Do you know the stories of the Wizard of Edinburgh's West Bow and murderer Johnny One-Arm?

Gruesome stories of Edinburgh’s dead, those who have failed to find peace, are to be explored in an online Halloween event from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, on Friday, October 30 at 7.30pm.
Medium Ewan IrvineMedium Ewan Irvine
Medium Ewan Irvine

In Spirits of Edinburgh medium and paranormal investigator Ewan Irvine will bring a few of these stories to life as he looks at such tales as the McKenzie Poltergeist, the Wizard of West Bow, otherwise known as Major Thomas Weir, a Scottish soldier and presumed occultist executed in 1670 and Johnny One-Arm, whose punishment for murder included having the arm with the hand that had fired the fatal shot severed before he was hanged at the Grassmarket Gallows as well as a few more.

Mr Irvine says, “Edinburgh’s former residents have a story to tell. Edinburgh is steeped in history and stories of the city’s ghosts have been handed down through generations. Some are well known, but how many people know that in Bruntsfield’s sedate Gillespie Crescent there used to be a mansion known as the Wrychtishousis house, where sightings were reported of a headless woman carrying a child in her arms who came out of the hearth on many an evening. Halloween is associated with witchcraft and the story of Agnes Finnie, Edinburgh’s busiest witch, is also one that enthrals us, as it was said that if there was ever a witch worthy of her neighbours fear and accusations, it was Agnes.”

He adds, “We find that where stories have been embellished over the years, there are many grains of truth in their foundations.”

For more information please visit www.arthurconandoylecentre.com

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