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Published: August 13th 2007
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GREYFRIAR’S KIRK 12 July 2007 Thursday
I love walking around old cemeteries, because… well, I don’t really know why, but I like looking at the old and stunning grave markers. Greyfriar’s Kirkyard is probably the most famous of all the cemeteries in Edinburgh, but surprisingly, it’s not because of any famous citizens. It’s because of Greyfriar Bobby, the loyal dog who guarded his master’s grave for 14 years, from 1858-72. Bobby was only two years old when his master, John Gray died and was buried in the kirkyard. After the burial, Bobby refused to leave his master’s grave, only venturing to the local tavern at lunchtime to be fed. After Bobby passed away, the locals thought he deserved to be buried with his master. Though Bobby's headstone is at the entrance to the Kirkyard, he is actually buried at a grassy verge by a wall nearby, as the Kirk authorities would not allow his burial on consecrated ground. The dog's famous statue is opposite the graveyard's gate, in front of the tavern bearing his name.
There is a legend that some of the world’s most famous fictional monsters and villains were born in Greyfriars churchyard. In a visit to the
Covenanter's Prison
Where a thousand or so prisoner's were kept locked up for months, in squalid conditions, outside cemetery in 1841, Charles Dickens misread the tombstone of a man named Scroggie and invented Ebenezer Scrooge. Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, used to sit in the peace and quiet of the graveyard to come up with inspiration for his stories. Bram Stroker visited Greyfriars while writing Dracula. Mary Shelley was on honeymoon in Edinburgh at the height of the bodysnatching period, when ‘resurrection men’ dug up bodies to sell for science experiments. Shortly afterwards, she wrote Frankenstein.
Many of the plots are enclosed in ornate stone and ironwork cages, called mortsafes, to preserve the dead from the attentions of the early 19th century resurrection men who supplied Edinburgh Medical College with the corpses for dissection. These mortsafes meant the resurrection men couldn’t get at the bodies, at least not easily.
The kirkyard is reputedly haunted by a poltergeist, namely the restless spirit of the infamous 'Bluidy' George Mackenzie (buried there in 1691), which is said to cause bruising and minor scratches and grazes on those who come into contact with it. George Mackenzie was the king’s advocate, and was known for The Kirkyard was also involved in the history of the Covenanters. They began
in 1638 with signing of the National Covenant (a document declaring opposition to the ‘papist’ religion) in the Kirk, and in 1679 some 1200 Covenanters were imprisoned in the Kirkyard pending trial or exile for many months. Can you imagine that, being locked in a graveyard??? There is a ghost tour that goes around the city and into the Covenanters Prison, and supposedly a lot of the people on the tour run into the poltergeist. Marie, Claudine and I are going to go on the tour next week.
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Annalies
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I love grave yards too.
I like to walk around graveyards, mostly because they're so peaceful but I never knew you did too! that's too cool. but I'm so jealous this one sounds way more interesting than any one I've been to. ( except maybe the one in louisiana )but still there is way more history in your graveyard than mine. ttyl love you. love, your twin