In 1788, the building of the 120 room Edinburgh Vaults was completed. For the first 3 decades, the Vaults were home to various workshops and taverns as well as providing storage space for merchants. As time went by, businesses would move out of the dark damp Vaults and residents from the Edinburgh slums would move in. Conditions were beyond terrible; many families would be forced to share one room, without sunlight, running water or sanitation. Unsurprisingly, disease was rife.
It didn’t take long for criminals to move into the underground chambers, thieves, gamblers and possibly even body snatchers. Although there is no proof, there are rumours that notorious body snatchers, Burke and Hare, would keep their stolen corpses here.
Not much is known about the original closure of The Vaults, but it is estimated to have taken place between 1835 – 1875, eventually being filled with rubble to prevent anymore nefarious activities taking place.
During the 1980s, Norrie Rowan discovered a tunnel leading to the Vaults. With the help of his son, Norman, they excavated all the rubble revealing the rooms below. The Vaults are now very well known for the ghost tours that run through them, and have appeared on various programmes such as Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted and Joe Swash Believes in Ghosts. I joined one of the ghost tours, like the brave little trooper that I am, and here are some of the ghost stories that particularly stood out to me:
The Aristocrat
The Aristocrat is described as a well presented, bearded man wearing a tall black hat. In the afterlife he has taken to leaning against a wall, smiling at visitors. He’s not reported to be evil, in any way but does come across as a little sinister (well, he is a ghost).
The Cobbler
One room we walked through didn’t have as much of an eerie atmosphere within it. It was known as The Cobblers Room because, well, it’s where they used to make shoes. The Cobbler is a spirit who appears as a short, well-built man wearing a long leather apron. He doesn’t come across as malevolent in any way, but as quite a cheery chappy who sits in the corner smiling at visitors to his room. He has been known to play with people’s shoes, especially those he considers unusual such as trainers, or colourful shoes.
Jack
Jack is a little boy, with curly blonde hair and a blue suit with knickerbocker trousers. Jack loves the attention of people and often tries to hold their hand or pull their clothes. When he is bored, Jack, can be seen running through the Vaults playing with a red ball.
The Watcher/Mr. Boots
The one spirit people seemed to be most wary of is the one nicknamed The Watcher. It is said that you can hear his heavy boots walking across the uneven floors of the Vaults. He earns his nickname from his habit of keeping watch on everyone who enters the place he considers his own. The Watcher has been described as a large, looming presence wearing a filthy blue coat and has, apparently, been seen and/or felt by various visitors. One story that stood out was about a guest on one of the tours; whilst in the Vaults she felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck. It increased into a rhythmic pattern, almost as though someone was breathing right behind her. The smell of stale cigarettes and ale, fetid breath filled her nostrils. She tried to keep her calm for as long as possible, until the words ‘get out’ started to form; she screamed and ran out of the Vault (I can’t fault her, I shit myself just listening to the story). Other guests have experienced scratches on the back of their neck, as though someone is deliberately trying to hurt them.
I liked the story of The Watcher, especially as there are some interesting theories as to who he was during his life. He comes across as very protective of the place he haunts, and it could be possible that he’s trying to keep visitors away from something. Could The Watcher have been one of the many criminals that took cover within the Vaults? Or was he someone altogether more innocent? One room of the Vaults was full of deep shelves, used as wine storage within the 1700 and 1800s. Often, a wine merchant would pay a person to keep watch over the wine to prevent other users of the Vaults from stealing it. This person would have to be pretty desperate as the job entailed extreme isolation, staying in the cold, damp underground for days on end, alone and in the dark. Is The Watcher simply continuing his job in death?
The idea of there being an afterlife has been around longer than we can imagine. There are many people who are sceptical of ghosts, and I promise we will get more into that in another article! Personally, I didn’t see anything in The Vaults, but I would still recommend paying a visit if you’re in the area; the history is very interesting, and the atmosphere is chilling enough to make even a staunch sceptic shudder a little. Have you ever seen anything? I will be talking more about ghosts in the near future, so please let me know about your own personal experiences and opinions. Thank you for reading, take care of yourselves and I will see you soon.
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