Eerie Edinburgh

The Possession Files: True accounts of possession in Scotland

In this feature length episode, we look at real historical cases from Scotland where possession was recorded - not the Hollywood kind, but the kind found in parish records, court transcripts, and old ministerial accounts.
Some of these cases are deeply unsettling: people who claimed to see spirits, to be tormented in their sleep, to speak with voices not their own. Others sit somewhere between faith, fear, and mental collapse. Through a modern lens, they might be seen as illness or trauma - but at the time, they were believed to be evidence of possession.
These are not Hollywood exorcisms or invented horrors. They’re stranger than that - real moments from Scottish history where belief in the unseen was part of everyday life, and where the line between the spiritual and the psychological was far less clear.
Join me as we revisit these forgotten records, from the Canongate Tolbooth to Bargarran, and ask what these cases might still tell us about how people experience fear, faith, and the unknown.

The Possession Files: The Devils Girl

Welcome to The Possession Files - a three-part Halloween series investigating real historical accounts of alleged possession. 
These aren’t tales of spinning heads or Hollywood demons, but stories drawn from documented cases where something darker and far harder to explain seemed to take hold.
In this opening episode, we travel to Romania to examine the extraordinary story of Elenore Zugun - one of the real-life cases said to have inspired the 1973 film The Exorcist. 
Branded ‘The Devil’s Girl,’ Elenore became, between 1925 and 1927, the centre of one of Europe’s most unsettling and well-documented hauntings. Stones flew, objects moved, and witnesses swore unseen forces were at work. The case has fascinated me for decades, and it sets the tone for the episodes to follow.
As the series continues, The Possession Files will return to Scotland, exploring centuries-old records where possession was more than myth - from documented exorcisms to 16th-century cases that still echo through history.

Dark Miles II: The Haunted Road to the highlands

The A9 is Scotland’s longest road, stretching through the heart of the Highlands. It’s a route travelled daily by thousands — but it also carries a darker reputation.
In this follow-up to my episode on the haunted A75, Dark Miles, I trace the length of the A9, uncovering ghost stories that cling to the road and the landscapes around it. From death omens in Pitlochry and the witch of Beinn a’ Ghlo, to phantom whistles in Glen Tilt and a modern woman in white near Drumossie Brae, the accounts are as varied as they are disturbing.
While the story follows the road north, I also take some detours into places I know well and love to walk — glens, mountains, and old haunts where folklore and personal memory blur. What emerges is not just a road of traffic and tarmac, but one that seems to carry echoes of history, oppression, and tragedy.

Haunted Glasgow: The Ghosts of Blythswood Square

Blythswood Square sits at the heart of Glasgow’s Georgian New Town - elegant, symmetrical, and steeped in history. But behind the sandstone facades, the square holds a darker story.
In this episode, we explore a haunting said to be tied to one of Scotland’s most infamous court cases: the 1857 trial of Madeleine Smith. Her secret affair with Pierre L’Angelier ended in scandal and death, and although the verdict was “Not Proven,” the questions never truly faded. Nor, it seems, did the presence of those involved.
We look at ghost stories stretching across decades: strange smells, silent corridors, footsteps in locked rooms, and apparitions that appear to walk not just through buildings — but through time itself. Some of the tales link directly to Madeleine’s story. Others seem older, or completely separate, yet share the same unnerving details. A woman in white gliding past closed doors. A child’s scream. A figure in Victorian dress vanishing into a wall.
This is a square shaped as much by memory as by architecture. And whether you believe in ghosts or not, some places leave a mark that doesn’t easily fade.

Bruegel’s Book and the Man in the Hallway: Untold Ghost Stories from Edinburgh

As featured in Tales from the Crypts of Auld Reekie by John Tantalon
What if one of the most haunted streets in Edinburgh wasn’t in the Old Town, but found just beyond the Meadows — overlooked, residential, and never mentioned in ghost tour scripts?
This episode explores the eerie happenings of Arden Street, a seemingly ordinary road in Marchmont with a long history of unsettling events. From spectral footsteps and phantom dogs to frightening apparitions and a mysterious book of Bruegel prints, these stories draw from real first-hand accounts gathered over years.
I originally wrote this chapter for Tales from the Crypts of Auld Reekie, a brilliant collection of Edinburgh hauntings compiled by John Tantalon and featuring contributions from Graeme Milne, Kerrie Powell, Scott Lyal and Joss Cameron.
If you’d like to explore the full book, Tales from the Crypts of Auld Reekie is available now on Amazon.

