Edinburgh 2018 - Greyfriars Kirkyard

Greyfriars Bobby Memorial Statue on the sidewalk across the Bar

Who's Bobby and why does have his own statue and a Bar named after him? Well, he has nothing to do with the paranormal aspects of the cemetery, his connection to the place is something different. It’s quite sad, but a somewhat bittersweet story. Bobby was a Skye Terrier, born a hundred and fifty years ago. He belonged to a Edinburgh policeman named John Gray. Bobby and John were best friends and inseparable, quite literally. One winter, John fell into a terrible fever. Bobby tried to keep him warm by snuggling close to him, but John eventually died. Bobby refused to leave his dead master, and followed the funeral procession to Greyfriars Cemetery. And over 14 years he’s said to have guarded John’s grave. James Brown, the gardener, took care of Bobby who’s also buried in Greyfriars. When Bobby died, he was buried in a flowerpot in the cemetery. At Huntly House Museum in Edinburgh you’ll see his collar, his bowl and a real photo of him.

The Cemetery gates

Covenanter's Prison

Covenanter's Prison

Covenanter's Prison

The closed area seen from the gate. This is the section where most of the paranormal stuff takes place, such as scratchmarks and people fainting. This section also contains the “Black Mausoleum”, where dead animals can sometimes be found in front of. The area has been exorcised twice, and is only allowed to be entered during the City of the Dead tour.

George Mackenzie’s mausoleum

Two stories connected to this mausoleum: The first one occured one rainy night in 1999, and is about a homeless man who broke into Mackenzie’s mausoleum to seek shelter. After breaking in, he found the chamber where the coffin of Mackenzie was contained. Like the mindset of any homeless hobo, he believed the coffin would be filled with treasure and valuables and decided to break into it. It was pitch black inside, and things escalated when he stumbled and fell into a pit filled with bones from plague victims. The man ran out of the mausoleum, terrified and screaming according to one witness. The other story occured in 2004, when two teenagers broke into the Mackenzie mausoleum. Poor dude never gets to rest in peace! However, considering what he did to the covenanters, which rightfully earned him the nickname “Bluidy Mackenzie” (Bloody Mackenzie”) it might be easier to not feel that much pity for him. Anyway: they broke into his coffin and cut his corpse’s head off. They took it out of the tomb and placed it on the steps at the giftshop next to the graveyard gates. An archeologist from the National Museum had to come and return it. Article archive from 2004: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/apr/24/ukcrime.scotland

George Mackenzie’s mausoleum

George Mackenzie’s mausoleum

George Mackenzie’s mausoleum

George Mackenzie’s mausoleum

By zooming in you can see the stairs that leads to the tomb where those teenagers broke in. Looking closely, you can also see a skullhead decoration (Memento Mori) on what to seems to be his coffin.

George Mackenzie’s mausoleum

Some latin letters on the wall.