True Crime Tours

Join The Real Mary King’s Close’s True Crime Tours to discover the darkest side of Edinburgh’s history.The closes of the Old Town have been shrouded in shocking tales of crime and punishment for centuries… but the True Crime Tours reveal a more honest story, rooted in fact. As is often…

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A young female tour guide dressed in black, standing in Mary King's Close
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6pm - 9pm
10th October - 31st October
£30 per adult, £24 per child
Not wheelchair accessible due to the historic nature of the site. Stairs, steep slope and uneven floor.

Join The Real Mary King’s Close’s True Crime Tours to discover the darkest side of Edinburgh’s history.

The closes of the Old Town have been shrouded in shocking tales of crime and punishment for centuries… but the True Crime Tours reveal a more honest story, rooted in fact. As is often the case, the reality ultimately proves darker and more fascinating than any amount of fiction.

Prepare to gain an investigative insight into the nature of Edinburgh’s criminal activity on this 1-hour social history tour. With a special “True Crime” guide to lead you through Edinburgh’s forgotten streets, discover how the people of the closes were just as compelled by the dark details of criminal misdemeanoursas we are today.

Confronting themes such as eviction, addiction, and the criminal lack of legislation in place to protect residents, the True Crime Tours examine how real offences affected life in the vicinity. Discover what the rise of the witch trials meant for ordinary people living on the closes.

A tour guide dressed in black and standing beside a bunk bed on which lie models of a mother and her baby, dressed in rags. An audience member is in the foreground, out of focus
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The Real Mary King's Close

Beneath the City Chambers on the Royal Mile lies Edinburgh’s deepest secret: a warren of hidden streets where real people lived, worked and died between the 17th and the 19th centuries. Follow one of Edinburgh’s past residents in underground alleyways during a guided tour. From myths and legends, to the deadly plague epidemic, and a famous royal visitor – there’s a myriad of stories just waiting to be told.

The Real Mary King’s Close was voted BEST UK ATTRACTION on Tripadvisor in 2024.

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