The Ghostly Chronicles of Edinburgh's Dark History

Good evening , everybody , and welcome back to your favourite log cabin on your favourite fictional spooky island , where each episode , I either bring you spooky stories from around the world or I delve into the missing 411 phenomenon in America . Now settle down , turn out the lights and steady yourself , as it's time for the Spooky Island Radio podcast .

So thank you everybody for tuning in once again to the spooky island radio podcast . And , oh boy , do I have a great episode for you today .

Don't know what the accent was , but hey , I'm in a good mood today , um , and yeah , today I am taking you guys to the wee country of scotland and , uh , I will be doing shit accents like that throughout the whole episode . Because , yeah , like I say , I'm taking us to Scotland .

So I , I'm half Scottish , my dad's from Scotland , was born there , um , so I think I can do the accent . So , yeah , um , but yeah , you're in for a treat also . Uh , this week's film club , I have a treat for you . It's a , a film that was from 2002 and has some relevance . The main part of today's episode , but more about that later .

Yeah , sorry , I'm a bit hyper because I'm literally going on holiday tomorrow , so I'm recording this a little bit in advance . I'm literally going to Belgium tomorrow with Mark and Lizzie the cat . It's going to be so good .

We're getting up really , really early , um , driving down to Dover , getting the ferry across Lizzie's first time going abroad , um , and yeah , it goes , going just down the coast to Belgium . So I'm a little bit excited to tape recording this .

So that's probably why I'm so hyper , cause I'm a little bit excited today recording this , so that's probably why I'm so hyper . So I'm literally going to finish recording this and edit it and then go get ready for holes , holly bobs , holly boobs . So , yeah , you have to just bear with me today .

So we're going to get straight into the main episode , part of the episode . I mean so , yeah , so all the same things I usually say follow me on social media at SpookyOwlRadioPodcast , especially Instagram and TikTok . And , yeah , leave me some nice reviews . I've got a few more . Some of my friends give them shout-outs .

Ria , she's a hoot and a half when we go out she listens . Now my friends listen . And yeah , my friend Phoebebe phoebe see , that's my scottish accent coming out . Uh , she listens . I don't know why , but she isn't really a horror fan , but she likes listening to my podcast , um , when she's out on runs by herself .

So this one's for you , phoebe , um , and yeah . So , uh , let's get straight into today's episode . Right now , as previously advertised , we are jet-setting off to the bonny wee country of Scotland and the capital , edinburgh , or Edinburgh as the Americans call it . Now I'd like to give a shout out to the Is this Place Haunted ?

Podcast and Lauren and Olivia , who have recently been in touch saying that they are getting some new episodes together . They might even have episodes out by the time this comes out in October . So , yeah , go give them a listen .

But we shall jump straight into a bit of the haunted history of Edinburgh and then we're going to delve deep into sort of the history of a specific location that you may have heard of the Edinburgh Vault . I went there when I was a teenager I must have been about 15 . So we were in Liverpool and we were going on a weekend school trip to edinburgh .

Um , it was art as well . I don't know why for art class we had to go to edinburgh . I don't even remember us going to any art galleries , but we , um , we went to , we did like a ghost walk on I think it was the saturday night and then we went into the vaults and , yeah , it was pretty spooky , but I mean , it was like 15 , so it would be spooky .

Um , but my main memory of that is , um , literally sitting at the time and they'd released a song called devil in a midnight mass , um , and yeah , I just remember , sat at the back of the coach , screaming it like at the top of our lungs and it's like whisper , whisper , don't make a sound , your brain is red , it's in the ground , and he like screams it .

You have to go listen to it . Um , but yeah , that's my main um memory of visiting scotland was the coach trip on the way up . Um , so obviously left a lasting impression of me as a city . Um , but I do remember the ghost walk and , yeah , the ed vaults . So let's uh , let's continue .

Um , I mean , what I think makes the city so amazing to visit and also the reason why it is so haunted . A double whammy there is the fact that is such a long and sometimes bloodied history , um , so let's get into a bit of that right now .

