Canadian TV show “A World of Wonders” (WOW) was filming at the Cadies shop in West Bow and on the Witchery Murder & Mystery Tour on Sunday 8th August. “A World of Wonders” a TV series that allows viewers to become armchair travellers as they criss-cross the globe, delighting in its wonders, people, cultures, colours, sounds and flavours.
More details of WOW HERE.
Our main Ghost, Mr Adam Lyal (deceased) is now on Facebook. Considering he was executed in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket in March 1811, this is a significant achievement. It’s good to see our 125-year-old ex-highway robber keeping up to date.
His Facebook page is found HERE.
From The Cadies & Witchery Tours back book catalogue comes Grave Robbers. Available on this site or in our shop.
After years of sleeping peacefully, the deceased dignitaries of Old Edinburgh are about to get a nasty surprise…
Grave-digger and funeral enthusiast Cameron Carter lives a relatively quiet life. Until a misplaced shovel cracks open a coffin lid and reveals a hidden fortune, that is. Nearly one hundred and seventy years after the trial of Scotland’s notorious body snatchers, William Burke and William Hare, the ancient trade of grave robbing returns to the town’s cemeteries.
Forming an unholy union with a small time crook, Adam, Cameron is drawn into a web of crime that involves a bogus American Scholars’ Society, chocolate chip ice cream and Steve McQueen. Their sacriligious scheming doesn’t quite go to plan however, and events begin to spiral dangerously beyond Cameron’s control.
Will our hero pull the tour guide of his dreams?
Will his partner in crime ever shift those microwaves?
Is there an afterlife?
In Robin Mitchell’s rude and darkly comic novel, all the answers will be exhumed.
Warning – This book contains strong language and may not be suitable for younger readers.
This new disc combines Adam Lyal’s first two haunting travelogues — Adam Lyal’s Royal Mile and Georgian Edinburgh — in a feature-length adventure through the history of Scotland’s Capital.
In the first part Adam delves into the Old Town’s bloody beginnings, rough justice and brushes with the Plague and other disasters (and the odd ghost story). In the second part, we follow the exodus of Edinburgh’s elite into the Georgian New Town, finding that not all of the unpleasantness was left behind…
This disc is an excellent way to learn about Edinburgh’s past, direct from those who were there. The double-sided disc includes both PAL and NTSC TV formats.
Many moons ago, Scottish actor Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting, Rome, Grey’s Anatomy) worked with Edinburgh’s Witchery Tours. This is unique footage of Kevin playing the part of ghostly tour guide Adam Lyal (deceased) on a wet winter’s night in 1994. It was shot on a steam-powered video camera by film enthusiast Derek Stores. The ‘jumper-ooter’ that evening was the legendary Witchery Tours stalwart Brian Mitchell.
Do you like ghosts and cereal?
Witchery Tours stalwart Cameron Pirie has made a a 60-second short film as part of the Dorset Cereals Film competition. He has included two characters that appear on our walking tours within his film, namely the Mad Monk of the Cowgate and Agnes Fynnie the Witch. At this stage of the competition Cameron needs to garner as many votes as possible. Can you help?
To vote, click on the following link to view the film. Scroll down the large list to HAPPY GHOSTS and click on VOTE. It’s as easy as that!
The happy ghosts thank you in advance.
Take a glimpse behind the scenes of the Murder & Mystery Tour with a little film we made, entitled Jumper-Ooter. The curious title is the name given to our hardest-working staff: those who run around the Old Town all evening in a range of outlandish guises, always staying one step ahead of (or behind) our unsuspecting guests. In the film, top ghouls Liam and Euan reveal a little of what it takes to put the frights into a Witchery Tour.
Click below to have a look, and be sure to leave a comment on the YouTube page for Jumper-Ooter or drop us a line to tell us what you think!
It’s Adam Lyal (deceased) on the plinth!
The sculptor Antony Gormley has invited people from all over the UK to help create an astonishing living monument. He is asking the people to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, a space normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals.
Every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will make the Plinth their own.
On Friday 21st August 2009, between 9am and 10am, Robin Mitchell (illustrious founder of the legendary Cadies & Witchery Tours) in the guise of the pale-face highwayman Adam Lyal (deceased) will take his place on the 4th Plinth.
Pledge your support for the forebear of all Lyals on his One and Other Participants Page and then watch him live on the plinth at www.oneandother.co.uk.
Spread the word!
To commemorate the 180th anniversary of the execution of the notorious William Burke, the Witchery Tours has produced a Limited Edition, high quality reproduction of The Edinburgh Evening Courant, the first Edinburgh Newspaper to publish the details of Burke’s trial at the High Court!
This case remains one of the most terrible in Edinburgh’s long and bloody history, and now you can see it through the eyes of the people at the time in a newspaper published mere hours after the guilty verdict was pronounced.
Now you can own a piece of history, a full replica of the four-page newspaper, which dedicates an unprecedented two pages to covering the bizarre and gruesome case of Burke and Hare, the two men who supplied Edinburgh’s Medical School with perhaps as many as thirty bodies for dissection: a trade which they supplied by murdering the poor and desperate of Edinburgh’s Cowgate slums.
We are launching this unique product in conjunction with the Edinburgh and Lothians Police Information Centre on the Royal Mile, where (in their “Black Museum”) you can also view a business-card holder made from the skin of William Burke himself!
If you can’t make it down there to get yourself a copy, you can buy one here.
‘Tis the season once again to be jolly, indulge in a great deal of food and drink and, most of all, pretend to appreciate that jumper your Gran made for you!
However, once the crackers have been cracked, the presents presented and the sprouts devoured, why not work off those seasonal pounds by taking a walk around the Old Town on one of our tours? Our ghosts are putting their feet up for a few days from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day, but on December 27th we’re back leading our guests through the dark and narrow closes of old Edinburgh!
So, if you’re tired of Panto and you’ve seen The Great Escape more times than you can remember, try something new this Christmas and book a tour! We’ve even got tours on Hogmanay, early enough for you to get to your party afterwards!
Come meet some real Christmas Spirits!
