Greyfriar's Bobby and Kirk

One of Edinburgh's most iconic statues is that of Greyfriar's Bobby.  The statue can be found just to the South of the Royal Mile and stands in front of Greyfriar's Kirk and cemetery.



The legend of Greyfriar's Bobby starts in the middle 1800s with John Gray, a local police officer.  He was required to keep a dog with him on his nightly rounds through the Cattle Market and other unsavory parts of town.  He adopted Bobby, a Sky Terrier puppy, and Bobby became his constant companion.  John Gray died from tuberculosis in 1857 and was buried in the local cemetery attached to Greyfriar's Kirk.  Legend has it that the morning after John was buried Bobby was found sitting on top of the newly turned earth and couldn't be moved.  He kept up this Vigil, mourning his master's loss, until his own death in 1872.  Locals were so moved by Bobby's devotion that a statue was commissioned and placed in the square in 1873.  How much of the story is true is open to debate but the statue remains today as a homage to the loyalty dogs show to their families.



The Kirk, or Church, associated with Greyfriar's Bobby is one of the most interesting in Edinburgh.  The church was founded in 1561 and was originally built to replace St Giles Cathedral, which was considered full.  The cemetery attached to Greyfriars Kirk is the final resting place for some of the most influential people in Edinburgh's history and is also considered to be haunted.

The most infamous ghost is the poltergeist of Bloody George MacKenzie.  George MacKenzie was a local lawyer who spent a good portion of his career prosecuting Presbyterian Covenanters for King Charles II.  In 1679 he imprisoned over 1200 Covenanters in a field next to Greyfriars cemetary.  Many of the prisoners were shot and hundreds died of maltreatment.  His treatment of the Covenanters earned him the name "Bloody MacKenzie."  His poltergeist is said to still haunt the graveyard where his actions caused so many deaths.  Visitors report feeling cold and receiving bites, cuts, and bruises, from encounters with his ghost.  There are also reports of other spirits and the cemetery itself has a notorious reputation for actual deaths taking place in the cemetery.

I've visited the cemetery a few times, and while I can't report any "odd" occurrences, I can say that the cemetery is one of the strangest I've ever visited.  There is a skeleton on the side of the original church and many of the graves have odd symbols engraved on the tombs.  Greyfriar's Kirk is also the home of underground Edinburgh ghost tours, which is apt.  A visit to the cemetery on a typical cloudy Edinburgh day may be enough to give anyone the willies and encourage the ghostly stories!