Now , edinburgh city lies on the east coast of scotland , on the south bank of the firth of fourth no , I don't know the estuary that opens into the north sea . Okay , so that's , that's geographically . That's where it is , um . Now , geologically , the firth of fourth is a field carved by the fourth glacier at the last glacial maximum .

Don't know what that means , um , I think basically means that the estuary itself was created , um , from a glacier . Um , and the famous edinburgh castle is situated on top of volcanic rock intrusion which was resistant to erosion by the ice sheet . See , that's what I mean about history , amazing , um .

And because of this , it stands above the surrounding area , which made it a perfect defensive site . The volcanic rock shelters an area of softer bedrock from the erosive forces of advancing glaciers , creating a crag and tail feature where the tail is a tapering strip of softer rock and the old town runs down the tail and the castle stands on the crag .

The site of the city of edinburgh was first named as castle rock . Now a little bit nerdy here , but when I was researching this , game of thrones just came to my mind , um , so if you're not a game of thrones fan , just switch off for like a minute 30 seconds .

But it reminds me and obviously we know george rr martin did take inspiration for his place names and his locations of game of thrones , uh , from britain and the uk , um . So castle rock obviously reminds me of castley rock , um , which is the home of the Lannisters . I think , yeah , it's their sort of . Is it Casterly Rock ? I think I'm pretty sure it is .

But yeah , basically it's like a massive fortress castle on this really tall rock formation and that sort of reminds me of what Edinburgh Castleburgh castle almost looks like , um , so I wonder if that's where he got some of his inspiration from . But yeah , if you're not a game of thrones fan , you can .

We're back in the room now let's move on for game of thrones . Edinburgh is defined as being the old town and the new town . Now , the new town was developed beyond the old city walls during a time of social reform and prosperity . After the Jacobite rebellions .

In response to some problems caused by an increasingly densely populated old town , expansion north was begun . It is important to remember this , as later we will be exploring the Edinburgh Faults , which were built underneath the city and housed some of its worst criminals .

It was known as the Underground City , constructed from 1785 onwards and linking the old town's high street with the south of the city . Southbridge consisted of 19 arches . Today only Cowgate Arch is visible . Rooms beneath the arches were commonly used as pubs by the tradespeople .

However , southbridge had never been promptly waterproof and proofed and over time it began to leak . The vaults below became damp , unusable areas and eventually the businesses moved out . And over time the vaults took on a new , less pleasant purpose .

The poor and destitute moved in and they became slums , brothels and illegal taverns damp , dark , cramped and with no fresh water and sanitation .

They would have been rife with disease , a hotbed of crime , and it's also believed that murderers burk and hare prowled here looking for unsuspecting victims whose bodies were then sold to the university's medical school for dissection . Now remember those names , burke and hare , because we will be talking about them later in the episode .

But eventually the vaults were sealed up and forgotten about . Now . That was until 1985 , when a chance excavation revealed the warren of tunnels and rooms . Items found included toys , clay pipes , buttons and ceramic jars . And there are .

There are ghosts that are said to roam the caverns of the edinburgh vaults , including mysteriously and pretty obvious , ominously named spectre , simply simply known as the Watcher .

Now , ever since the vaults were reopened in the 1980s , they've always had a reputation for strange apparitions Figures lurking in doorways , footsteps resounding in the corridors , voices from nowhere and the icy touch of invisible hands , and the list goes on .

And for the most part part their alleged ghostly encounters don't do much more than send a chill down an unsuspecting visitor's spine and give them a spooky story of their own to tell their friends . However , if you're particularly unlucky , you might become acquainted with the presence known as the watcher .

He has become known by this name because he likes to keep a close eye on the livings whenever they dare to venture into his vaults . Now , those who have claimed to see him describe him as a tall , imposing man wearing a dirty blue coat and a heavy , worn out leather boots .

Some storytellers call call him mr boots because of that , but personally it's not , as by is not advised , as it seems to annoy him more than a person's mere presence . And I mean now , fuck that , I'm mr boots . Just , you know , I'd call him mr boots , not I'm mr boots , I'd fucking call him mr boots . Just fuck with him .

