Few people know about the existence of an underground quarter in the bowels of modern Edinburgh in Scotland - the "locked city" of Mary King. Hundreds of residents were isolated here during the black plague that devastated the area in the 17th century. Those who walked the streets of this "city", now dark and empty, claim that they saw ghosts and heard groans, although more than 350 years have passed since the plague broke out in Edinburgh …
Then, many years ago, the corpses of people who died from the plague were taken out of the city on carts with creaking axles, and hearing this creak, people shuddered and slammed the shutters. The bodies were burned in the field - after all, this was the only way to stop the infection! In addition, all infected were isolated in a special place like an infirmary. It was for this purpose that in 1645 the plague threatened to spread to all of Edinburgh, and the magistrate ordered the entire quarter to be sealed to stop the spread of the disease.
Mary King was the owner of most of the buildings that were fenced off, and therefore the entire block began to bear her name. And now the quarter was sealed with all the inhabitants! That is why there are many ghost stories on its streets and there are so many eyewitness testimonies who claim to have seen ghost people, emaciated, in rags, wandering between houses.
A hundred years after the plague, the inhabitants of Edinburgh dismantled the destroyed houses of the Mary King quarter into bricks. And in the 18th century a new city arose here, on top of the one that kept the memory of pain, sorrow and death. Therefore, to get to the "locked" city, you have to go down to the very core of the Royal Mile using a special communications system.
Its streets are now tunnels and passages without noise and light. Rows of light bulbs, connected by a cord, stretch along the walls and ceilings, dimly illuminating the remains of stairs that lead nowhere. Wooden doors are blocked and windows are boarded up …
There is also a dead end Mary King, where Scottish ghosts live, which can be encountered right in the middle of the street, because it was here that all the inhabitants of Edinburgh who fell ill with the plague were brought, and none of the townspeople saw them again. Among the sick was a little Scottish girl named Anne, whose ghost still walks along the dead end of Mary King - the doomed to death baby was sent to the area for plague patients by her parents, who said goodbye to their daughter forever.
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Mary King recalled her secrets a century after the terrible plague that killed many of the inhabitants of Edinburgh. A huge building was erected on the site of the ancient streets, and the stone labyrinths turned into a mysterious dungeon, but every person, by the will of fate, found themselves in a large building, faced paranormal phenomena, mystical events, or simply felt the presence of something otherworldly.
The ghosts at the dead end Mary King were seen more than once, and in 2003, the Edinburgh authorities opened a mystical area for tourists who want to get in touch with a parallel world and learn the bleak history of old Edinburgh. On a guided tour of Mary King's Dead End, a guide will take tourists into a gruesome dungeon. Descending the ancient narrow stone stairs, sightseers seem to find themselves in the 17th century, when the plague was raging in Edinburgh.
The room in which, according to a terrible legend, the little girl Anne lived her last days, was also restored here. The room has no windows, the arched ceiling is rather low and has a depressing effect on visitors, and from the furniture you can see only a modest wooden table, two stools and a wooden chest that was used as a bed, the exposition is complemented by an old lantern.
This room clearly shows the terrifying environment in which the plague residents of Edinburgh lived, spending time in a bleak confinement before leaving the world of the living forever. During a tour of Mary King's Puffin, you can see a corner with many dolls brought here by locals who pity the ghost of little Anne and want to appease him.
They are convinced that the girl likes to look at these toys, and her ghost often grabs the hands of visitors to the dead end, and the girl can pinch some of the legs.
