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| Weird! |
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| The Covenenters Prison |
Greyfriars Kirkyard has to be one of the creepiest places I have ever visited, the stones aren't staged they are real, dating as far back as the 16th century. The tombs are mostly locked and surrounded by iron railings and high stone walls, these were not prisons they were there to stop bodysnatchers such as the famous Burke and Hare raiding fresh bodies and supplying the Doctors at the nearby medical college with corpses for dissection. The covenanters prison is a makeshift prison and is locked at all times for good reason because so many people were getting attacked by the alleged poltergeist in there, only ghost tours are allowed in. The Covenanting movement began with signing of the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirk in 1638 it was the first stage of a democracy in Scotland, but many were killed and tortured; 1200 people were forced to lay face down in the mud for 5 months all through the Scottish winters and snipers stood on the upper walls so if they tried to escape they would be shot instantly, most were, some believe that the unbridled slaughter in the kirkyard is grossly exaggerated. In there is the alleged spirit called George 'Bloody' Mackenzie, it took a lot to warrant this title in Scotland, he was the King's adversary and eminent judge and he killed the covenenters and it was his job to think up torture methods. It is well documented that his spirit resides in the 'Black Mausoleum' and attacks visitors and famous throughout the world as 'The Mackenzie Poltergeist'. People have felt cold here, heard noises, smelt smells which could be explained, also people were receiving scratches, bite marks, bruises, burns and knocked unconscious, where is harder to explain. The council were not prepared to be held responsible for these attacks and decided to lock up that part of the cemetery. 450 people have reported having been 'attacked by an unknown force' and 140 people have fainted (but I think the statistics are high as thousands of tourist come here, some are bound to be tired etc standing in a cold dark scary place all night, also suggestion plays a major part in these cases.) The weird flip-side of this story is that they buried the man responsible for so many of these deaths this close to were the deaths took place, his spirit is mostly blamed for all the paranormal activity that occurred. His tomb was recently desecrated by two youths who found a skull (his?) and started to throw it about the place, but nothing of a supernatural nature attacked them!
Some of the paranormal activity seems to have extended to the houses that surround the kirkyard too.
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| Ghost Hunters ONLY!! |
Symptoms of an acute stress reaction caused by adrenylin and the amygdala (primitive brain area)Fight or flight:-
Fainting, disorientation, agitation, overeactivity, anxiety, impaired judgement, confusion, detachment, tachycardia, sweating, and nausea.
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| Home of the famous MacKenzie Poltergeist |
Nothing of a paranoiac nature happened to me whilst I visited the kirkyard, I wasn't pushed scratched or kicked in the head and I didn't faint yay! Mind you I couldn't get in the covenenters prison to let myself in for slaughter as it was locked! Shame oh well. The graveyard is creepy plain and simple, it psychologically sets you up to fear it what with its weird tombs with obscure carvings, the naked baby with the skull was quite perturbing. I would certainly go at night for sure.
Wikipedia entry
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