Like he might not even be there . Um , but I do remember when we , when we went down in high school , I'm pretty sure I we didn't know him as the watcher . Then we known him as Mr Boots . So maybe the staff they're now calling the watcher , but , um , yeah , I think we were all calling Mr Boots .

I think someone did feel something like a stone being thrown at them . But you know , you're in a room with like 20 , 15-year-olds . Someone's probably fucking with the other person . So you know , it's not great evidence , but I do remember the Mr Boots story from when I was there .

But when he is not glaring Well , this is apparently obviously when he is not glaring at visitors from a doorway he might be pacing the tunnels letting visitors know that he does not want them there . Some visitors have even heard him growl . The words get out . Now , if he decides that he has had enough of strangers intruding on his space .

He has been known to get a bit touchy and over the years several visitors have reported marks on their skin after the edinburgh underground bolts tour . Um , now , if you haven't heard of uncanny , it's a really good podcast , go listen to it . Um , by like a bbc guys , obviously . You know it's really well done .

It's really the sound quality is amazing , the production quality is really good . But , um , he was speaking to a girl who went to the Edinburgh vaults on a school trip , um , and you know they say there was 10 girls and 10 boys , um , and they were staying in dorms and stuff for the weekend and they went to the .

They went to the vaults , they came out and they were all getting showers late at night and each girl would go into the shower , come out and she'd have a bruise in the exact same spot on her leg . The next girl would go in , have a shower , come out and she'd have the exact same spot . And all 10 girls apparently had this exact same bruise .

And they asked the boys like , oh , girls apparently had this exact same bruise . And they asked the boys like oh , have you got , have you got any bruises ? And none of the lads did have any bruises . And you know , was he picking on the girls ?

It's just strange , I think they they sort of talk it up to being not real and people bruise all the time , but to me , all the girls and none , none the boys to bruise in the exact same spot . It's very strange , but I digress .

Um , yeah , I found a website , um , of a tour guide who has been working at the vault for many years and they had a theory on who he was . Slash is depending on whether you believe it or not . Um , so here is the direct quote from that person .

My personal theory is far less sinister than others and tragic , given that he is quite active in the section of the vaults where there was once used for storing goods like wine . I think the watcher might have been just that in his lifetime A watchman hired by a merchant during the legal phase of the vaults from 1788 to 1820s .

Since so many businesses shared the space and you often had to walk through other people's workshops and storage to get to yours , it made sense to have a dedicated caretaker who would keep an eye on your valuable property . It was probably not the most desirable job spending your days stuck in a damp , dark basement , likely sleeping there too .

A situation like that would absolutely mess with someone's head , and I'm not sure I can even blame him for still being overprotective of his faults . He might simply be doing his job to this day and I'm reading that and I'm in the flat alone and I just got chills all down my body .

So , because my back is facing the door as well , so I'm just gonna go turn the uh big light on . Uh , because , yeah , I'm a little freaked out after that because , yeah , I mean I'd be fuming .

There's no way I will still be doing vet nursing after I've passed away , absolutely no way , like I will be resting and fucking with people and that is what the afterlife is for . Can I get an amen ? Okay , big lights on and got my big boy pants on . So , yeah , now swiftly moving on from the Watcher , aka watcher , aka mr boots .

Um , and during about five minutes ago , I told you to remember the name of two people .

Um , they are reportedly seen within the vaults and said to be quite terrifying , and I am , of course , talking about I mean , if you did history in the uk , if you're like from the UK and you did like history and medieval history and whatever you will have heard of these people , um , cause they're very infamous , um , and that is , of course , the body snatchers

at Birkin hair . Now , who were these distinguished gentlemen ? Well , if you lived in Edinburgh between 1827 and 1828 , two characters you certainly would not want to bump into were William Burke and William Hare .

At a time when grave robbing was at its peak , burke and Hare decided a more efficient way of obtaining a ready supply of bodies would be to lure potential victims to their lodgings , kill them and sell the bodies to dr knox , a prominent anatomy lecturer , who gladly accepted them on a no questions asked basis .

