Mary King's Close is a historic

close Close may refer to: Music * ''Close'' (Kim Wilde album), 1988 * ''Close'' (Marvin Sapp album), 2017 * ''Close'' (Sean Bonniwell album), 1969 * "Close" (Sub Focus song), 2014 * "Close" (Nick Jonas song), 2016 * "Close" (Rae Sremmurd song), 201 ...

located under buildings on the Royal Mile, in the historic

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...

area of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It took its name from one Mary King, a merchant burgess who resided on the Close in the 17th century. The close was partially demolished and buried due to the building of the Royal Exchange in the 18th century, and later closed to the public for many years. The area became shrouded in myths and urban legends; tales of hauntings and murders abounded. The close is currently operated as a tourist attraction by Continuum Attractions.

Hauntings

Mary King's Close has had a reputation for hauntings since at least the 17th century, with several paranormal investigations taking place. It has been pointed out that this particular Close ran the nearest of any to the old

Nor Loch The Nor Loch, also known as the Nor' Loch and the North Loch, was a man-made loch formerly in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the area now occupied by Princes Street Gardens and Waverley station which lie between the Royal Mile and Princes Street. G ...

, a stagnant and highly polluted marsh;

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

escaping into the close and creating eerie lights may have been the cause for these rumours of spirit hauntings. It is also said that the gas escaping into the closes was known to cause hallucinations. * Mary King's Close was featured on Series 4 of ''

Most Haunted ''Most Haunted'' is a British paranormal reality television series. Following complaints, the broadcast regulator, Ofcom, ruled that it was an entertainment show, not a legitimate investigation into the paranormal, and "should not be taken seri ...

''. *Featured in '' Haunted History'''s episode " Haunted Edinburgh" * A 2004 television adaptation of Ian Rankin's

Inspector Rebus The ''Inspector Rebus'' books are a series of detective novels by the Scottish author Sir Ian Rankin. The novels, centred on Detective Inspector John Rebus, are mostly based in and around Edinburgh. They are considered an important contrib ...

novel ''

Mortal Causes ''Mortal Causes'' is a 1994 novel by Ian Rankin. It is the sixth of the Inspector Rebus novels. It was the fourth episode in the ''Rebus'' television series starring John Hannah, airing in 2004. Plot summary Set during the Edinburgh Festiva ...

'', the fourth episode in the first series of ''

Rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+) ...

'', featured a murder whose victim was found in Mary King's Close. * Mary King's Close appears on the ''Most Haunted Live Halloween 2006'' show. * Annie's room and Mary King's Close both appear in Episode 6 of '' Billy Connolly's World Tour of Scotland''. * Mary King's Close appears on the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

's 2007 program ''

Cities of the Underworld ''Cities of the Underworld'' is an American documentary television series that premiered on March 2, 2007, on the History channel. The program explores the subterranean environment and culture beneath various civilizations. The series was origi ...

'' Episode "Scotland's Sin City". * Mary King's Close was also featured on the

Discovery Channel India Discovery Channel India is the Indian version of Discovery Channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery for the Indian subcontinent. It is available in eight languages including Hindi, English, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi w ...

show ''Discovery's Biggest Shows'' (aired at 8:00 pm Indian Standard Time on Sunday, 7 October 2007) * Mary King's Close was also featured in an episode of ''

Ghost Hunters International ''Ghost Hunters International'' (abbreviated as ''GHI'') is a spin-off series of '' Ghost Hunters'' that aired on Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi). The series premiered on January 9, 2008, and ended on April 4, 2012. Like its parent series, ''GHI'' was ...

'' which first aired in the U.S. on 9 January 2008 on the

Sci Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

and in the UK on 1 June 2008 on

Living2 Real Lives was a British television channel owned by Sky, a division of Comcast. It used to be the sister channel of Sky Living. It was originally known as LIVINGtv2 from the channel's launch in 2004 till 2007, and then was known as Living2 fro ...

. * Mary King's Close was featured on the

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids (stylized as Discovery K!ds) is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television segment within the Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel. Most of its worldwide channels were ei ...

original series ''

Mystery Hunters ''Mystery Hunters'' is a Canadian documentary television series aimed at a young audience. It aired on YTV in Canada and on Discovery Kids and MeTV in the United States. It was also dubbed in Japanese and aired in Japan on NHK. Teenage hosts A ...

'' on the episode " King's Close and Winchester House". * Mary King's Close was featured on an episode of Lost World "Jekyl and Hyde"

History International Vice (formerly known as Viceland and also known as Vice TV) is an American basic cable television channel that launched on December 2, 2019, replacing H2 on most multichannel television providers in the United States. It is a part of the Vicela ...

(2007). * Mary King's Close was used to test the low light capabilities of two digital compact system cameras in ''

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geor ...

'' (Season 17 Episode 9) aired in the UK on 7 January 2013 on

Channel 5 (UK) Channel 5 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel launched in 1997. It is the fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom and is owned by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American ...

References in literature

Mary King's Close was the subject of a vigil conducted by a team of ghost hunters on 13-14 October 2012. The vigil was documented in Chapter 3 ("Don't lick the Wallpaper!" - a reference to the original, arsenic-laced wallpaper found in the Close's dwellings) of the book ''Ghosts of Edinburgh'' by Newcastle-born author Rob Kirkup. Mary King's Close is the setting for the teen fiction novel ''Crow Boy'' written by

Philip Caveney Philip Caveney (born 1951) is a British children's author, best known for the Sebastian Darke, Alec Devlin and Movie Maniacs novels. He previously wrote a number of thrillers for adults. He was born in Prestatyn, North Wales but for many y ...

and published by Scottish-based publisher Fledgling Press in November 2012. Mary King's Close is a location in Teen Fiction Novel ''City of Ghosts'' by

V.E. Schwab Victoria Elizabeth (V. E.) Schwab (born July 7, 1987) is an American writer. She is known for the 2013 novel ''Vicious (novel), Vicious'', the ''A Darker Shade of Magic, Shades of Magic'' series, and ''The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue'', which w ...

published by Scholastic on September 6, 2018. It is a location in ''Mortal Causes'' by

Ian Rankin Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. Early life Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel, worked in a schoo ...

where a body is found.

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 55, 57, 01, N, 3, 11, 25, W, region:GB, display=title Streets in Edinburgh Tourist attractions in Edinburgh Royal Mile Reportedly haunted locations in Scotland Reportedly haunted locations in Edinburgh

Hauntings

References in literature

See also

References

External links