Graveyard Giants

Today I visited Greyfriar's cemetery.

To some, the idea of spending several hours wandering through a graveyard may seem kind of morbid. Cemeteries are, understandably, most closely associated with death and decay. But the dead in Edinburgh have done a lot of talking, over the years. And they have some pretty incredible stories to tell.

Take, for example, Greyfriars Bobby.

In the 1850's, a policeman by the name of John Gray was hired to guard over the livestock pens in Edinburgh's Grassmarket. His partner, in this endeavor, was a scruffy little Skye Terrier that he named Bobby. John grew to love this little dog very, very much. And Bobby felt the same about his human. Sadly, however, John became ill in 1858, and passed away. He was buried in Greyfriar's cemetery, not far from the main enterance.

Although John had died, Bobby's love and loyalty did not. For 14 years Bobby lay on his master's grave. When the cemetery caretakers threw him out, he came right back in. Nothing would keep him from being with his dear friend John. Eventually, Bobby's story became known to the people of Edinburgh, who were touched by this little dog's devotion. His licence was purchased by the city provost, and Bobby was allowed to stay with John, laying near or on his grave until Bobby himself went to meet his maker in 1872. The citizens of Edinburgh also buried him in Greyfriar's...not too far from his master's grave. Visitors to the grave are encouraged to leave a fetch-stick for him. A statue has also been erected near the cemetery as a tribute to this loveable little dog and his devotion to John Gray.



The story of Greyfriar's Bobby is well-known to many, and he's been the inspiration for an eating establishment, a children's novel, and a Disney movie. But little Bobby is far from being the only figure in Greyfriars to serve inspire a great story. It seems that Edinburgh's dead and buried are a lodestone for literary legend. The number of adventures, epics, and novels that have sprung from the cemeteries of Edinburgh are much more than little Bobby could shake a fetch-stick at...no matter how many admirers visit his tomb.

So...where to begin? Let's start with Greyfriar's...and it's reputation for bodysnatching.

For centuries, Edinburgh has been a world famous city in the area of medicine. This is where many, many leaps forward in medicine have occured. In the mid-1800's, hundreds of medical students descended on Edinburgh to study, hone their skills, and investigate human anatomy.

And what's the best way to investigate human anatomy? Why...to disect a human corpse, of course! Medical students paid high prices for dead bodies during this period. The fresher, the better. This, of course, meant that dealing in the dead became a very lucrative trade for some. And where else would you troll for wares than a cemetery?

With the exception of Burke and Hare (the notorious duo who didn't wait for their merchandise to expire of natural causes), grave robbing became almost a cottage industry. It got so bad that some mourners even built cages around their loved ones graves.

But medical students weren't just disecting the bodies they recieved. Human corpses were also being used for all sorts of wild experiments by these budding doctors. One of the more notable experiments was to pass electrical current through the corpses, to see if they could be re-animated.

Apparently, when stories of this particular practice reached the ears of an English woman named Mary Shelley, she was inspired to write a book called "Frankenstein".



And speaking of famous monsters, if you find yourself wandering through Greyfriars, take a look up, and to the North-west. That giant castle that you see, up there is Edinburgh Castle...the inspiration for Dracula's castle (although Bram Stoker decided to change his castle's location to the much creepier Transylvania).

And we're not done with gothic horror just yet. Edinburgh was also the home of a cabinet-maker by the name of Deacon William Brodie. Brodie was a highly distinguised businessman and respected citizen. He was also a burgler. Using his knowlege of the locks and security precautions of his victims, Brodie lead a secret second life for almost 20 years before he was finally caught. He was hanged on the very gallows that he, himself, had built and buried in Edinburgh.

Brodie's darkside was to later inspire Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson to write "The Strange Case of Doctor Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde".

That one's for you, Robbo!

Let's change venues to another Edinburgh cemetery, now...and change the topic from monster stories to ghost stories.

At Canongate Kirk graveyard, you will find a headstone with a very unusual name. Ebeneezer Scroggie was a cornmeal merchant in his lifetime. Which explains why his epitath under his name reads "A Meal Man".

But when a visiting Charles Dickens was roaming through the graveyard, desperate for a hit to revive his suffering career, he misread this gravestone...thinking it read "A Mean Man". When he speculated on just what kind of a man would deserve such a bitter rememberance, he hit upon the character of Ebeneezer Scrooge.

Needless to say, Dickens found the hit story he needed.

And there is one more gravestone in Edinburgh that inspired a literary character. Back in Greyfriar's, in the Westyard, a large stone pays tribute to a family plot on the Flodden Wall. The family is the Riddle family, and the patriarch's first name is Thomas.

J.K Rowling would later use this stone to name the main villain of her Harry Potter series. The first book of this series was scribbled on napkins, in the Elephant cafe, just up the street from Greyfriars.

Let's face it...when one thinks of cemeteries, one will always and inevitably think of death. But the cemeteries in Edinburgh are not your average graveyards. There are ideas in these places, and inspiration. And the seeds to some of the most wonderful stories to ever be put to paper.

From a scruffy little skye terrier, to some of the world's most famous monsters, Edinburgh has given us some incredible literature.

You don't get more immortal than that.

Jim out.