Not all Christmas ghost stories have frightening apparitions or ghostly chaints rattling.

Sometimes these stories begin with something simpler — a sound beneath a room, figures moving across a field, or a moment that only makes sense later on.

In this Christmas episode, I explore two Scottish Midwinter hauntings recorded in the nineteenth century, both linked to Christmas and both rooted in firsthand experience rather than folklore built up over time.

The first takes place at the historic Cortachy Castle, where guests and travellers reported hearing unexplained drumming during the Christmas period - a sound the Airlie family believed appeared only when a death in the family was approaching.

The second comes from the Highlands, where villagers spoke of figures seen playing games in the snow near a parish church on Christmas Day, returning year after year as part of a story tied to a specific place and a long-remembered transgression.

Thank you for spending part of your Christmas here, and for supporting the channel throughout the year.

Lang may yer lum reek.

Peggy the Doll isn’t an old legend pulled from folklore, or a relic tied to some distant tragedy.

She’s a modern case - one that unfolded in real time, among investigators, witnesses, and viewers who found themselves reacting in ways they couldn’t easily explain.

First brought to wider attention in 2015, Peggy became associated with reports of physical and emotional reactions - headaches, nausea, anxiety, and a deep sense of unease - sometimes experienced simply by seeing her, even through a screen. At the centre of the case was paranormal investigator Jayne Harris, known for her careful, methodical approach to unusual claims.

In this episode, we explore Peggy’s story from the beginning - her unusual origin in a garden shed in Sheffield, the investigation that followed, and why this case continues to sit in that uneasy space between psychology and the unexplained. Rather than chasing easy answers, this is a look at patterns, witness testimony, and the limits of what we can confidently explain.

Peggy’s story is featured in A Cursed Collection of Haunted Dolls by Fiona Dodwell - a thoughtful, well-researched book that examines haunted doll cases with care and balance. Fiona kindly allowed me to feature Peggy’s account in this episode.

📘 A Cursed Collection of Haunted Dolls – Fiona Dodwell

Lochmaben Castle is one of Scotland’s most historic strongholds. It's a site tied to the Bruces, medieval warfare, rebellion, and some of the strangest stories to come out of Dumfriesshire.

In this episode, we explore the history of the castle before looking at the modern accounts that have made Lochmaben one of the area’s most talked-about haunted locations.

From the 12th-century tale of a medieval revenant, to legends of a phantom drummer boy, a ghostly horseman patrolling the loch’s edge, and the chilling modern encounter reported by investigator Tom Robertson in 1991, the site has gathered stories across centuries.

This episode takes a closer look at where those stories come from – and what might be behind them.

Tonight’s story comes from my new book Hidden Haunts: Ireland - a collection of lesser-known ghost stories, local legends, and accounts that have rarely, if ever, been written down.

This episode takes us to Woodstown House in County Waterford, a place better known for its famous guests than its ghosts. But behind the grand rooms and local reputation lies something far stranger - a series of experiences shared by several people who lived and worked there.

You’ll hear Chrissie’s account of strange activity in the kitchen, the sense of being watched in the annex apartment, and the night she woke to a cold presence in her room. You’ll hear what the gardener told her on her last day, and the disturbing experiences he had in the very same rooms. And you’ll meet Catherine, whose encounters along the driveway and inside the house suggest that whatever lingers there is far older than any modern history.

These are stories rarely spoken aloud - the kind that drift quietly through a community until they’re finally written down.

If you’d like to read the full chapter, along with many more Irish hauntings that have never appeared in guidebooks or popular folklore,

Hidden Haunts: Ireland is available now on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/cjxWLFz

Thank you, as always, for watching, supporting the channel, and keeping these overlooked stories alive.

The final chapter in a chilling true story of a haunting that refused to be left behind.

In this concluding episode, we follow John - a down to earth, practical man - as the strange disturbances that began at a remote industrial site grow darker, more personal… and more violent.

What started with flying stones and cryptic messages soon evolved into something far more invasive: objects moved on their own, threatening notes appeared from nowhere, and witnesses began to feel - a presence they couldn’t explain. And then came Jonathon.

A name scratched into plaster. A figure glimpsed from the corner of the eye. A warning, delivered through terror.

John’s journey will take him from poltergeist chaos to something much harder to define - and impossible to forget.

