Cramond/Cramond Island and Ghost Walk

---

Last week, I took a bus to Cramond, a small seaside village on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The area by the harbor extends into a park. On one end, you can walk along the sea and see the boats while grabbing some homemade ice cream, and on the other you can walk along the river through woods and greenery to see a waterfall. I did both. It was nice to be outside of the city and near the ocean once again on such a beautiful day.

What is unique about Cramond is its tidal island. When the tide is out, you can walk from the village to the small uninhabited island. I decided to wait for the tide to turn and was lucky because I was able to cross an hour before the posted time, though I did get a little wet on the way over which is probably why the recommended time was later. Cramond Island has been the home of a farm, a summer home, and military barracks. The remains of each function can be seen throughout the island, the military remains still very much intact (and very graffitied). Interestingly, it seemed as if people camp out on the island because I found what looked to be makeshift campfires. I would imagine it would be pretty cool to stay on an uninhabited island, though a bit scary, especially with all the abandoned buildings around. And knowing Edinburgh, there is probably some ghost story about the island out there. Also, god forbid anything happens when the tide is turned, there would be no way to get back to the mainland for up to 6 hours. So I explored, wandering through the grass and brush and walking along the shore before heading back.

So speaking of ghost stories, I took a ghost walk this past Friday. Edinburgh is known as the most haunted city in the world. The tv show Most Haunted did an episode in the underground vaults beneath the South Bridge street and BBC also recorded unexplained voices in the vaults. There were numerous other investigations that turned up suspicious findings. It was this area that my tour was venturing into. We started above ground at the Mercat Cross. The original Mercat Cross (it is the Victorian cross that now stands) was where many brutal punishments took place such as the cutting of body parts and lashings. We were also told about various hangings and executions. We were taken to Advocate's Close where there had been multiple sightings of a man who had killed a judge that screwed him over in divorce proceedings. It happens to be the same close I walk through on a regular basis to get to Princes Street. Then we went underneath to the vaults. The vaults had been used as workshops for merchants. They would have their shops above ground and then would work beneath it. But the damp conditions made the place not ideal for work (who'd have thought?) so these vaults were abandoned. Then criminals and homeless squatters took over the vaults and all kinds of amoral activities went down. The vaults were eventually sealed off before they were reopened again for tours. Originally, the vaults were going to be used as a creepy place to tell ghost stories about places above ground but during these tours, ghost sightings and other accounts of paranormal activity occurred by both tour guides and customers which subsequently led to investigations that turned up more accounts. Our guide stopped us at each place that held a story. One part of the vault is the place of a cobbler who is a good ghost that keeps the bad spirits out while another place is that of a dead squatter who is still very territorial as he is angered by anyone that comes in (one tourist had fled from the vaults after being yelled at by him to get out). At the end of the vaults is a dim-lit room now used as a tavern for the tours. We got drinks while the tour guide continued to tell us more stories. I had already known one of the stories, the story of "Burke and Hare." It is a completely true story about two men who would rob graves for bodies to sell to the Edinburgh medical school, until they decided it would be easier and more profitable to kill people to sell to the medical school. All of the historical accounts, the lives and deaths of the people who were sighted as ghosts, as well as the claimed ghost accounts were true. Of course, the question of whether or not people had actually seen the ghosts is entirely debatable.

In other news, I finally accomplished the task of eating a deep fried mars bar, a Scotland food which actually wasn't that popular until the press made a big deal about them in the process of going on about the poor Scottish diet. Then everyone wanted to try it, especially tourists. Still, there really aren't that many places that sell them. I ate it at a fish n' chips place that earned 1st place guiness record of the most wrapped chips in one minute (see picture at the end)

I don't think I mentioned on here yet that at the end of the month, I will be going to Liverpool for a Beatles tour and to Alnwick (northern England) to see the castle where they filmed the first two Harry Potter movies.

The pictures at the end are the above ground places on the tour that I took a few days later (Mercat cross and Advocate's), a plaque commemorating witch executions (not part of the tour), and the said deep fried mars bar.

---

Comments

[Rachel]

Which is scarier?
I would totally camp out on the island. Now the deep fried mars bar is what really terrifies me! Should I forget the clothes and bring 2.5 weeks worth of fruits and veggies with me when I come?