So yeah , basically , body statue was , people would go dig up graves that had recently been filled with bodies and take , and basically take the bodies , rob them , because people often bury their loved ones with things expensive jewels , jewels and you know their favourite things . So , and also , certain doctors would take fresh bodies to experiment on .

So that's what body snatching is to experiment on . So that's what body snatching is . Um , the ghastly duo murdered at least 16 people , although it's been speculated that this figure could be as high as 30 . Now , their crimes eventually caught up with them and in november 1828 they were arrested and basically I remember this from . This really stuck me .

I watched the most haunted episode where they spoke about birkenhead when they were in the edinburgh vault . Um , and basically they got this prostitute . They lured her into their home , killed her and then took her to dr knox .

And dr knox , who'd usually just accept it wasn't bothered , looked down at the body and realised it was his daughter , so distraught he reported them . And yeah , hare agreed to testify against his partner in crime in return for his own immunity .

Burke was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging , on the 29th of january 1829 , and a public event that has reportedly attracted as many as 25 000 people . Insane in the membrane , um , in an ironic twist of fate , the judge ordered that burke's body should also be given to the university of edinburgh .

The public dissection proved to be the best attended lecture in the history of edinburgh's medical school , so much so that a minor riot broke out when hundreds of students turned up to witness the spectacle . Well , insane , insane , different time .

Imagine that happening these days just would not happen , um , but yeah , so if you go down , they're obviously supposed to be seen in the vaults as well .

So a lovely little trip to edinburgh vaults , um , to see mr boots and birkin here , um , and yeah , I know I've said it on about 17 000 episodes that I've done , but I really want to go back up to Edinburgh vaults and meet with Olivia and um Lauren from . Is this place haunted ? Um , cause I think we'd have such a re laugh .

We'd have Greek crack , and I know that's Irish , but you know um . So , yeah , I'm going to try and get up there around Christmas , if they'll have me . Um , and we'll , we'll do , we'll make it happen . And now we're going to crawl our way out of the vault and into the wet and rainy streets of Edinburgh itself .

And to the story of the Mackenzie poltergeist . Now , I have to say I did not know anything of the story and its hauntings until I watched the most haunted live episode for Edinburghburgh . So , who was mackenzie ? Who was he ? Where did you find her ? Him , uh , but that is a big brother quote . So strap yourselves in .

But before we jump into more haunted history of edinburgh and specifically the chilling tale of the mackenzie poltergeist , here is a podcast trailer . Trailer from amanda and sean over at the haunted and strange podcast . Uh , yeah , one of the regulars I , uh , I love to listen to on my morning commute .

Um , they talk each week about different legends , cryptids and general spooky goings-on . Um , with my favorite episodes being the episodes surrounding the diatlov Pass incident , which is a very creepy and unexplained incident , which I will be covering in a few weeks , so stay tuned for that . But yeah , here's their trailer . Go and give them some love , guys .

Hope you enjoy . Hey you , yeah , you . Are you into weird shit ? Yeah , you into cryptids ? What about hauntings ? Yeah , I've got a ghost for you . Oh , you like otherworldly beings ? Me too . Check out all these aliens . We have plenty . How do you feel about a good legend ? Want to hear about spooky happenings ? Yeah , you do . Let us show you what we've got .

Hey , guys , grab a drink and join us , amanda and sean , every week while we dive into the strange and haunting topics that have piqued our interest . See you over at the haunted and the strange . Wherever you get your podcasts stay spooky .

And now in 17th century scotland , an intense religious struggle was ignited when king charles I can't get my words out then the common book of prayer as the prescribed book of prayer and declared all opposition to the book an act of treason . The draconian lawyer George Mackenzie was the man responsible for putting the opposition down .

Now , george Mackenzie was a lawyer and the Lord Advocate during the rule of Charles II and quickly earned a reputation as one of the most vicious persecutors of the Covenanters , aka the people who rose up and signed the National Covenant in 1638 . Mackenzie's brutal and unfeeling treatment of protesters even earned him the name bloody mackenzie .

