November 5, 2024 - Life in the close was tough, and things got a lot tougher when the plague reached Edinburgh in 1644. The wealthy city residents fled but the poor were left behind.

October 9, 2025 - Step down and explore the rooms, streets and spaces underneath the famous Royal Mile - a unique glimpse into the city's past, and Edinburgh's only preserved 17th century street. Experience over 400 years of history, and discover the stories of your character guide. From myths and legends, to the deadly plague epidemic and a famous royal visitor – there’s a myriad of tales just waiting to be told on this one hour guided tour.

In 1644, the Edinburgh underground city was crawling with infected people. The alleyway, called Mary King’s Close, was the perfect habitat for infected fleas. These infected fleas were the cause of the bubonic plague.

September 18, 2024 - Deep beneath Edinburgh’s Royal Mile lies a dark secret. Once rife with the plague, a narrow close is buried underground in Edinburgh’s City Chambers.

4 days ago - 17th century streets hidden under Edinburgh were once a breeding ground for the black death.

November 3, 2025 - Named after Mary King, a fabric ... a merchant burgess, or Dr George Rae, the Plague Doctor who tended to victims when the 1645 plague hit Edinburgh....

January 4, 2024 - Deep beneath Edinburgh’s Royal Mile sits a dark secret. Once rife with the plague, a narrow alleyway is buried underground in Edinburgh’s City Chambers.

Now buried beneath the City Chambers, its walls still contain soot from hearths long extinguished, and the silence in its narrow corridors continues to raise questions about the lives lost and the history of the plague concealed beneath the present. During the early modern period, the physical limits of Edinburgh’s fortified walls forced residents to build upwards and to stack homes and workshops along steep alleyways that were known as closes and wynds.

April 26, 2023 - When the Black Death struck Edinburgh in 1644, the closes were particularly hard hit, as their unsanitary and overcrowded conditions provided the perfect breeding ground for disease.

Descend into a section of Edinburgh’s legendary Underground City, where a population once lived in utter misery. Forgotten for centuries and only recently unsealed, this part of the vaults is known as Damnation Alley.

May 23, 2019 - It’s even believed that some plague victims were sealed in their homes and left to die as new homes were built over them. It’s as macabre an entombment as any I can recall. My fascination with Edinburgh’s underground began many years ago after I caught a special Halloween edition of Most Haunted.

November 13, 2020 - The Edinburgh underground city was connected to the construction of the Flodden Wall in 1513. It housed the undesirables and plague victims.

December 18, 2023 - It was transmitted by the bite of infected fleas carried on the bodies of black rats. Edinburgh being cramped in filthy conditions inside the Flodden wall, pestilence was ripe and it was only a matter of time that plague hit the city.

June 10, 2024 - Explore Edinburgh’s best underground experience. Learn authentic truths about the city’s past. Follow in the footsteps of former residents. Meet the Plague Doctor and relax in his outdoor courtyard.

February 13, 2025 - Due to overcrowding within the city walls, the plague spread like and oil stain. Two types of plague actually hit the city; the pneumonic plague, also known as the Black Death, and the bubonic plague, which causes pus filled boils.

April 17, 2025 - On Contagion & Carnage: The Plague Tour, one of our costumed character guides will lead you through Edinburgh’s hidden underground. Along the way, you’ll meet the city’s infamous plague doctor. Moreover, you’ll uncover the true story of the ‘foul clengers’ who risked their lives to clean infected homes.

August 21, 2025 - The close was buried under the Royal Exchange building on the Royal Mile and closed off to the public for 250 years. During this time, locals spread rumours about the hidden streets.

2 weeks ago - Featured in Haunted History's episode ... episode in the first series of Rebus, featured a murder whose victim was found in Mary King's Close....

3 weeks ago - There was no sunlight, poorly circulated air, no running water, and no sanitation. Many rooms housed families of more than ten people. Crimes, including robbery and murder, soon plagued the Vaults.