Ghostly Tales and Sinister Stories of Old Edinburgh

by Alan J. Wilson

Over a hundred gripping tales - of murder and mystery, ghosts and ghouls, body-snatching and witch-burning - reveal the darker side of genteel Edinburgh's history.

Ghostly Tales and Sinister Stories is a highly readable collection, fully illustrated throughout and compiled by three historians who operate Mercat Tours. Since 1984, thousands of visitors have enjoyed their nightly rounds of the closes and wynds of Edinburgh's Old Town. Now you can read of the macabre exploits of the city's infamous villains - Deacon Brodie, Burke and Hare, Major Weir, Agnes Fynnie and a host of others - which bring this ancient city intriguingly to life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Paranormal, Horror, History, Scotland, Short Stories, Ghosts

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Waverly Nyx · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say I enjoyed this book all that much, or that any of the stories stood out to me among the rest. Some of the stories were mere sentences long, and then a very select few covered 2-3 pages. None of the stories seemed to have any links or scary aspects, as the title would suggest. I'd say they're meerly twisted and cringeworthy.
Scotland being what it is, I expected this book to be very creepy and ghostly, especially since I was reading it only by candlelight, but it wasn't. It didn't live up to the reputation Scotland has to offer on the ghost scale. The only redeeming quality I could find in this book is that because the stories are so short, it's very easy to get through and keeps you wanting to read to get to the scare factor that isn't there.
Also, writing in an accent doesn't work. Either write in actual Scottish or keep it English and add 'said in his/her typical Scottish tone' or something of the sort. Writing in an accent just makes it difficult to read for those who don't know how Scottish people talk. In my opinion anyway.
I'm giving this a 2* because it wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't the book for me.
2*/5*

[Chrissy♥Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of historical stories, not very scary but gives a lot of history.

[S.C. Skillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book in the shop at one of the attractions in Edinburgh: The Georgian House. If you're in Edinburgh and haven't got the time to do the ghost tours of such places as Mary King's Close, then buy and read this book instead. By the time you've finished you'll know all the grim and grisly anecdotes you could possible want to about body snatchers, foul deeds, miscarriages of justice, and by no means least, the history of the Edinburgh Mob, ever-present in all the stories, and often affecting the outcome.

Entertaining, flesh-creeping, inspiring horror and wonder, these tales are all related in the fluent, loquacious style you may expect from any of the actors who lead ghost tours in the historical towns and cities of Britain. You will enjoy it - if you're into this kind of thing! (And fortunately I'm going to move on to the perfect antidote next: Alexander McCall Smith, who also writes about Edinburgh, but who provides a different view of human nature with his light-hearted, warm and gentle humour.)

[Heather Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for a bit of light reading, though I feel they have it a bit mixed up. The supernatural stories are listed as "sinister" while the murders, etc. are listed as "ghostly"... a bit odd. Also, the ghost stories probably should have come first as they were much more interesting. The murder, etc. stories were often a bit random and uninteresting.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, and nice mix of time periods. There is a great deal of history here.

[Craig Herbertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically a stroll through the misery, torture and sinister folklore of old Edinburgh. Written before every tom dick and harry tour guide romanticized these events into a sideshow it is more matter of fact than ethereal carnival. In short it's quite good and not too sensational

[Šárka · Rating 3 out of 5]

in a first half there was plenty of really ghostly tales, but in the second half was just murders and executions an it wasn't so interesting for me....

[Ross Maclean · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard not to make a book on this subject at least somewhat entertaining (especially to local eyes) but this is a bit haphazardly assembled with an odd structure that runs chronologically but split in two vague sections with a chronological reset to no real effect. It’s drowned in detail at times and thoroughly lacking in detail at others and, as most of it is unsourced or unreferenced, it might as well just call itself fiction for large stretches. Even some explanation as to the tales’ origins might have helped lend them some credence. Chiefly, some of it is just clumsily written and awkwardly phrased, with sections lacking in context, or under-explained significances, which undermines what otherwise might have been an interesting historical tale. It’s at its most successful when tackling the bigger subjects like Deacon Brodie or Burke and Hare, but other tales are so flimsily told as to be pointless. Mildly entertaining hokum with a local flavour.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of accounts from Edinburgh’s past, ranging from a couple of sentences to longer stories. The book is separated into “Ghostly Tales” and “Sinister Stories” but I almost think the titles were meant to have been swapped. Most of the stories under “ghostly tales” were of crimes and deceptive people while the ones under “Sinister Stories” fell more into the ghost stories realm. Until I got to the second section, I was confused why this was titled ghostly tales at all because up until that point it was all about people who were hanged or found to have done bad things only.

[Chrystyna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghostly Tales & Sinister Stories of Old Edinburgh by Alan J Wilson, Des Brogan, Frank McGrail - OK

It does what it says on the tin. Lots of snippets of creepy and/or sinister true stories from around Edinburgh starting in the 13th century and working up The Great War. Not really a book to sit and read, more to dip into. I did read it from cover to cover but in parallel with four of the other books read during October.

[Diego Gutierrez · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.0
These "stories" (most of them anyway) are not stories at all, many of them are just short paragraphs about something gory that happened in old, brutal Scotland centuries ago. There are a few exceptions which are a few pages long, but too few to make this book an enjoyable experience. If you want a quick sampler of all the twisted things that people did to oner another (well, those in power to those not in power, mostly), then I guess it's fine.

