin.shtml.

• Johnson, Ben. “Edinburgh.” Historic UK. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Edinburgh/.

• “Maggie’s Story.” Maggie Dicksons Pub. https://maggiedicksons.co.uk/maggies-story/.

• “Major Weir.” Scotclans. https://www.scotclans.com/pages/major-weir.

• McDonald, Gillian. “The Wizard of West Bow: The Dark Secrets of Edinburgh’s Haunted House of Horrors.” I News. 9/29/2017. https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/travel/west-bow-edinburgh-haunted-house-93732?srsltid=AfmBOooBthSLLNY3y4XDVGnuuY3xBgj0Jr4oH0aEuEMGYbXnY59KI5m7.

• MacPherson, Hamish. “Back in the Day: The Legend of Half-Hangit Maggie Dickson.” The National. 8/30/2020. https://www.thenational.scot/news/18685609.back-day-legend-half-hangit-maggie-dickson/.

• Moore, James. Murder at the Inn: A History of Crime in Britain’s Pubs and Hotels. Stroud: The History Press, 2015. Digital. https://archive.org/details/murderatinnhisto0000moor/page/104/mode/2up.

• Moysie, David. Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland. Edinburgh: Wal. Ruddiman Junior and Company, 1755. Digital. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Memoirs_of_the_Affairs_of_Scotland/clQzAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA182&printsec=frontcover.

• Murdie, Alan. Haunted Edinburgh. Stroud: The History Press, 2011. Digital. https://archive.org/details/hauntededinburgh0000murd/page/n5/mode/2up.

• Nenadic, Stana. “The Rise of Edinburgh.” BBC. Updated 2/17/2011. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/scotland_edinburgh_01.shtml.

• “Ninety-Fifth Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association, Edinburgh, 1927.” The British Medical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3439, 1926, pp.1067-70. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25326508

• Palmer, Claire. “Edinburgh Vaults.” Historic UK. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Edinburgh-Vaults/.

• Ralfe, Siobhan. “Henry VIII’s Scottish Aggression: The Rough Wooing.” The Historians Magazine. https://thehistoriansmagazine.com/henry-viiis-scottish-aggression-the-rough-wooing/.

• Ross, David. “Lauriston Castle.” Britain Express. https://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=1231.

• “Royal Mile.” All About Edinburgh. https://www.allaboutedinburgh.co.uk/high-street-edinburgh.

• Scott, Sir Walter. The Journal of Sir Walter Scott. Project Gutenberg eBook, 2005. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14860/pg14860-images.html.

• Scott, Sir Walter. Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. London: John Murray, 1830. https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.7481/page/n363/mode/2up.

• Scott, Sir Walter. Tales of a Grandfather (History of Scotland). Vol. II. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 2007. Digital. https://archive.org/details/talesofgrandfath0002sirw/page/82/mode/2up.

• Sinclair, George. Satan’s Invisible World Discovered: or, A Choice Collection of Modern Relations, Proving Evidently Against the Atheists of the Present Age, That There are Devils, Spirits, Witches and Apparitions, From Authentic Records, Attestations of Witnesses of undoubted Veracity to Which is Added, That Marvellous History of Major Weir and His Sister, the Witches of Bargarran, Pittenweem and Calder, &c. Edinburgh: Alex M’Caslan, and Fold, 1769. Digital. https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_satans-invisible-worldsinclair-george1769/page/186/mode/2up.

• “Spectral Terrors in Edinburgh’s Tolbooth Tavern.” Spooky Scotland. 12/19/2017. https://spookyscotland.net/edinburghs-tolbooth-tavern/.

• Underwood, Peter. A Gazetteer of British, Scottish and Irish Ghosts. New York: Bell Publishing company, 1985. Digital. https://archive.org/details/gazetteerofbriti00unde/page/330/mode/2up

• “Was an Unrepentant Edinburgh Sorcerer Inspiration for Dr Jekyll?” The Herald. 6/13/2007. https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12779732.unrepentant-edinburgh-sorcerer-inspiration-dr-jekyll/.

• “West Port Murders.” Aberdeen Journal, and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland. 12/31/1828, p.4. https://www.newspapers.com/image/393035155/?match=1&terms=%22William%20Hare%22.

• “Who Were the Covenanters?” Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association. http://www.covenanter.org.uk/whowere.html.

• Willis, Matthew. “Burke and Hare…And Knox.” JSTOR Daily. 11/13/2023. https://daily.jstor.org/burke-and-hare-and-knox/.

• Wolfe, Darin L. “To See for One’s Self: The Art of Autopsy Has a Long History and an Uncertain Future.” American Scientist, Vol. 98, No. 3, 2010, pp.228-35. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27859511.

• Wood, John Philip. The Ancient and Modern State of the Parish of Cramond. Edinburgh: John Paterson, 1794. Digital. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Antient_and_Modern_State_of_the_Parish_o/LwIwAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Lauriston+Castle&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover.