I know Halloween's come and gone but I thought folks might enjoy this one.

Las year (2005) My family went on an overseas trip: Germany because the boys do German at school; Italy because I always wanted to see Rome and Pompeii (as did my wife); France so my wife could go visit her family and the UK so I could visit mine in Scotland.

While in Edinburgh my eldest boy, Hamish, and I went on a 'Ghost Walk' which ended up in Greyfriars Kirk and the 'Black Mausoleum' in an adjacent wing of the kirkyard which once housed The Covenanters Prison.

The Covenanters were Protestants of the 17th Century who opposed certain measures and while accepted for a while found themselves 'politically at odds' with the king and were persecuted and hunted down. The final resistance ended up with 1200 Covenanters imprisoned behind Greyfriars Kirk. The man in charge was named Murray, I believe and he was sadid=stic. The Covenanters were forced to lie down all day, outside and virtually naked - unsurprising that most died. The 400 or so survivors were packed off to the 'Colonies' (America) as convicts but never reached it as their ship sank en route.

However, it is not the Covenanters, surprisingly, who are 'restless' - it is Murray. Apparently in the late 1990's, his mausoleum (just around the corner of the wall from the old Covenanters Prison) was distubed by a homeless man seeking riches in the vault - supposedly buried with him.

Anyway - to our experience. Standing in the Black Mausoleum and listening to our tour guide I began to experience a 'scratching' and 'grabbing' at my lower legs. Having been a 'sensitive' in my younger days I knew the "mantra's" to allay such attacks and they slowed down and stopped. About a minute later, Hamish said "Something's touching me!" As I had my arms about his shoulders from behind I joked. "Yeah, It's me" - He said, "No, my legs. I wanna get out!" He became more and more agitated and panicky and eventually, we tried to make our way forward (we were at the back) when the tour ended. However, as I began to move, I felt something grab sharply at my shoulder and neck and halt me. I looked around and came face to face with the stones of the back wall - no-one there.

The next morning I woke up and was walking around our room when Hamish looked at me with his eyes bugging out and said "Have you checked the mirror today?" Answering in the negative I responded to his suggestion I do so.

There on the right hand side of my neck, angling up from where it joins the shoulder was a four inch scratch and red mark as though by a fingernail - it took a day or two to fade. It was right where I felt the grabbing in the black Mausoleum where there was no-one to do the grabbing.

The sequel came the next night. I went out to take some photo's of Edinburgh Castle at night and so walked right around it in the streets. As I walked up the Grassmarket below the rock upon which the castle stands (the top end of which being where they hanged miscreants up to about 100 years ago) I began to get jittery - I was near the street that led up to Greyfriars Kirk and I had resolved to get a photo of the Covenanters Prison which I had failed to do in the daytime. Generally I am not afraid of anything, but I began to get really jumpy and sweaty but resolved not to be stupid and go and get a photo. To my relief, another tour was just ending and I asked the guide to go up to the Prison Yard with me 'I was NOT going over there alone'!

We went up and I took two photo's in quick succession without moving between them (digital camera) and as we stepped away, I reviewed them. With the guide looking over my shoulder the second photo was a fairly unrewarding shot of the yard with only a couple of trees clearly in sight and the mausoleums indistinct in the background. However, when the first shot I took came up, there, beside a tree was a bright blue, haze - an almost neon glow. On magnifying the shot, the glow clearly resolved into the torso of a person leaning against the tree. The neckline and sleeves and lower edge of the doublet / jerkin, the belt with dirk and folded arms are quite clear (the arms less so) to be seen as is the cloak which swirls to the ground.

We BOTH looked back into the prison-yard as the guide said "Where the hell did the light come from?" There was none in the yard, no bright windows & no reflective surfaces even if there WAS a bright background light. We looked at each other and walked out of there VERY quickly.

The account is now, I believe posted on the website for that tour.

Absolutely True

Muttley