In this episode, host Kieran Begg guides us through the grim history of Edinburgh followed by an interview with Anna Bell, a guide with Auld Reekie Tours, who shares her experiences of the South Bridge Vaults. The show was presented and originally aired on Midnight.fm

Edinburgh is an enchanting city with a curious and sometimes disturbing history. Every artefact, brick and cobble stone has a tale to tell, from the majestic and royal buildings of the often corrupt elite to the slums and miserable institutions of the most poverty-stricken, destitute and frequently criminally minded poor. In this broadcast the host of Eerie Earth radio Kieran Begg together with guest Anna Bell of Auld Reekie Tours will take you back in time through hundreds of years of sinister history.

Kieran shares a fascinating account of the filthy and harrowing living conditions of our ancestors along with the supernatural occurrences of this legendary capital. Divulging dark stories of the underground city, ghostly apparitions, pestilence and plagues. He paints a perfect Tales from the Crypt meets Dickensian picture of ye olde Edinburgh or as the locals aptly nick-named it “Auld Reekie”.

Anna then elaborates on and discusses one of Scotland’s most haunted places, the South Bridge Vaults. Dating from the 18th century and situated in the heart of Edinburgh’s old town, these subterranean vaults were once a hugely overcrowded vice and filth infested hovel. Playground of murderers, prostitutes and villainous vagrants and riddled with disease and violence, this place was so wretched that the magistrates evicted everyone and bricked up all the doorways. The vaults became forgotten about, undisturbed and frozen in time for more than a century.

Once rediscovered the vaults were the haunt of a contemporary witches coven, now abandoned following the death of the high priest, the coven still sits intact and set for ritual, preserved in the condition they lift it in. Auld Reekie Tours welcomes thousands of visitors every year, Anna shares her experiences as a guide in this quite literal underworld, where many of its former residents have never really left. With all the tragedy, misery and misfortune absorbed into the walls is any wonder this place is so paranormally active…