Halloween in Auld Reekie

Went looking for ghosts in Edinburgh's Old Town on Halloween. In a city soaked with the past they shouldn't be hard to find on the day when the veil is thinnest between the worlds. A walk along Cowgate in sparkling sunshine brought me face to face with one of the city's ghosts. A middle aged man sat at the junction of Cowgate and Grassmarket - looking up to West Bow. Homeless and invisible to those without second site. The tour buses don't visit the bits of the city he knows and tourists aren't told his story by the guides who share tales of the ghost of Major Weir whose house of depravity once stood on West Bow.

Later that night I walked back through Cowgate. Clubers in fancy dress pouring along this narrow, sunken road. High heels wobbling on cobbles, music and heat beating out. High up on the Royal Mile the Samhuinn fire procession was let loose at 9pm.

The more I get to know this city, the more I realise, I'll never know it. No view ever looks the same twice. No guidebook can be trusted. And no ghost should be overlooked. I've tried to find a history of Edinburgh I can understand and relate to. A tale that will guide me through its past. I'm beginning to think the only thing to do is create my own.