He imprisoned many covenanters in a section of greyfriars , kirkyard in edinburgh , where he delighted in their torture . Guards were allowed to beat the prisoners at will and eventually their heads would decorate the spiteiked gate .

In total , 18,000 people lost their lives for their faith in a time in history known as the Killing Time , which I've got to say is a great song . Is it Echo and the Bunnymen ? It was on Donnie Darko , the Killing Moon . I think it's called Great song . Go listen to it . It's really , really good .

Um , and you know I digress now the prison was heavily fortified but open-aired , and is regarded as one of the world's first concentration camps . The conditions were appalling and prisoners were treated with utter brutality and cruelty . As a consequence , most of them perished due to malnutrition or were executed .

The prison used to be located directly next to the graveyard , but the site is now situated within the graveyard itself following a later expansion of the burial grounds .

Now the McKenzie Mausoleum is positioned right next to what was the boundary wall , and George McKenzie requested this site for burial , his reason being that he was very proud of what he had accomplished , and his persecution of the Covenanters . What a fucking dickhead . What a dickhead Killed 18,000 people , proud of it .

I wouldn't have think he had his request if they'd dumped him in the sea . Now calm down . The McKenzie poltergeist and the tormented souls of his victims are said to haunt Greyfriars' courtyard .

There are literally hundreds of accounts of sightings of ghostly apparitions , strange phenomena and poltergeist attacks , with many visitors to the graveyard having encountered some sort of paranormal activity , sustaining bruises , bites and scratches , having the sensation of being followed and or being even knocked to the ground , sometimes resulting in the individual being rendered

unconscious . I'm really going to have to take my REM pod there and see if I can pick anything up . So I did that at the graveyard on top of Whitby , on the top of the cliff , so I didn't get a thing , so I'll have to take it to Greyfire's Courtyard .

Now even homes built next to the graveyard are plagued by crockery , smashing , objects moving and unidentified laughter . The hauntings are said to have intensified in more recent years following the mausoleum being broken into several times and George's burial chamber and remains being disturbed . One incident in 1999 involved a homeless man breaking into the mausoleum .

He descended the staircase to the lower burial chamber containing the McKenzie family coffins to seek shelter . He tripped in the pitch darkness , fell and crashed straight through the weak floor .

He fell some distance and landed on something bumpy and , not knowing what was around him , he flicked on his lighter and realized through his horror he had fallen into a hidden room below filled with unidentified skeletons , speculated to be the plague burial pit . Um , and yeah , I mean , the less we talk about jk rowling the better .

But , fun fact , she got a lot of her names , of some of her characters , um , from gravestones . And , uh , you can actually visit the grave of tom riddle at this at this , uh , graveyard . Um , but enough about that bitch . We're almost done with our non-stop spoopy tour of Bonny Wee , edinburgh .

But of course I couldn't speak of this city without telling you all about the ghosts of Edinburgh Castle . Now , there are many ghosts seen wandering the halls at the castle and , having been there myself , I highly recommend it if you're there for a few days , if you can handle the walk up to it . That is , it's bloody knackering .

Let me just fucking tell you that . But yeah , let's talk a little bit , let's move on . We've left Mackenzie and JK Rowling in the gutter , shall we Moved on from them ? Moved on from all that shit ? And now let's talk about the ghosts of Edinburgh Castle . So the first ghost associated with the castle is that of a grey lady .

And I mean , there's always a fucking grey lady like Lady Button , in Ghosts . If you haven't seen it , the UK version , go watch it . It's on BBC , it's very , very good , very , very good . But yeah , bbc is very , very good , very , very good , um , but yeah , it's always a great lady .

Now , arguably the most tragic ghost is a mysterious 16th century noblewoman , aka the great lady , who has been spotted around the older parts of the castle . Sometimes she wanders about , other times she simply weeps . Now , this isn't surprising , considering that she is associated with two equally unfortunate historical figures .

Now , some say that she might be Janet Douglas , a woman accused of treason by the vengeful King James V . Even then , everyone knew the accusations were baseless Accusations . No idea were baseless accusations , no idea , um , but janet douglas was burned at the stake outside the castle on I don't know what . I don't know what I've done there .

