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An Edinburgh Pub Haunting

 

An Edinburgh Pub Haunting

I am an Irish guy currently living in my hometown of Dublin. I was living in Edinburgh, Scotland for 5 years up until January 2011 when I returned home. While I was in Edinburgh I spent my time working in the pub trade. It was in the first pub I worked in that this happened. It was in a suburb called Leith which is a dockland area in the north of Edinburgh. I won't say the name of the pub because I'm not sure if I am allowed or not, but it was situated at the foot of Leith Walk.

This particular pub was a quiet local bar, so there weren't usually a lot of us working at one time. Usually just 1 manager, 2 bar staff and 2 kitchen staff.

It was around 2007 and was coming towards the end of the night. The bar had back loading fridges that was accessible from a chilled corridor where we kept all our bottled beers and the like. So I was in this corridor re-stocking the fridges for the following day.

It is while I was sitting on my heels to put stock on the lower shelf that this incident happened. Nothing majorly exciting, but gripped my attention nonetheless. While I was crouched down a plastic bottle top, that would be on the top of a kid's fruit shoot drink (which we did stock) came over my shoulder from behind me to the left hitting me on the ear. Presuming that it was one of the other staff, I turned round to tell him where to go but saw nobody there and the corridor was empty.

Now a person couldn't have gotten to the exit door in the space of time it took me to turn round. I went out to the bar to see who it was, but of the other 2 bar staff, one was serving a customer, and had been serving continuously for a while and the other was at the far end clearing a table. The kitchen staff had left because the kitchen was closed.

There were many little occurrences that happened in this pub. This is just one of them. It is a very old building, and used to be a snooker club, and before that a cinema.

Hope you enjoyed my story.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, johntravis28, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

lexi-loo (1 stories) (175 posts)
 
9 years ago (2015-08-26)
im a bit late here but for what its worth it has been a wetherspoons since 2001
johntravis28 (guest)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-23)
Hi Rachel, Not that I am aware of. I am sure there probably has been though. One theory I always had was that spirits find there way back to a place that brought them happiness. So maybe people who frequented the cinema many years ago keep returning.

We catered mainly to elderly locals who spent most of their time there. While in the 4 and a half years I worked there, a good few of them died. Not actually in the pub though

Geetha and granny, if yis do come here let me know and I'll take yis for a good pint of guinness:)

Kristy_glick, glad you enjoyed the story. Yes Edinburgh is a VERY haunted city. Did the ghost tour while I was there (now I take such things with a pinch of salt), but they were very entertaining stories

Louslips, As I say in my profile, I like to explore the rational explanations first, so trust me, I have thoroughly investigated and way this could have happened, and the only way is that somebody threw it. And I even checked the security camera for the bar and anybody who was working was out front the entire time. I appreciate your ideas though
Lilady4 (7 stories) (427 posts)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-21)
Very interesting story here johntravis28. I was wondering, did you know of any deaths near the pub or in the pub itself, even perhaps when it was a cinema or a snooker club?
Love & Light, Rachel ❤
Kristy_Glick (3 stories) (29 posts)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-20)
I had a roommate who got his MSc from the University of Edinburgh and he said the whole city is very haunted. A lot of tragic and horrible stuff happened there over the centuries, so I'm not surprised.

Very cool story!
geetha50 (15 stories) (986 posts)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-20)
I think you have a ghost who likes to play pranks on the employees of the pub. Like granny said, one of these days I will come to visit. I just love your culture (and your accents 😉)
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-20)
That kills my theory. Some of the juice products we purchase come in jugs identical to plastic milk jugs. Some are screw top, put some have just push on caps... I thought that if any of the juice products were beyond their use-life, that some fementation, therefore, gas build-up could be taking place.
So now I am back in the same boat with you wondering what caused this to take place.

Lou
johntravis28 (guest)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-20)
Hi louslips, no it'd be more like on a sports bottle. The plastic cap covering the mouth piece when you buy it. Didn't notice one missing a top, but it wouldn't be unusual just to find them lying around on the floor if it hadn't been swept for a couple of days
LouSlips (10 stories) (979 posts)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-20)
JohnTravis,

I'm picturing a bottle cap sort of like off a plastic milk jug, is that correct? Also, was a bottle of juice found without a cap afterwards?

Thanks,
Lou
johntravis28 (guest)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-20)
[at] aiafaith1 - Glad you liked it. There are many other occurences in this pub, but I haven't experienced them save for 1 more. The rest are all things I have been told by others, and I think YGS don't like 2nd hand stories...?

[at] zzgranny: If you do come to Ireland, get yourself a tour of Kilmainham Jail (Gaol) in Dublin. An old prison where the leaders of rebellions were executed.

Some co-workers have experienced numerous happenings there. I don't know anything about the original owners... I need to research:) And no, I don't know Dave...sorry

[at] lyrinth: Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. There were more occurences, but not that I witnessed
lynrinth (guest)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-19)
'Snooker club'? Sounds interesting, as your story was. Please, tell more tales if you have them.
zzsgranny (18 stories) (3329 posts) mod
 
14 years ago (2011-05-19)
johntravis: I love Ireland, and someday I'll be invading your country in search of spooks! 😆...I think this was a pretty cool experience... Do you know any more of the history of the pub, like who the original owners were and what happened to them, etc?...And did any of your coworkers experience anything odd?...I think you have more tales to tell, sir 😊...

Oh yeah, you wouldn't happen to know a guy named Dave a.k.a moonshadow would ya? LOL...He's one of our posters who hasn't been seen or heard from by us for quite a while... I think it's funny that you and he are both from Dublin 😊...
aiafaith1 (guest)
 
14 years ago (2011-05-19)
I loved your story! Thanks for sharing! Do you mind telling us the other things that happened? Thanks!

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