Mary King's Close

The graduate corner of the class joined up for The Real Mary King's Close tour.

Below is the blurb from the website:

"The Real Mary King’s Close consists of a number of closes which were originally narrow streets with houses on either side, stretching up to seven storeys high. In 1753, the Burgh Council decided to develop a new building on this site, the Royal Exchange (now the City Chambers). The houses at the top of the closes were knocked down and part of the lower sections were kept and used as the foundations for the Royal Exchange. The remnants of the closes were left beneath the building, dark and ancient dwellings steeped in mystery."

Despite my sickness, I ventured to High Street. Being a Saturday night, lots of people were out partying and groups of tours were going around. Luckily, Crissy found me because I was very confused. The tour is through a creepy tunnel.

It's quite pathetic how quickly the collective age of the group went down. As soon as we started down the stairs to begin the tour, most of us started nervous laughing and avoiding get stuck at the back. The tour was simple enough, a look into the lives of the people who lived there. 12 people cramped into a 15x15 room with disease and starvation afoot.

A close is a narrow street with tall buildings on either side. The closes' buildings got taller and taller going downhill until they reached the loch. Loch North once existed where Princes Park is now. The street is maybe 10 feet wide, imagine how squished the place would be the vendors up and down, staircases and even horse-drawn carriages. The poor lived on the bottom where the sludge and very top where it was cold. The hoity, toity rich lived on the upper middle floors. Twice a day, the toilet, also known as a bucket in the corner, was emptied on the street. The sewage would be ankle-deep and eventually flow into the loch. It explains why the park is VERY green...same with Meadows Park except it is filled with dead people (plague victims).

Because it was the "supernatural" tour, our group got to hear the first ghost story. It went something like shadowed creatures dancing on the walls with a creepy, old voice speaking to the inhabitants. Of course, the guide turned of the lights and squealing/shrieking ensued.

One room had a creepy pile of stuffed animals left for the spirit of a little girl. Often, psychics will stay in the rooms, record emf and voices and get feelings. One psychic stated there was a strong sad presence and a little girl spoke to her. She had been locked away from her family because she caught the plague. Her only comfortt was a doll that she held on to. So, the psychic brought her a tartan doll that stays in the room. Other visitors bring toys, stuffed animals etc for the girl when enough have collected the lot is taken to the Children's Hospital.

The last person that lived on Mary King's Close left in 1879. He had a pretty swanky set-up with multiple rooms. When he left, he took everything: the door knocker, knobs, handles. Sticking to the man.

Cute little gift shop at the end. I would love to go on an outdoor tour of the city soon.