[Nicole Pardus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as a gift after visiting Edinburgh and honestly, it was the perfect little book to read on my way home from Edinburgh and seeing the places mentioned in the book. I enjoyed that all the stories were fairly short.

[Fanny Fern · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very nice book, takes you to the old Edinburgh and gives you new life to the places and people you've heard about

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this in Edinburgh so it was fun to read the history and the pictures were great too. I'll always keep it as a fun memento of the trip.

[Tina Farley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was hard to read but some parts was interesting.

[Manon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable read, but I did expect more actual ghostly tales.

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the title being a bit misleading, this was a nice like jaunt through the darker side of Edinburgh's history. My favorite stories were there - Burke and Hare, Deacon Brodie, Lady Stair, Maty King's Close - all tales that Mom and I heard on our trip to Scotland in 2009, which is when I picked up this gem, and had it signed by the author. We even had our own personal Burke and Hare walking tour and visited all the sites associated with the murdering cadaver-sellers due to it being off-season and we were the only people signed up. Our guide was a lovely young man named Dougal who was highly entertaining and gave us tons more information than there is typically time for, given the tours are usually bigger.

Personally, I'd do away with the two sections of stories labeled as 'sinister' and 'ghostly', as Burke and Hare are decidedly more sinister than ghostly, yet were categorized in the ghostly section. Same with Deacon Brodie. There were few actual ghostly tales or hauntings, most everything about this one was simply sinister.

Even so, I enjoyed this one as it recounted some spooky tales of places I have been lucky enough visit. I have always been especially enthralled by the closes you find of the Royal Mile and the history you find there.

[Elaine White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, so this book truly was a tale of two halves.

First off, it's not really what it says it is. Some stories are only half a page and very vague. Most are not about ghosts at all. More like a history book of interesting facts. Not really telling stories either. Not what I expected at all.

Less than halfway through I wasn't even sure I wanted to finish this book. My TBR list is so long but I decided to give it another chance. It was difficult to read and kind of boring, even for a fan of Scottish history. Especially supposed 'ghostly tales' and 'sinister stories' It's just a shame these snippets of stories don't qualify as either. The telling of the stories sort of jump back and forward between facts.

The second half, the ghost inspired stories are interesting but also difficult to read and follow. You can clearly tell that some are written by one person, and some by someone else. Some read well, over the span of about two pages, while others are short, blunt and less than a page.

[Wiktor Dynarski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am quite disappointed that it did not deliver what it promised. Like few people before me, I too came into possession of this title after visiting Edinburgh. Thrilled about what I thought I was going to read, I paced through the pages, story after a story, part by part, but soon my enthusiasm faded away and I was left with a piece which took me ages to finish.
I expected more cultural context, getting to know old Edinburgh in a different way, follow some of the stories that are there. But I just couldn't. It simply wasn't there.

It's not engaging, it's not written in an invested way, something to maybe read to your teenage kids at camp, but nothing an actual fan of horror would find sufficient.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought it on a whim while in Edinburgh and overall it was a good book to read while driving around the country on a bus tour. However, I thought that the stories could have been spookier or at least longer. Some of the stories were one paragraph and basically about executions. I know there were tons of executions back in the day, not very spooky. I did like the stories about the grave robbers and about the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A lot of the stories longer than a page or paragraph were actually pretty interesting. They should have spent a longer time telling those stories instead of padding the book with so many useless stories about executions and punishments.

[Susana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part, 'Ghostly Tales' deals with torture and I didn't like it much. On the other hand, the second part, 'Sinister Stories', contains stories involving witches (or James VI witchy paranoia) and their burning at the stake, body snatchers, and stories about ghosts (I think they should have been in the first part, and the ones from the first part, in this second part). I enjoyed this second part quite a lot. My favourite tale from 'Ghostly Tales' is a very short one: 'Home Improvements'. From 'Sinister Stories', my favourites are 'Lady Stair', 'The Green Lady of Morningside', and 'A Good Angel'. I give two stars to the 'Ghostly Tales', but 'Sinister Stories' have earned four stars.

[Padelis Dallas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book during my trip in Edinburgh around 4 years ago. It's a glance at the dark folklore and history of the city, through ~110 short stories (some of them no longer than 1 or 2 paragraphs, which might feel less like stories and more like trivia) and a few black and white pictures of the city. It's an interesting read and a neat souvenir.

[Joel Manuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not so much a book of Edinburgh ghost stories as it is a chronicle of outrageous behavior by the residents (especially the "Edinburg mob") over 3 or 4 centuries. Still, it was written with a dry Scottish wit that I enjoyed very much.

[Boredlaura]

Never finished - was neither ghostly nor sinister. Simply a presentation of snippets of stories which, when presented without context (as they are here) seem overly gruesome by today's standards, but which were matter-of-course for the historical period.

[Diane Kennicker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and interesting little stories about Edinburgh.

[Bobby Chance · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is painfully boring! I was only able to read 29 pages before I had to stop. I love learning about Edinburgh and Scotland but I do not recommend this book one bit!

[Åse · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not a book for me.

[Astaroth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Répétitif si lu d'une traite