Want to explore more true accounts of hauntings? Find all my books, including the Hidden Haunts series, here: https://eerieedinburgh.com/eerie-in-print

In this feature length episode, we look at real historical cases from Scotland where possession was recorded - not the Hollywood kind, but the kind found in parish records, court transcripts, and old ministerial accounts.

Some of these cases are deeply unsettling: people who claimed to see spirits, to be tormented in their sleep, to speak with voices not their own. Others sit somewhere between faith, fear, and mental collapse. Through a modern lens, they might be seen as illness or trauma - but at the time, they were believed to be evidence of possession.

These are not Hollywood exorcisms or invented horrors. They’re stranger than that - real moments from Scottish history where belief in the unseen was part of everyday life, and where the line between the spiritual and the psychological was far less clear.

Join me as we revisit these forgotten records, from the Canongate Tolbooth to Bargarran, and ask what these cases might still tell us about how people experience fear, faith, and the unknown.

Welcome to The Possession Files - a three-part Halloween series investigating real historical accounts of alleged possession. 

These aren’t tales of spinning heads or Hollywood demons, but stories drawn from documented cases where something darker and far harder to explain seemed to take hold.

In this opening episode, we travel to Romania to examine the extraordinary story of Elenore Zugun - one of the real-life cases said to have inspired the 1973 film The Exorcist. 

Branded ‘The Devil’s Girl,’ Elenore became, between 1925 and 1927, the centre of one of Europe’s most unsettling and well-documented hauntings. Stones flew, objects moved, and witnesses swore unseen forces were at work. The case has fascinated me for decades, and it sets the tone for the episodes to follow.

As the series continues, The Possession Files will return to Scotland, exploring centuries-old records where possession was more than myth - from documented exorcisms to 16th-century cases that still echo through history.

The A9 is Scotland’s longest road, stretching through the heart of the Highlands. It’s a route travelled daily by thousands — but it also carries a darker reputation.

In this follow-up to my episode on the haunted A75, Dark Miles, I trace the length of the A9, uncovering ghost stories that cling to the road and the landscapes around it. From death omens in Pitlochry and the witch of Beinn a’ Ghlo, to phantom whistles in Glen Tilt and a modern woman in white near Drumossie Brae, the accounts are as varied as they are disturbing.

While the story follows the road north, I also take some detours into places I know well and love to walk — glens, mountains, and old haunts where folklore and personal memory blur. What emerges is not just a road of traffic and tarmac, but one that seems to carry echoes of history, oppression, and tragedy.

Blythswood Square sits at the heart of Glasgow’s Georgian New Town - elegant, symmetrical, and steeped in history. But behind the sandstone facades, the square holds a darker story.

In this episode, we explore a haunting said to be tied to one of Scotland’s most infamous court cases: the 1857 trial of Madeleine Smith. Her secret affair with Pierre L’Angelier ended in scandal and death, and although the verdict was “Not Proven,” the questions never truly faded. Nor, it seems, did the presence of those involved.

We look at ghost stories stretching across decades: strange smells, silent corridors, footsteps in locked rooms, and apparitions that appear to walk not just through buildings — but through time itself. Some of the tales link directly to Madeleine’s story. Others seem older, or completely separate, yet share the same unnerving details. A woman in white gliding past closed doors. A child’s scream. A figure in Victorian dress vanishing into a wall.

This is a square shaped as much by memory as by architecture. And whether you believe in ghosts or not, some places leave a mark that doesn’t easily fade.

As featured in Tales from the Crypts of Auld Reekie by John Tantalon

What if one of the most haunted streets in Edinburgh wasn’t in the Old Town, but found just beyond the Meadows — overlooked, residential, and never mentioned in ghost tour scripts?

This episode explores the eerie happenings of Arden Street, a seemingly ordinary road in Marchmont with a long history of unsettling events. From spectral footsteps and phantom dogs to frightening apparitions and a mysterious book of Bruegel prints, these stories draw from real first-hand accounts gathered over years.

I originally wrote this chapter for Tales from the Crypts of Auld Reekie, a brilliant collection of Edinburgh hauntings compiled by John Tantalon and featuring contributions from Graeme Milne, Kerrie Powell, Scott Lyal and Joss Cameron.

If you’d like to explore the full book, Tales from the Crypts of Auld Reekie is available now on Amazon.