Basically , oh , she was accused of treason , right , I just can't read my writing . So janet douglas , accused of treason by king james V , was burnt at the stake outside the castle on the 17th of July 1537 in front of her son . And if that isn't enough to turn someone into a restless spirit , I'm not sure what would be . What would be ?

Others speculate that the lady could be Marie de Guise , the Catholic mother and regent of Mary Queen of Scots . Marie de Guise , the Catholic mother and regent of Mary Queen of Scots . Now , mary de Guise found herself on the losing side of the Scottish Reformation .

Now , when she died in 1560 , her corpse was kept at the castle for months , wrapped in cloth and kept in a lead coffin to keep the smell at bay , and before Protestant nobles finally showed her remains to the ship and finally allowed to ship her remains home to France .

Now , could have been her , could have been the other woman , could have been completely different woman , but there's always a grey lady . And this next story . I can't decide if it's really tragic or something out of a Monty Python film , but it's actually really crazy .

There have been reports also of a ghostly man who smells distinctly of manure and tries to push visitors over the castle . Battle once Now . To me , this guy's living the dream . He is the MVP , you know , fucking with people after death . Now the story goes that he was one of the many poor souls in prison imprisoned . I can't get my words .

I'm so excited about going on holiday . I can't get my words out . Um , he was apparently one of the souls imprisoned in the castle's dark , damp , rat infested dungeons . Desperate to escape , he crawled into a wheelbarrow full of muck , hoping to be taken out of the castle and emptied into a nice soft dung heap .

You can probably see where this story is going , but the wheelbarrow was tipped over the top of the battlements instead , and I'm sure you can imagine what happened to him on the jagged slopes of Castle Rock .

Now , as you can probably guess , given that it is a castle , there are a couple of military ghosts associated with it , the first being that of a soldier and a secret tunnel beneath the castle . Legend has it that many years ago , the entrance to an underground tunnel , perhaps an escape route in case of siege , was discovered in the depths of the fortress .

A regimental bagpiper was persuaded to explore the tunnel , playing his pipes as he descended so his comrades above ground could follow his progress . But halfway down the Royal Mile , his underground piping stopped . Soldiers went down to look for the piper , but he was never seen again .

The tunnel was sealed and , it is said , even today people can still claim to hear the faint sound of bagpipes underneath the cobbles of the old town . And another military ghost seen on the castle's battlements is that of the headless drummer . The grisly figure was first seen drumming a warning signal in 1650 , just before the castle was attacked by oliver cromwell .

Ever since then , the headless drummer has been considered a harbinger of danger . And lastly , did you know , before we get into film club , did you know , that the edinburgh castle has its own pet cemetery ? I had no idea and I've been there . Um , yeah , dogs were part of the regiment , sometimes , um , and are buried there along with the soldiers .

Um , and according to some visitors , the ghost of a scruffy black dog has been seen wandering about the cemetery . And I don't know about you , but I would love to see that little good boy . He's a good boy . I'll take him a little treat from pets at home , um , but yeah , I'd hope that lizzie sticks around when she dies .

I mean , she is only about three and a half , so she's got a good few years yet left , I hope . But yeah , I thought you know my sister had a really spooky experience when we lived at my nana . We lived at my nanny . We lived at my nanny granddad's house for a brief period when we were younger and my uncle had lived on a main road .

My uncle was supposed to let the cat back in during the evening , because he let the cat out in the daytime either . He was out , but he knew he should have come back , but he didn't . He was like , oh , the cat will be okay overnight .

Anyway , long story short , the cat never came home well , it did , but nobody was there to their room and , yeah , the school opposite the main road . They found the body and she'd been hit by a car and died .

But my sister was in my uncle's bedroom and she shivers talking about this and but she swears that she saw Cindy I think her name was walk around and into the bedroom while she was just sat on the bed and let's just say , yeah , scared , shitless as you would be .

But yeah , so I don't know where I stand on pets coming back , on dogs and cats and stuff like that coming back , but I'd hate to see Liddy go . But yeah , let's , uh , let's move on . Shall we from uh , from um , praying that our pets don't die , um , but yeah , I hope you enjoyed that little deep dive into haunted Edinburgh .

