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Offered languages
- English
This is a self-guided exploration game where you'll be solving a paranormal case involving real people and their wandering ghosts. The file on Edinburgh's Old Town has been open since 1966. You, with your detective and observational skills, and a little help from the Questo app, will try to close it in 2 hours.
The route takes you down the Royal Mile and through Greyfriars Kirkyard, past 13 of its darkest addresses. Your job is to take statements from the dead and check them against the record.
You'll discover dark stories like the councillor who burgled the houses he fitted with locks, the woman who woke up after her own hanging, and the body snatchers who never broke a single law.
Each location involves inspecting a real-world object and solving a challenge.
Best after dark with your phone lantern. About 1.4 miles of walking, with unlimited breaks.
Hints and 24/7 support available if you get stuck.
Perfect for Halloween or any night you're in the mood for creepy ghost stories.
What's Included
Meeting and pickup
The game starts at the Witches' Well on Castlehill. After booking, we'll message you a code and activation link. Activate with your own email, then log in to the Questo app with that email. No message? Open the Questo app, tap "Bought a quest somewhere else?" and enter your booking reference number.
The game ends at the Heart of Midlothian, in the cobbles outside St Giles' Cathedral on the Royal Mile.
Itinerary
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1Witches well
You'll start on Castlehill, just below the castle esplanade, where the app opens your case file and introduces the agent running it. Your first task will be to find a small iron fountain on the wall and work out what's hidden under the sticker in your photo. You'll learn that it's the only memorial to the more than three hundred women burned on this hill, and that it doesn't even run.
8 minutes • Admission ticket free -
2The Hub
You'll walk to the foot of the tallest spire in Edinburgh and use two street signs on the railings to crack a five-letter password. You'll learn why it was built to be seen from the New Town, and why it carries the name of a building that no longer exists.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
3Deacon Brodie's Tavern
You'll stop at Deacon Brodie's Tavern on the Lawnmarket and compare its famous two-faced sign with your photo to find what's missing. You'll learn about the respectable councillor and locksmith who let himself into the houses he had fitted, and who later inspired Robert Louis Stevenson.
8 minutes • Admission ticket free -
4Victoria Street
You'll go up onto Victoria Terrace, above the curve of Victoria Street, and find the word missing from a nearby sign. You'll learn about Major Thomas Weir, who confessed in 1670 to crimes nobody had accused him of, and why his house then stood empty for a hundred years.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
5Grassmarket
You'll head down to the Grassmarket and find the stone plaque at the old gallows site to complete its inscription. You'll learn about Maggie Dickson, hanged here in 1724, who woke up in the cart on the way to her burial.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
6
You'll walk into Greyfriars Kirkyard to the domed tomb of Bluidy Mackenzie, decode a scrambled instruction and inspect the door to answer it. You'll learn about the 1,200 Covenanters held through a winter in the field next to his grave, and the night in 1999 that started the hauntings.
8 minutes • Admission ticket free -
7Greyfriars Bobby
You'll stop at the little bronze dog on the corner of Candlemaker Row and pick the real statue out of four photos. You'll learn what the council records say about Scotland's most loyal dog, and why one historian thinks there were two.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
8National Museum of Scotland
You'll walk along Chambers Street to the statue of William Chambers outside the museum and spot the detail added to your photo of one of its bronze panels. You'll learn how the man who bought Bobby's licence cut the city's death rate by a third, and what he demolished to do it.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
9Old Town
You'll go round the back of the old Royal Infirmary, to the lane where the anatomy school took its deliveries at night, and decode a word from a weathered plaque. You'll learn what a body was worth in a hard winter, and why taking one was never against the law.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
10John Knox House Museum
You'll walk down the Royal Mile to the brass line in the road where the city gate once stood, read the World's End sign, then compare the carved panel on John Knox House with your photo. You'll learn why the gate came down in 1764, and why Knox probably never lived in the house that carries his name.
8 minutes • Admission ticket free -
11Tron Kirk Market
You'll stop at the Tron Kirk and find the detail that exists only in your photo of its sign. You'll learn what was found under its floor in the 1970s: a whole sixteenth-century street, still paved.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
12St Giles' Cathedral
You'll finish at the Heart of Midlothian outside St Giles', where you'll turn every fragment you've collected into one final question about the Mercat Cross. You'll learn why people still spit on the heart in the cobbles, and how Deacon Brodie tried to survive his own hanging.
10 minutes • Admission ticket free
Additional info
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- A charged smartphone with internet is required to play the game in the Questo app
- Comfortable walking shoes are recommended
Tags
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Cancellation Policy
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
- Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
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