THE MACKENZIE POLTERGEIST
'One of the most CONVINCING SUPERNATURAL CASES of all time’ Richard Felix, Most Haunted.
Greyfriars Graveyard in Edinburgh has become world-famous as the site of the Mackenzie Poltergeist. Its lair is a tomb known as the ‘Black Mausoleum’ behind the high walls and locked gates of an area known as the Covenanter’s Prison.
I will admit to having a soft spot for Mackenzie. I’ve already written two books about it - The Ghost that Haunted Itself & Father Figure.
I used to live in a house in the graveyard across from the Covenanter’s Prison. Not that I’m weird or anything like that – the rent was cheap.
I even started City of the Dead Tours to explore the entity.
Sounds obsessive but, honestly, it isn’t. Most authors who write about a famous supernatural case (should they be crazy enough) are unfamiliar with the location, the people involved and the more intimate details of the situation. Here I was living a few feet away from a paranormal case that was attracting massive media attention. It was too good an opportunity to turn down. Not long after the initial sightings of the Mackenzie Poltergeist, the Covenanter’s Prison was locked by the City of Edinburgh Council. I obtained permission to set up tours that would unlock and enter the site, to see if anything unexplained happened.
It also gave me access to every witness of any paranormal phenomena. And they are legion.
‘One of the SCARIEST EXPERIENCES in Scotland’ Daily Record
The Mackenzie Poltergeist differs from other haunted locations for two reasons. One is the frequency of the sightings.
The other is the severity of the incidents. From the first recorded sightings in 1999, there have been hundreds of documented ‘attacks’ and there are probably hundreds more who are reluctant to go on record as having encountered a poltergeist.
Attacks include scratches, cuts, bruises, burns and bites on witnesses’ bodies – often under their clothes. Many people collapse or are knocked over. There are hot and cold spots. Cameras and watches stop working. There have been unexplained smells and auditory anomalies – including knocking noises under the ground and inside the tomb itself. Dead animals are found, unmarked, in front of the Black Mausoleum. People have complained that an unseen apparition has pulled their hair, grabbed their legs and arms or hit them. The area has been exorcised twice – both times unsuccessfully. Poltergeist activity has been reported in houses around the graveyard and major fires plague the area.
Eventually, both my house and the tour company offices, which overlooked the graveyard, burned down. This destroyed years' worth of letters, photographs, records and statements concerning the Mackenzie Poltergeist, as well as every possession I had. None of the surrounding properties was damaged and an official cause for the fire was never established. So I started again cause I’ll not be outsmarted by something that hangs around a tomb. Once again, City of the Dead has collected hundreds of eyewitness accounts and photographs.
And I moved to Australia.
‘Extremely SPOOKY. Very ATMOSPHERIC’ Good Morning Television
I don’t know what the Mackenzie Poltergeist really is. I don’t know if it’s a supernatural entity, a pheromone cloud, a demon or a set of psychosomatic and hysterical reactions. All have been suggested. But it has become the best-documented supernatural case of all time, as well as the most conclusive.
Let me put it this way – if the Mackenzie Poltergeist isn’t a genuine supernatural entity, then I don’t think there’s any such thing.
Jan-Andrew Henderson.
Greyfriars Graveyard in Edinburgh has become world-famous as the site of the Mackenzie Poltergeist. Its lair is a tomb known as the ‘Black Mausoleum’ behind the high walls and locked gates of an area known as the Covenanter’s Prison.
I will admit to having a soft spot for Mackenzie. I’ve already written two books about it - The Ghost that Haunted Itself & Father Figure.
I used to live in a house in the graveyard across from the Covenanter’s Prison. Not that I’m weird or anything like that – the rent was cheap.
I even started City of the Dead Tours to explore the entity.
Sounds obsessive but, honestly, it isn’t. Most authors who write about a famous supernatural case (should they be crazy enough) are unfamiliar with the location, the people involved and the more intimate details of the situation. Here I was living a few feet away from a paranormal case that was attracting massive media attention. It was too good an opportunity to turn down. Not long after the initial sightings of the Mackenzie Poltergeist, the Covenanter’s Prison was locked by the City of Edinburgh Council. I obtained permission to set up tours that would unlock and enter the site, to see if anything unexplained happened.
It also gave me access to every witness of any paranormal phenomena. And they are legion.
‘One of the SCARIEST EXPERIENCES in Scotland’ Daily Record
The Mackenzie Poltergeist differs from other haunted locations for two reasons. One is the frequency of the sightings.
The other is the severity of the incidents. From the first recorded sightings in 1999, there have been hundreds of documented ‘attacks’ and there are probably hundreds more who are reluctant to go on record as having encountered a poltergeist.
Attacks include scratches, cuts, bruises, burns and bites on witnesses’ bodies – often under their clothes. Many people collapse or are knocked over. There are hot and cold spots. Cameras and watches stop working. There have been unexplained smells and auditory anomalies – including knocking noises under the ground and inside the tomb itself. Dead animals are found, unmarked, in front of the Black Mausoleum. People have complained that an unseen apparition has pulled their hair, grabbed their legs and arms or hit them. The area has been exorcised twice – both times unsuccessfully. Poltergeist activity has been reported in houses around the graveyard and major fires plague the area.
Eventually, both my house and the tour company offices, which overlooked the graveyard, burned down. This destroyed years' worth of letters, photographs, records and statements concerning the Mackenzie Poltergeist, as well as every possession I had. None of the surrounding properties was damaged and an official cause for the fire was never established. So I started again cause I’ll not be outsmarted by something that hangs around a tomb. Once again, City of the Dead has collected hundreds of eyewitness accounts and photographs.
And I moved to Australia.
‘Extremely SPOOKY. Very ATMOSPHERIC’ Good Morning Television
I don’t know what the Mackenzie Poltergeist really is. I don’t know if it’s a supernatural entity, a pheromone cloud, a demon or a set of psychosomatic and hysterical reactions. All have been suggested. But it has become the best-documented supernatural case of all time, as well as the most conclusive.
Let me put it this way – if the Mackenzie Poltergeist isn’t a genuine supernatural entity, then I don’t think there’s any such thing.
Jan-Andrew Henderson.
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