Um , again , it's someplace I really , really want to go back to Um now that I'm a bit older and just have like a spooky weekend there , do you know what I mean ? Maybe around Christmas time so they have some really good Christmas market .

But yeah , I'd love to go when it's just dark all day , like you wake up and it's like overcast and it's just dark and dull and raining . It should be so atmospheric , but you know I'm such a winter baby like that is me . Have any of you been to edinburgh and have any experiences ? I know , uh , lauren from , is this place haunted podcast ?

Um , she used to live I'm not sure whether it was greyfriars courtyard or kirkyard or or somewhere else , but um , she lives in a haunted house . Um , I think if you go back and listen to one of our previous episodes where I've had them on talking about it um , you can hear all about her experiences .

But I think she says she lived above a morgue , um , or an ex morgue um , right next to a court , uh , graveyard , yeah , but she didn't live there anymore . I don't think . I'm pretty sure she moved out , but um , pretty spooky . So if you've had any experiences , let me know on social media or send me an email to spooky island radio at outlookcom .

Now , speaking of pets and ghost dogs , it's time to talk about the film club . This week and , sticking with the scottish theme , I watched a film called dog soldiers . Now , I'd never seen dog soldiers until recently .

Um , it was sort of always on my radar , um , but basically the general plot is this the main protagonist is trading for um , the army or that the secret ops um and he's gotta avoid all of his teammates for like 48 hours .

So they catch up to him and the the main guy , the corporal , whatever running it is like okay , you've passed , but you need to shoot this dog that they have . And he's like no , I'm not shooting the dog . I can't do a very good Scottish accent , as we've found out throughout this episode , so he refuses to shoot the dog .

The army man shoots the dog in the head , so you know he's going to be the bad guy .

And then it cuts to like a few months later where the guy who failed the test , um , is out with his new regiment in scotland and they're off the beaten track and it's like a few different teams of soldiers tracking each other , trying to find each other , um , or stay hidden for 48 hours , um , but things go awry , let's say , and um , werewolves are involved .

It's a werewolf fest . So , um , basically the team start getting picked off one by one . Um , like the first half of the film , it's pretty good . I've got to say um and yeah , towards like the second half , they find a house that they basically hold up in um and they basically just have to wait till morning . Um , but yeah , it's a pretty good film .

Um on rot , on rotter , on rotten tomatoes . The film has an approval rated of 81% . The site's consensus reads frightening , funny and packed with action . Dog Soldiers is well worth checking out for genre fans and I really loved it .

It was a bit slow in the middle , I've got to say , when they sort of first find the house and they're sort of boarding it up , but I thought it was really good . Like , the cinematography is really good . It's really dark .

Yeah , it's sort of got that it's not found footage , it's filmed properly with proper cameras and proper production , but it sort of has that that sort of feel to it like gritty , um , and it's about an hour and a half long , so it's not too bad , maybe slightly longer . Um , and the werewolves look really good and it's just .

It's like I hate these films where , like , everybody survives . So it's not one of these . You know , people start getting picked off , people you care about , yeah , so overall it's a pretty good film , homegrown Scottish film , and I would give it three out of five spooks on the spook-o-meter . Got a couple of good scares .

Got to say I jumped a couple of times , good acting and it's well shot . Um . Got a couple of good scares . Got to say I jumped a couple of times . Um , good acting and it's well shot . Um , and yeah , just sort of never takes itself too seriously , um , but however , like I say , it does lull a little bit in the middle . So , yeah , go watch it .

Dog soldiers approved . Now . Thank you for tuning into this chilling , chilling episode of the spooky ad radio podcast . Um , I hope you enjoyed the spine tingling tales of horror and spooky atmosphere . Um , from today's episode about edinburgh . Um , if you loved what you heard , be sure to subscribe , rate and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform .

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Remember the night is dark and full of terrors . To stay safe and keep the lights on until next time . This is Andy signing off for his holidays in Belgium , signing off mainly from the spookyookyland Radio Podcast over and out .