Edinburgh Free Ghost Tour

This tour tells Edinburgh's history through its darker side: overcrowded tenements, plague, crime and the legends that grew out of them. It opens near Parliament Square with the city's Celtic roots, then stops at the Mercat Cross, where public punishments once took place, to explain how Scottish justice fed some of the city's most chilling stories.

The group then slips into the Old Town closes, where the fire of 1824 and characters like Johnny One Arm are remembered, pauses at the Tron Kirk and crosses North Bridge, a place of superstition since it was built over a drained loch. The last stretch walks through Calton Cemetery and ends on top of Calton Hill with a view over the city. Not recommended for children under five.