Eerie Edinburgh

In 1878, in the small town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, a series of strange events began inside the home of a young woman named Esther Cox.

At first, it was the sound of knocking. Then objects started to move. Fires broke out without warning. What began as a private disturbance quickly became something much larger, drawing in neighbours, reporters, and even men described at the time as “scientific gentlemen,” all trying to make sense of what was happening inside the house on Church Street.

Some believed Esther was at the centre of it. Others thought something else was at work entirely.

Over the following months, the case would escalate to the point that Esther herself was brought before the courts - not as a witness, but as the accused.

In this episode, we take a closer look at the Amherst Poltergeist, exploring the events as they were recorded at the time, the people who witnessed them, and the question that still sits at the centre of the case:

what, if anything, was really happening in that house?

Hospitals are built around routine, vigilance, and care. By day they are busy, practical places filled with staff, patients, and visitors moving constantly through corridors and wards.

But the atmosphere can change after midnight.

Lights are dimmed. Visiting hours end. Activity narrows to smaller teams carrying out the steady work of monitoring, observation, and care through the night.

It’s during those hours that many of the strangest experiences reported by medical staff seem to occur.

In this episode, I share a series of first-hand accounts from people who have worked night shifts in hospitals and care settings across Scotland. These are not hollywood ghost stories, but brief encounters that happened during otherwise ordinary shifts, incidents that stayed with the people who experienced them long after the night ended.

These accounts come from environments defined by pressure, exhaustion, vigilance, and proximity to death. Whether they are the result of stress, suggestion, shared culture, or something more difficult to explain remains open to interpretation.

But across different hospitals and across generations of staff, similar stories continue to come to light.

Share your experience!

I’m currently researching a book focused on unexplained experiences reported in hospitals, care homes, and other care settings across Scotland and the wider UK.

If you’re a current or former member of staff or if you’ve had an experience as a patient or relative that stayed with you, I’d genuinely like to hear from you.

email me at: [email protected] 

All correspondence will be treated with discretion and respect.

In this episode, we look at the 1897 Greenbrier Ghost case - the only known instance where a mother’s account of her daughter’s haunting helped reopen a murder investigation - and the 1925 Chaffin Will incident, where a family dispute took an unexpected turn after a son claimed his late father had returned with instructions.

These aren’t the usual stories about figures in corridors or unexplained noises. They’re cases where something people couldn’t easily explain ended up shaping real decisions - the sort that left traces in court papers and official records that still exist today.

We’ll look at what actually happened in both cases, why they were taken seriously at the time, and how belief, memory, and determination shaped the outcomes far more than spectacle or superstition.

If you enjoy episodes that balance folklore with documented history, this one’s for you.

This episode is an original fictional ghost story written for Icy Sedgwick’s Christmas podcast.

You can find Icy Sedgwick’s podcast, Fabulous Folklore with Icy Sedgwick, here:

https://www.icysedgwick.com

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/fabulous-folklore-with-icy/id1450546036 

https://open.spotify.com/show/3ayMEjrJuqkkSwk4pQF3aQ?si=2dd0f22c01724b5d 

If you enjoyed this original story, you can find more real ghost stories, folklore, and historical hauntings here on Eerie Edinburgh.

Hidden in what is now one of Edinburgh’s most genteel neighbourhoods once stood a house that few people today remember - and fewer still ever saw.

Grange House was demolished in 1936, but long before that it had acquired a reputation that set it apart from other old Edinburgh estates. Built on the site of a medieval monastic grange, expanded over centuries, and eventually used as both a private home and a school for young women, the house sat quietly on the edge of the city while stories slowly gathered around it.

In this episode, I look at the history of the Grange, the house itself, and the events that made it one of Edinburgh’s most overlooked hauntings.

Also, I am working on a project about experiences in healthcare in Scotland. If you have a true, first-hand account of a haunting in a hospital or care home anywhere in Scotland, I’d really like to hear from you. You can get in touch at [email protected]