While on my trip, I paid a visit to Mary King's Close, one of Edinburgh's notoriously haunted locations and tourist attractions. Here, it was rumored that during the plague, several victims of the disease had been bricked up within the close. There is an even darker rumor about what happened when reopening sections of the close to rent out - that two brothers were hired to dispose of the bodies, and after struggling to carry the bodies, they dismembered them to make it a little easier... (read more rumor about the mystery here; Mysterious Britain and Ireland) No one is certain of this, and the tour guides tend to say it is fabricated, but what they do know is that there were plague victims quarantined, (though maybe not hidden in the walls) and the doctors who tended to them were covered head to toe, carrying sticks they used to poke bodies (testing to see if they were dead or alive). They also wore masks with long beaks (filling the noses with herbs to filter out germs), looking very much like this:
Learning about these creepy "bird-men," or doctors, is just one of the interesting parts of the Mary King's Close tour. If you're ever in Scotland, I highly suggest it (plus, they've got one hell of a gift shop). In the meantime, enjoy this tale of America's own bird-man...
Still intrigued by Mary King's Close? Check out this episode of Most Haunted!