The Tomb and the Tower: The Ghosts of Haunted Alloa

Beneath the streets of Alloa lies a history far stranger than most realise.
In this episode, we explore the layered past of a small Scottish town once tied to kings, conflict, and industry—and the eerie stories that have emerged from its most forgotten corners. From the imposing walls of Alloa Tower, where ghostly figures are said to appear in dungeons, bedrooms, and echoing stairwells, to the rediscovered tomb of a long-vanished family whose final resting place seems anything but still, this is a journey through places where memory clings to stone.
What begins as a story of heritage and architecture slowly shifts into something darker—accounts of unseen presences, unexplained cold spots, and a lone figure spotted near the cemetery gates. Disturbances that might be easily dismissed—if they weren’t so consistent.
Hauntings don’t always come with a name or a face. Sometimes they’re found in the silence that follows a rediscovery, or in the places where the past was meant to stay buried.

The Paisley Poltergeist: The Glenburn Haunting

In this episode, we turn to Glenburn, a quiet area in Paisley, Renfrewshire—where in the 1980s, a family reported a series of disturbing and unexplained events. What began with strange noises soon escalated into something far more intense: loud crashes with no source, doors slamming, and a deep sense of unease that seemed permeate throughout the property.
Neighbours heard nothing, but friends of Alan - the young boy who lived in the flat - experienced something that nearly ended in tragedy and ultimately brought in the local authorities.
Was it a classic poltergeist case - focused around one member of the household? Or, was it something psychological? 
Join me as we explore the documented reports, eyewitness accounts, and theories behind one of Scotland’s lesser-known but compelling hauntings.
If you enjoy stories of real-life hauntings, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share your thoughts or experiences in the comments.

The White Lady and the Chained Grave: Ghost Stories from Scotland’s Southern Uplands

There’s something about the land around Sanquhar that feels… different. The fields have an atmosphere to them, as if the place is waiting for something. And when the light starts to fade behind the broken walls of Sanker Castle, the stories don’t just feel like stories anymore - they come to life.
There are accounts from the east stairwell. Of a woman seen at the top - tall, dressed in white, wringing her hands. They call her the White Lady. She’s been part of the local memory for as long as anyone can remember.
In life she is thought to have been Marion of Dalpeddar, a noblewoman who entered the castle in 1590 and never came out. No burial. No record of her death. Just witness sightings, passed down through the years - until, centuries later, a skeleton was discovered hidden deep within the stone.
This is her story - and the shadow she’s left behind.
The episode also looks at the case of John Wilson, a servant caught between two powerful rivals. He was executed the same year Marion disappeared, and some say his ghost remains.
Move beyond the castle walls and there are more reports of hauntings.
There’s talk of a phantom pedlar still walking the old path near the Deil’s Stone. Witches were said to live in the area and down by Crawick Water, they say a great black dog waits in the dark - watching, unmoving, and not quite real.
With thanks to Christopher, a long-time subscriber, for helping trace some of the earliest stories and local legends behind this episode.

The Wolf at the Door: Werewolf Sightings from Scotland

While Eerie Edinburgh usually focuses on ghost stories and hauntings, sometimes a different kind of story stands out - strange, frightening, and too rooted in our folklore to ignore.
Scotland has no shortage of the supernatural: water horses in dark lochs, second sight, fairy abductions, witches blamed for failed harvests and sudden storms. But werewolves? That’s something we tend to associate with mainland Europe, not the glens and forests of the north.
But dig deep enough and the stories are there.
In this episode, we look at reports of wolf-like creatures in Scottish history - starting with the case of a royal messenger found dead in 16th-century Perthshire, and ending with a chilling account from the 1960's near Oban. Through legend, eyewitness claims, and fragments of historical record, we ask: what exactly was seen in the woods and hills of the Highlands?
Next time, we’re back on more familiar ground – ghosts, hauntings, and the kind of eerie stories this channel is best known for.

When the Devil Spoke: Canada’s Most Chilling Poltergeist Case

Every now and then, I like to branch out beyond Edinburgh and Scotland and bring you a case from further afield - one that’s too strange, too unnerving, and too well-documented to ignore. But just as importantly, I want to bring you the stories that don’t always get the spotlight. The ones that risk being forgotten.
This is one of them
In 1889, a remote farmhouse in Clarendon, Quebec became the centre of one of the most unsettling paranormal cases in Canadian history. The Dagg family claimed they were haunted by a presence that moved furniture, tore beds apart, attacked a young girl - and spoke aloud in a deep, gravelly voice.
This wasn’t folk tales. Seventeen people signed formal witness statements. Journalists, neighbours, clergy, and even a spiritualist investigator and famous painter named Percy Woodcock all confirmed something extraordinary was happening. The voice identified itself as the Devil. It mocked, threatened, and asked for forgiveness.
But that was just the beginning.
In this episode, we explore the incredible case of the Dagg Poltergeist.
This isn’t just a ghost story. It’s something else.