It was almost as though the weather had been arranged specially for us. The heavy rain showers stopped just before we left Livingston to make our way to South Queensferry, where we met up with fellow Ramblers who had travelled directly to join us.
Before setting off, we paused to admire one of Scotland's most spectacular views, the three bridges spanning the Forth, each built in a different century. Views across to Fife were clear & looking towards the Rail Bridge which has stood here since 1890 no doubt witnessing many events since it seemed the perfect place from which to begin our walk & an evening of stories about the past.
As we made our way through South Queensferry, we heard tales of ghosts, legends, local characters and events that have become part of the town's folklore. Some stories have their roots in documented history, others have been passed down through generations, and some are perhaps best described as intriguing local rumours. Whether or not we believed them, they certainly made us look at familiar places in a different way.
Our first stop was down at Port Edgar, where we heard the story of the ghost said to linger around the former Flotilla Club, an ex-service club associated with HMS Lochinvar. The club has long since disappeared, but according to local legend, a young sailor who died there may never have left entirely.
From there we headed towards The Binks, where the site of the former Covenantors Castle provided the setting for a much darker tale. The story of a Covenantor murdered in 1680 & a bloodstain on the castle stairs that supposedly refused to disappear. Reports of a ghostly figure continued to haunt the area long after the castle itself had gone.
There were happier stories along the way too. At the John Reid Memorial Fountain, we heard about the local man who rose from being a bootmaker to become Provost of South Queensferry, and whose contribution to the community was remembered with the fountain following his death.
We also discovered parts of Queensferry that some of the group had never visited before. It was a lovely reminder that sometimes the best way to discover a town is to step away from the obvious thoroughfare and wander up the closes and quieter paths.
One such discovery was the community orchard, created from what had once been an unused piece of council land. With its fruit trees and soft fruit, it is a wonderful example of local people transforming an overlooked space into something that can be enjoyed by the whole community.
Nearby, the Hawthorn Bank Walled Garden and town mural provided another example of the community breathing new life into an old space. The site has had many previous lives including housing livestock, a wood mill and a children's playground. It had then stood derelict for almost twenty years before GreenFerry volunteers began creating the garden between 2016 and 2020.
By this point it was becoming clear that tonight's walk wasn't just about ghosts. It was also about how places change, how memories survive, and how each generation adds another chapter to the story of a town.
Then came the Black Castle.
Even in daylight it is an atmospheric building, but in the fading light it provided the perfect backdrop for tales of seventeenth-century witchcraft accusations. Members of the Lowrie family became caught up in accusations that two women, Marion Little and Marion Stein, had conspired to create a storm capable of sinking William Lowrie's ship. The women were found guilty in 1643 and burned at the stake at Ferrymuir.
It is a disturbing piece of documented history, made even more unsettling by the legends that have grown around the building over the centuries. Standing there as darkness gathered, we certainly didn't need to invent a ghost to make the story memorable.
Along East Terrace we heard another local tale — that of a young woman who, according to the story, died by suicide but somehow never really left the property where she had lived. The tale even includes the unsettling suggestion that the flat has proved difficult to sell.
We didn't see any ghosts this evening, but this was the story that certainly produced a few jumps from the group when the tale was told & a face appeared at one of the windows above!
Our journey continued along the seafront to the Hawes Inn, where we heard about a room supposedly haunted by one or more spirits. The reported experiences are wonderfully simple and therefore perhaps all the more unnerving: unexplained breathing in the night and a room that seems unusually difficult to warm. Imagine waking up cold & hearing someone else’s breathing when you are in the room alone!
By now, the fading light and the stories were combining to create exactly the atmosphere we'd hoped for.
Near the Forth Rail Bridge came the tale of the White Lady - the ghostly figure said to be associated with the old railway line beneath the bridge. The details vary, as they often do with folklore, but the image remains: a young woman in white, appearing after dark beside one of Scotland's great engineering landmarks.
Then came the story of the Cloaked Lady, based on a reported experience by a local resident. Walking along what was once known as Lovers Lane, he encountered an older woman standing in the middle of the path. He looked away for only a moment. When he looked back, she had disappeared - apparently without anywhere nearby for her to have gone.
And finally, we reached the strangest story of the evening.
The ghost monkey of Loan House.
Yes — a ghost monkey!
The legend tells of a naval officer's monkey which escaped after being cruelly teased by a servant girl, attacking and killing her before its own death. The monkey is said to have remained as a spirit within Loan House.
What makes this particularly memorable is the story of a local man who investigated the legend in 2002 and was apparently allowed into the attic. Among the clutter he discovered an old, rusted cage. He claimed that he saw something move inside it, took a photograph, and when the flash illuminated the cage there was nothing there.
Whether there really was a ghostly monkey in that attic is, of course, another matter. But by this stage of the evening, nobody seemed particularly keen to investigate further!
And so our twilight adventure through South Queensferry came to an end.
We had encountered murdered Covenanters, sailors who may not have left, witchcraft accusations, mysterious women, unexplained breathing, a White Lady, a disappearing figure and, of course, a monkey with a grudge.
But perhaps the most enjoyable part of the evening was not deciding which stories were true. It was discovering how many stories are attached to ordinary places: houses, paths, gardens, bridges and corners of streets that we might otherwise simply walk past.
The evening also reminded us just how much there is still to discover in the towns and villages of West Lothian and the surrounding area. Places we think we know can reveal something completely different when we explore them at a different time of day and with someone telling us the stories hidden in their past.
As we headed home, the rain had stayed away, the last of the daylight was fading and the Forth bridges were now lit up in the darkness, reflecting in the waters below.
We hadn't seen any ghosts. Well, as far as we know.
Although, after spending the evening telling them all about us, perhaps it was just as well we didn't look too closely behind us on the way home. Photo credit: Ina G & Nat C
Our next evening walk is on Thursday 17th September & details of this along with many more walking opportunities with the group can be found in the walk programme on our website.
Natalie C
