Fact & Fiction
On the Stirling GhostWalk we're always keen to add a healthy dose of history to the myth-story. Local lore has provided us with stories of Kings, cutpurses and commoners. The great and the...not so good. And often the truth behind many of our best known tales is far stranger than the quaint and couthy legends they have produced.
Stories and myths - like History, itself - are the ‘Cultural Currency’ of our communities. Their meanings change over time. Tales evolve in all manner of quaint and curious ways. Sometimes they are shaped by chance – new elements added over time as generation upon generation of tellers add their own distinctive tweaks and tropes, sometimes transforming the original tale beyond all recognition - or this narrative renovation can be a more calculated process.
On the following pages GhostWalk actor and local historian David Kinnaird will explore the origins of some of our most curious characters - Jock Rankin (of course), 'Auld Staney Breeks', Blind Alick Lyon and many others...and how they took their place in the peculiar pantheon of spectral Stirling...and, sometimes, what their tales tell us about the town itself!
Should you have any suggestions of characters and stories to be explored...let us know!
Those wishing to learn more should read David's books, 'Haunted Stirling' and 'Auld Stirling Punishments'
'Tales From The Stirling GhostWalk'
History aside, the GhostWalk is famous for its stories. Some of the most popular can be found in our 'Tales From the Stirling GhostWalk' section. Find out more at http://www.stirlingghostwalk.com/tales-from-the-stirling-ghostwalk
- Meet the Spooks!
- Jock Rankin
- The Earls of Mar & the 'Curse of Alloa Tower'
- Ghost-hunters
- Blind Alick Lyon
- The Green Lady
- The Black Lady
- 'Auld Staney Breeks'
- Cowane's House - A Modern Mystery
- The Millhall Ghost & The General Strike
- The Graveyards
- The Ghost That Never Was
- A Message to The Hallowe'en Haters
- The Stirling Sentinel
- Witches!
- Holy Rude Archaeology
- The Fairy Minister of Aberfoyle
- Crime and Punishment in Stirling - Audio Guide
- The Castle's Ghostly Photograph
- Ressurrection Men!