Concluding our 40th anniversary retrospective. In Part 1 we told the Cadies' origin story, and in Part 2 we charted its coming-of-age. We wrap up with co-founder Robin Mitchell's reflections on how a business became an institution, a community, and ... a political movement?
When you've been scaring people for four decades, you start to need a pretty big room to have staff reunions in. Since our inception, we've employed 102 jumper-ooters, of which 53 good souls have gone on to lead our tours. We now have sons and nephews of jumper-ooters donning the tour costumes. It has been very exciting and indeed a great pleasure working with the next generation. A number of former jumper-ooters have described their time with us as a sort of "finishing-school", in that the skills honed on our walking tours have stood them in good stead when undertaking their main profession, especially when it involves public speaking. Having jumper-ooter on your CV has always been a talking point at interviews. Former employees have gone on to do very well in a multitude of occupations including teacher, architect, journalist, electrical engineer, physiotherapist, whisky salesman (yes, some people need convincing!), gardener, fireman to name but several; and we've even had a Hollywood actor -- Kevin McKidd -- working for us back in the day. Anytime Kevin is back in Edinburgh he pops in to see us. On his last visit he amusingly shouted into the shop, "It's no' going too weel in Hollywood, can I get my auld job back?" (Yes, Owen Hunt, M.D. has a Scottish accent in real life.) In fact, many of our former jumper-ooters from years ago still come into the shop to see us, which is fantastic; a testament, I believe, to our easy-going work environment.
WATCH: Kevin McKidd, Witchery Tour Guide
Talking of famous folks, we have an impressive list of well-known faces who have attended our walking tours or visited our wee shop over the years. Some of the names, in no particular order, include Joan Rivers, George Takei, David Hasselhof, Mark Owen, not to mention a revolving-door of Big Brother and X-Factor luminaries. One of our earliest brushes with stardom was a visit from the entire heavy metal band Iron Maiden in their 1980s pomp; regrettably however, as our knowledge of NWOBHM was a bit lacking at the time, we didn't know who they were! We found out the next day when the band manager phoned us to thank us for the tour. I also conducted two bespoke tours with Scotland's premier crime author Sir Ian Rankin, when his international book publicists were visiting Scotland. We toured various locations in Edinburgh where I provided the historical content and Ian explained the locations associated with his new Rebus novel.
In the interests of a healthy work/afterlife balance, we also contested the first three general elections to the reborn Scottish Parliament. For no sensible reason, we did so in the guise of our main ghost at the time, Adam Lyal (deceased) leading the official political party - Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour Party. The reason we initially stood for Parliament was to take part in history (the return of the Scottish Parliament after 300 years) and to test the new voting system (the addition of a second vote). We thought voters might give their first vote to their main party and give their second vote to us.
In 1999, I was the "soul" candidate of Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour Party. We stood on the Lothians regional list in the guise of highway robber Adam Lyal (deceased). If elected, I would donate my first year's parliamentary salary to a Lothian based charity or charities. At the time. I campaigned to reduce a MSPs salary from £40,000 a year to £3.60 an hour (the minimum wage at the time). I suggested that all members of the Scottish Parliament, prior to implementing any new legislation, should be sent on day-release to outside jobs in an attempt to learn about the real world. I promised to wear white make-up every day for the full term of the Scottish Parliament, to demonstrate that it doesn't matter what you look like. I also promised to purchase a new cloak for the official opening of the Scottish Parliament on the 1st of July 1999.
I gained 1184 votes at the Scottish Parliamentary elections - a remarkable 9th out of 17 parties registered on the Lothians list. In 2003, Adam Lyal's Witchery Tour Party once again stood for the Scottish Parliament. On this occasion with Robin Bankhead at the helm. He gained 964 votes. In 2007, Euan MacInnes adopted the role of Adam Lyal and gained 867 votes. Both Robin and Euan claim, that although the amount of votes were lower than my count, their share of the vote increased.
In 2003, out of a clear blue sky (unusually for Edinburgh) something huge happened completely changing the trajectory of our business: we bought a shop! After years of hiding away, taking bookings over the phone and only meeting our tour groups in the evening, it was time to see what people looked like up close during the day. We entered our new lair at 84 West Bow (Victoria Street) in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town in 2003 after searching high and low for several months, seeking a suitable ghostly abode. Bricks-and-mortar retail wasn't part of the plan at the time, but as the old saying goes: When life gives you a shop, be a shopkeeper. So we did! It was a learning-curve to be sure, but before long you'd never have guessed we hadn't been purveying gothic giftware and locally-created artwork on that spot since nineteen-canteen!
READ MORE: Give The Shop a Bone
Things turned serious for all in 2020 as the Coronavirus pandemic arrived, and like every tourism-centred business we were dealt a body-blow. Our schedule for the coming summer, by then crammed with tour groups, turned into a blank sheet overnight. As a result, in common with countless individuals and businesses alike, we found ourselves with more down-time than we knew what to do with. My own response to this was to use the time by researching and planning a new small-group tour of Greyfriars Cemetery. Although I already knew the cemetery very well, this was a chance with the time available to delve far deeper into its history. With help from my cousin (an expert on researching family trees) we discovered new and fascinating stories about the citizens residing in the kirkyard. This research, which is ongoing, has become a large part of our afternoon trip to the graveyard. A tour very different from our evening trips with new information every week. Also, we don’t have jumper-ooters appearing from the graves: we felt that might just have been a little inappropriate. We came out the other side of the pandemic with a revamped shop, a new working schedule and a new tour with unparalleled support from the 'auld boys and girls'. I'd like to name check these great hard-working souls: Robin B, Andrew, Cammy, Callum and Alison.
The pandemic was a crossroads, which was the theme of my speech at Loretto School, Musselburgh in 2017. I was honoured to be asked to deliver the Loretto Lecture considering previous speakers included peace activist Colin Parry, Edinburgh artist Richard Demarco, former Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore, and broadcaster and journalist Lesley Riddoch. My 'crossroads' related to people who were important and pivotal in the formation and continual development of the Cadies & Witchery Tours. Not an exact science but an interesting premise.
READ MORE: At a Crossroads
There are many others to thank who have helped us along the way, too many to mention here. In fact, it would be exceptionally unfair to single anyone out So, let's just do that very thing! Euan, we offer you many many thanks for your 15 years' service. We couldn't have done it without you. Your hard work, wit, knowledge and social organising skills wiil never be surpassed. AND if anyone of our former ghosts feel a wee bit left out by me singling out Euan, let me just say you know who you are and many thanks to you too! You all have big boy trousers now. You'll get over it.
Here's to the next 40 years!
That concludes our very condensed review of 40 spooky years. We did our best to keep it pithy! Ultimately even a three-part series feels inadequate to capture the whole story of four decades in business, but if we'd just kept going this would have been 802 pages plus appendices.
The links we've sprinkled through these three instalments should fill in a few of the gaps in our history, and the most dedicated readers can find still further enlightenment by perusing the rest of our blog archive, particularly under the Shop Of Horrors and On Tour categories.