St Giles' Cathedral and the Heart of Midlothian

Skottland, Edinburgh · Storbritannia · Church · Skrekk 3/5

Set in the cobbles outside St Giles' Cathedral is a heart of mosaic, the Heart of Midlothian.

Set in the cobbles outside St Giles' Cathedral is a heart of mosaic, the Heart of Midlothian. People from Edinburgh spit on it as they pass. The heart marks the entrance to the old Tolbooth, the city's town hall, parliament and prison, which stood here from the fourteenth century until its demolition in 1817. From 1785 the condemned were hanged publicly on its roof. It was here, against the wall of the church, that eighteen year old Thomas Aikenhead was convicted of blasphemy in 1697, the last person in Scotland executed for it.

The cathedral itself has no great ghost story. It is the prison that left the mark. Travellers in the nineteenth century wrote of a suffocating stench and screams that seemed to come from beneath the cobbles, right around the heart. That is folklore. But the torture with thumbscrews, the beheadings by the Maiden and the executions of noblemen on the square beside it are well documented history. Spit too, if you like. You are standing where Edinburgh punished its condemned.

FAQ

Hvor skummel er St Giles' Cathedral and the Heart of Midlothian?

St Giles' Cathedral and the Heart of Midlothian har en skrekkfaktor på 3/5 ifølge Haunted Places’ verifiserte vurderinger.

Hvor ligger St Giles' Cathedral and the Heart of Midlothian?

St Giles' Cathedral and the Heart of Midlothian ligger i Skottland, Edinburgh, Storbritannia.

Image: Carlos Delgado · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons