Instead of being able to go to London to see some Oscar Nominated Short movies I spent this weekend getting better acquainted with my sofa, my bed and depleting my stock of painkillers. I did manage to finish a book in the process and it was a perfect fit for the apparent "theme" of my weekend: disappointment.
### SPOILER ALERT ###
Ghostly Tales & Sinister Stories of Old Edinburgh - Alan J Wilson, Des Brogan, Frank McGrail
I bought this one on my first ever trip to Edinburgh a few yeas ago. The title suggests that the tales are ghostly and/or sinister but unfortunately not many of them are of the ghostly kind. There are lots of little stories/entries/facts in this book - over 100 entries in all. Some of them are only a few lines long and some of them a bit longer. However, you will be hard pressed to find more than 20 ghost stories in this book. Then when you do find them they are in the part of the book entitled "Sinister Stories of old Edinburgh". The first part of the book is called "Ghostly tales of historic Edinburgh" and this is where I was expecting the ghostly tales to appear but is does not really contain any ghostly themed tales. It almost makes me think that they missed a spelling mistake in the final checks done on the proofs and that "Ghostly tales...." should actually have been "Ghastly tales..." as some of the tales are a bit ghastly. Alternatively, as most of the ghost stories were in the section called "Sinister stories of old Edinburgh" the definition of sinister has changed overnight (from creepy to ghostly) and nobody has bothered to tell me but somehow I doubt it. I was disappointed that the title of the book was so misleading. I kept reading on and on hoping that the next one I read was going to be a ghost story... and then it was not.
Having said all that I did enjoy reading the book. It was interesting to learn more about old Edinburgh (it was a violent place) and how the law was enforced (brutally), what people got up to (stealing, bigamy, Resurrections, you know.. the usual stuff) and how they were punished (ruthlessly). It was quite interesting to find out that in 1770 you could be declared a witch for wearing a wig or false teeth!!! I found it slightly disconcerting to know that in the past so many people were hung, drawn and quartered or tortured in the most "creative" ways imaginable to admit to practicing witchcraft and then be convicted on the thinnest of evidence. You learn a bit more about some of the most famous resurrectionists of the time Burke and Hare. There's tales of plotting against the king, people being banished from the city, the Hidden life of Deacon Brodie, hangings gone wrong (one woman was freed after her hanging went "wrong". Apparently you cannot hang someone twice for the same crime!). There's mention of escapes from prison, a corpse being sentenced to death and the infamous Edinburgh Mob. This lot seems to turn up at the drop of a hat. They were most vocal when they thought that an injustice was being done to one of the "good citizens" of Edinburgh. They tended to side with the victims of injustice and would try to assist in their escape whenever possible.
For those who want to get an idea of what the mainly ghostly ones are:
The Ghost of Johnny one-arm (the only one in first part - Ghostly Tales...)
The King, the Stag and the cross
Sir Richard Lawson (more devilish roll call than ghost story but I'll give 'm that one)
Wizard of the West Bow
The Power of the Sermon
Lady Stair
Mary King's Close
The Ghost Room
The Green Lady of Morningside
A Warning from the Bed
The Lady in Black
The Ghost of Bell's Wynd
The Spirit of Bible Land
The Face at the Window
The Ghost of the Headless Woman
A Good Angel
Sworn to Silence
Family Dreams
Mademoiselle Vernelt
The Ghost of Liberton House
The Steward of the Duke
So dreadful a Memory
Last Sightings
Is anyone there?
No 17
One of the things I did like about the ghost stories in here was that the authors seems to have made an effort to trace the origins of them. Actually, the same goes for the other tales in this book - all of them are based on fact not fiction and that makes it all come alive more, makes it all more real. It's a good way to learn a bit more about the colourful history of Edinburgh and some of it's most famous citizens. At times you feel astounded that some of the gruesome things you read about in this book are actually things that one human being did to another.
Title: Ghostly Tales & Sinister Stories of Old Edinburgh
Author: Alan J Wilson, Des Brogan, Frank McGrail
Mainstream Publishing
189 pages
ISBN 1-85158-456-0
Books bought: 0
Books to be read: 73
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