If like many visitors to our beautiful city, you have an interest in the macabre, add a very creepy walking tour to your things to do in Glasgow list. Gothic Glasgow is a tour with a difference. Instead of learning about social history and architecture, you’ll learn about the strange Glasgow underworld which includes vampires, murderers and ghosts. Gothic Glasgow is a tour not for the faint of heart, that gives you a very different look at our city and what the guidebooks won’t tell you. It’s sure to be a city tour you won’t forget. Book your stay in PREMIER SUITES serviced apartments in Glasgow for flexible, spacious accommodation with no scary surprises in price.
Gothic Glasgow
This very creepy walking tour is hosted by a sinister host Vincent – The Man in the Hat. He’ll take you on a unique evening walking tour uncovering Glasgow’s ghostly, strange, supernatural, creepy history. The host has over 30 years of performance experience and a genuine passion for Gothic literature, spooky stories and horror movies. He’ll walk you around the city, telling you stories of Glasgow’s creepiest residents and the terrifying things that happened here in days gone by. You’ll learn about Dracula’s Scottish connections, meet the ghosts of Glasgow, enter the terrifying world of body snatching and hear more about Glasgow’s most notorious killers in this almost 2-hour tour. Expect some scares along the way!
About the Tour
The tour begins outside Kings Theatre, Bath St, Glasgow city centre very close to our accommodation in Glasgow City, and ends on Queen St close to George Square and within walking distance home. Gothic Glasgow is aimed at both locals and visitors – anyone looking for something a little bit more interesting than a standard sightseeing tour. The tour takes place in the evening starting at 8pm and takes approximately 1 hour 45 mins. The tour has some adult humour and graphic stories and is not recommended for children under 14 years. Tours happen on selected dates only. You can join on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from January to March and Wednesday to Sunday from April to December 2023. Booking is essential. Every effort has been made to make the tour route as accessible as possible, avoiding steep hills and with a relaxed walking pace for any person with mobility issues.
Dracula in Scotland
Did you know that Dracula has connections to bonnie Scotland? His home may famously be a castle in Transylvania, but the origins of history’s most famous vampire are rooted in Scotland. Emily Gerard, a Scottish writer whose 1888 book, The Land Beyond the Forest: Facts, Figures, and Fancies from Transylvania inspired Bram Stoker and introduced the author to the word nosferatu, a Romanian word for vampire. The Irish author is said to have holidayed in North Scotland as he wrote the legendary character. Slains Castle is nestled upon the clifftops of Aberdeenshire, overlooking dramatic cliff edges. This 16th-century castle is said to be the inspiration for the novel Dracula.
Ghosts of Glasgow
Glasgow has many ghosts, sightings of which are still reported to this day. During the tour, you might learn about the Grey Lady, the wife of the caretaker of Hutchesons’ Hall on Ingram Street who appears in windows longing for escape. The Glasgow Necropolis is one of the most haunted places in Glasgow and is home to a woman in white whose ghostly figure floats through the tombstones in the wee hours of the morning. Provan Hall House is one of Glasgow’s oldest buildings and is home to a dagger-wielding ghost, angry and desperate to remove unwanted visitors from his home. There are plenty more spooky stories along the way.
Body Snatchers in Glasgow
Have you ever heard of Burke & Hare? These notorious murderers and body snatchers were located out of Edinburgh, but their influence went a lot further than that. From 1752 to 1832, the bodies of hanged murderers were the only legitimate source of human bodies for anatomical dissection. With so many medical students needing cadavers, body snatching for profit became a macabre but profitable way to make a living. Your spooky host will tell you more.
If you need flexible, spacious and great value accommodation in Glasgow, book a stay in PREMIER SUITES. Our location on Bath Street is ideal for the Gothic Glasgow walking tour and for enjoying the famous Glasgow hospitality afterwards. Book on our website for our lowest available rates, guaranteed.
