In Edinburgh, Scotland, there is a separate quarter of the old city, which is located in the very center and is called "Mary King's Puffin". In this place, you feel a depressing atmosphere that does not bring joy from visiting, but this does not prevent it from remaining one of the most popular tourist routes.
The place where plague patients were sent to die
This name was given to this place in honor of the owner of most of the buildings in this quarter, which were at her disposal at the peak of the plague epidemic in the 17th century. All the main institutions were located there, respectively, the centers of the most terrible diseases were also located in this place.
Then everyone obeyed the law, according to which, people in whose families there were sick people had to notify their neighbors to prevent the spread of the disease.
The notification went as follows: citizens hung out a piece of white cloth outside the window of their apartment. After a while, almost every double-glazed unit was decorated with a rag symbol, and the epidemic captured the entire city.
Having no idea how to prevent the growth of this ailment, the magistrate issued a decree to close all infected in one place, and the bodies of the dead - to take out and burn. Thus, Mary King's dead end became a kind of infirmary, around which a huge stone wall was erected.
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What now?
A century after the terrible events of that time, the old facades of the buildings were dismantled and a new building for the administration of the municipality was built. In fact, some part of the block was destroyed to bricks, and the rest was walled up, which became the basis for a new building.
Only in our century have archaeologists uncovered the surviving walled-up part, cleaned it of debris and turned it into a museum.
A series of underground labyrinths opens in front of tourists with views of narrow streets, which are more like tunnels and passages. From time to time you can stumble upon the remains of stairs, walled up windows and boarded up doors.
Mystical phenomena
After reading the above, it will not be a surprise that ghosts are sometimes met in this place, who are mistaken for the souls of people who died a heavy death from the plague.
There is also a house where the ghost of a teenage girl, whose name is Annie, has been repeatedly seen. When her parents found out that their daughter was suffering from an incurable disease, without thinking twice, they fenced her off from the rest of the children and took her to die in a “closed city”. Annie herself was not informed that she was sick - she was simply closed in one of the apartments in the quarter.
The girl died long and painfully, which is why her soul never found rest and continues to wander through the walled up streets of Mary King's dead end.
SEMENOVA KSENIYA