Edinburgh, Mary King’s Close

Some of the creepiest and yet most touching of Edinburgh’s ghost stories relate to Mary King’s Close – a maze of narrow streets running through tall buildings which became home to many of the city’s poorest people centuries ago. One particularly virulent outbreak of plague affected the residents of Mary King’s Close especially badly and, after a time, the city administrators took the decision to wall up this whole section of the city. It remained shut off from the world until recent times.

One Japanese woman, reputedly a psychic, who was present on a tour of the King’s Close, reported that she sensed the presence of a young girl who was distressed and looking for her doll. She said she felt the girl tugging at her. The Japanese woman bought a doll and left it in the room where she had felt the ghost, and claimed she sensed that the spirit was pleased.

Several psychics have since made contact with the spirit of this girl, whose name is said to be Annie. She is believed to have been locked in her room and left to die by her family after contracting the plague. Today, Annie’s room has become a kind of shrine. Many visitors have left gifts of toys and dolls there, and thousands of pounds have been left in donations for her – money which was given to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.