Edinburgh Terror Walking Tour: Explore Haunted Vaults and Torture Exhibition

Embark on an Edinburgh Terror Walking Tour and explore haunted underground vaults, a torture exhibition, and legendary haunted vaults. Dare to join if you’re over 18!

Duration: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Edinburgh Old Town - This is a special 75 minute over-18’s only exploration of Edinburgh’s darkest history and paranormal secrets. You will be taken on a journey down into the infamous underground vaults.
    Who were the infamous characters that once roamed these areas, leaving behind a legacy of legend and notoriety?
    The South Bridge Vaults has…
What's Included
  • Expert tour guidance
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
Additional Information

Come along if you are courageous enough! This expedition is strictly for individuals aged 18 and above. Explore the eerily haunted underground vaults beneath the South Bridge, where you will view a display of torment devices from the infamous “Burning Times” that were deployed for extracting confessions and penalizing so-called wrongdoers. Boldly step…

Location
300 Lawnmarket
Lawnmarket
Tours start at the Red Telephone Box and Tourist Information Police Box, Outside of 300 Lawnmarket. This is across the road from Deacon Brodie’s tavern. Please be there at least 5-10 minutes early as we depart promptly at the tour time. Tours can not wait for latecomers so please do not be late.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(391 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Simondd6680aa
Oct 5, 2025
Excellent tour - Thank you James! This was a excellent & very informative tour which was ran very well! A worthy addition to a visit to Edinburgh!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Monica_c
Sep 30, 2025
Great tour - Excellent super fun !!! Very knowledgeable Darren makes the tour super entertaining; everyone is engaged and participating as he keeps the group super interested on what he is saying
Review provided by Viator
384saumyas
Sep 29, 2025
The night of your horrific experiences - Louisa was amazing with her spooky stories. She made us live right through those gruesome and horrific moments that people lived through in those vaults.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Marubelyn_a
Sep 18, 2025
I had such a fantastic... - I had such a fantastic time and experience! James was engaging, knowledgeable, and added just the right mix of history, storytelling, horror and humor to keep us entertained. The combination of true historical facts and eerie tales really brought Edinburgh’s darker past to life. Walking through the underground vaults was a spine-chilling highlight – the atmosphere was unforgettable! I left feeling both thrilled and fascinated, and I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting Edinburgh who enjoys history with a spooky twist.
Review provided by Viator
Caroline
Sep 1, 2025
So Spooky and So Fun - Most exciting tour of my trip so far. Aimee had us intrigued and definitely gave us a fantastic lesson on the gruesome history of Edinburgh. This tour also allows you to see a different side of Edinburgh that you wouldn’t normally see on your own. I would highly recommend this tour!! It was quite spooky though 👀
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jakeb2017
Aug 30, 2025
Thank you James! - James was amazing, we had fun and it was definitely scary! Thank you so much for all of your energy and enthusiasm, you can tell how much you like your job.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Redbabs50
Aug 27, 2025
Authentic vaults visit in the dark! - No jump scares but spooky nonetheless. Informative & interesting tour leader. Quite a long tour with a few difficult bits so you do need to be used to old steps, cobbles & steep downhills.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Zachary_c
Aug 26, 2025
It was perfect. Our... - It was perfect. Our guide, Darren, had everyone engaged, spooked and laughing. He's a master of the art.
Review provided by Viator
Kristy
Aug 22, 2025
Amazing experience! - Louisa is an amazing guide and very engaging. She created an unparalleled sense of eerieness and even dread at the right points of the tour and really made the experience outstanding. If you ever have the good citrine to have her as your guide, you are in for an outstanding experience! Ask for Lousia! She's THE BEST!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Keira
Oct 5, 2025
Saturday night terror tour - Overall the tour was alright. I’m not sure if it was worth the £24pp though. There are far too many people on it and the guide spent the entire time making sure people were standing in nice lines or gathering round especially how he liked it and he kept reiterating the same H&S points even mid way through his story-telling. I understand there’s health and safety reasons for this, but it is as overkill as at each location he was making sure each of the 36 people were standing nicely just to be told we would be moving into another room and it was repeated again. It also didn’t help that a couple of drunk people kept interrupting him when he was trying to build suspense for the story-telling. Not his fault, but they should have been asked to leave the tour as it ruined it for others and multiple tour attendees were visibly annoyed by them. The atmosphere is also difficult to build in the vaults when you can hear the music playing from the bars above. There needs to be more ghost stories ( he only told 2) and more detailed l history provided and less organising of people who are grown adults, standing on a perfectly flat floor in an an empty room. It would be a lot easier if there was a third of the people in each group. It would be a more intimate experience and not just cattle being herded around.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $32
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).