Exploring the Underground City for real!
One of Edinburgh’s closes on a fogbound night!
I’ve never been much of a fan of the paranormal TV series Most Haunted, mostly due to their melodramatic histrionics, but I did decide to watch a ten year old episode at the weekend purely because the team were in Mary King’s Close in Edinburgh! I’ve visited the Close myself in March 2012, and it went on to inspire the Underground City in The Necromancer’s Apprentice, so I left it on TV so my mum could see what the Close looks like – and as I’m in the planning stages of book two, it seemed like a good way to ‘revisit’ the inspiration.
Mary King’s Close lies below the Royal Mile in Edinburgh – a close is simply a narrow street, and a whole network of them makes up the city’s Old Town. This particular close was named for Mary King, a prominent businesswoman who lived in the close in the 1630s. Originally open to the air, it was built over during the seventeenth century, and some of its floors now form part of the foundations of the Royal Exchange. Being buried under the Royal Exchange, many theories abound as to what must have happened in its murky depths, from plague victims being walled up alive, to rampant murder. Either way, it’s now a tourist attraction, and visitors can explore the weird atmosphere of the four connected closes (Mary King’s, Pearson’s, Stewart’s and Allen’s Closes).
Whether there are any ghosts down there I really don’t know, but there is something really odd about seeing a street, complete with windows, doors and gas lamps…and no sky above it all. Apparently some of the buildings reach to seven stories high, so that should give you some idea of the scale of the tenements in the Underground City. Many of the alleys in the Underground City are also called closes, and they’re connected by shadowy passages in which dark beings lurk.
For anyone who wants a taste of the street that inspired the Underground City, or they’re just curious about a buried street, then you can watch the full episode of Most Haunted on YouTube.
Otherwise you can read some stories set in the Underground City here, or you can buy The Necromancer’s Apprentice on Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble. There is more about The Necromancer’s Apprentice on Goodreads. I’m also starting a merchandise range inspired by the book over on Etsy! Enjoy!
Have you ever been to Mary King’s Close?
