Eerie Edinburgh

In 1835, Captain Molesworth and his family moved into a house in Trinity, Edinburgh.

Not long afterwards, strange noises began to be heard around the property. Knocks, footsteps and other disturbances were reported, and before long the case had drawn in neighbours, military officers and the landlord himself.

At the centre of it all was Molesworth’s daughter Jane, who was already seriously ill. Her sister Matilda had died only a short time before the disturbances began, and some came to believe there might be a connection.

What followed became one of Edinburgh’s strangest and now largely forgotten supernatural cases.

In this episode, I look at the original account, the later additions to the story, and what we can still piece together about the family at its centre.

The Canongate is one of the oldest parts of Edinburgh, a street with a history stretching back almost nine centuries. Behind its familiar buildings and closes lies a remarkable collection of ghost stories.

In this episode of Eerie Edinburgh, I return to the place where the channel began almost three years ago: Bible Land, home to one of the Canongate’s strangest supernatural traditions.

But that story is only the beginning.

From centuries-old accounts of apparitions and unexplained encounters to stories that survived into the twentieth century, we follow the Canongate through some of the hauntings that have become attached to its buildings, closes and streets.

Some are well known. Others have almost disappeared.

Together, they suggest that few parts of Edinburgh have accumulated quite so much supernatural folklore in such a small area.

Welcome back to the Canongate.

Perched on a cliff at the northern edge of the Isle of Skye, the ruins of Duntulm Castle are home to some of the island's darkest ghost stories.

Once a stronghold of the MacDonalds of Sleat, Duntulm's history is filled with clan rivalry, violence and tragedy. 

There are tales of strange sounds, slamming doors, disembodied voices and figures moving through the castle - and an old tradition claiming the disturbances eventually became so unbearable that the MacDonalds abandoned Duntulm altogether.

Today, little more than atmospheric ruins remain above the sea.

But according to the stories told on Skye for generations, the MacDonalds may not have left Duntulm entirely...

Culross Palace is one of Scotland's most remarkable surviving buildings from the 17th century - but behind its distinctive yellow walls are stories that suggest some of its former occupants may never have entirely left.

In this episode, we travel to the historic Fife village of Culross to explore the palace built by wealthy merchant Sir George Bruce and investigate the strange experiences reported within its rooms.

Culross Palace is a building with more than four centuries of history behind it. How much of its folklore can be explained - and how much remains rather more difficult to account for?

Join me as we explore the ghosts and strange history of Culross Palace.

If you enjoy Scotland's lesser-known ghost stories, haunted places and historical mysteries, please consider subscribing to Eerie Edinburgh.

What if one of Scotland's strangest ghost stories turned out to be more than just a legend?

In this episode, we travel to the beautiful Glen Lyon in Highland Perthshire to explore the haunting of Meggernie Castle - a place where history, folklore and eyewitness testimony have become closely intertwined.

According to local tradition, a jealous laird murdered and dismembered his wife, concealing part of her body within the castle before burying the rest elsewhere. Over time, stories spread of a ghost unlike any other in Scottish folklore - not a full apparition, but only the upper half of a woman silently moving through the rooms of the old tower.

Most castle ghost stories remain just that: stories.

But during the nineteenth century, two educated visitors - the Reverend E. J. Simmons and Beaumont Featherstone - independently recorded experiences that appeared to match the centuries-old legend in remarkable detail.

Were they influenced by local tradition? Victims of suggestion? Or did they genuinely witness something they could not explain?

Join me as we examine the history of Meggernie Castle, the legend behind its most famous ghost, and the eyewitness accounts that continue to make this one of Scotland's most intriguing hauntings.

📚 A special thank you to my good friend Graeme Milne, whose excellent book Tales From Haunted Scotland: Volume 2 first introduced me to the story of Meggernie Castle. If you enjoy Scottish folklore, ghost stories and lesser-known history, I'd thoroughly recommend his work. You can find Graeme's books here: Graeme Milne at Waterstones

If you enjoy Scotland's forgotten history, ghost stories and carefully researched paranormal investigations, don't forget to subscribe for new episodes every week.