HORRIBLE HISTORIES WEEK - 

A BLOODCURDLING COLLECTION OF OUR CREEPIEST STORIES!

CASTLEGATE: THE BLACK KALENDAR
MONDAY 23 JULY 2018

First of a series of 4 walks on the creepiest, most disturbing and terrifying aspects of Aberdeen's history.  Learn of the horrors which occurred around Aberdeen's old medieval marketplace beginning at Old Blackfriars, once a merchant's house where the dastardly folk involved in child slavery hid their kidnap victims, and including many tales from Aberdeen's Black Kalendar, the city's list of court proceedings over several centuries. More details here.

MEET: Lower Bar, Old Blackfriars Pub, 52 Castle Street (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2hr
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

GHOSTS & GHOULS OF THE AULTOUN
TUESDAY 24 JULY 2018

2nd of our series of walks revealing Aberdeen's dark side!  Come to the medieval university campus and hear the stories of the ghosts of auld lang syne.  There's Sacrist Downie, the unfortunate victim of a student prank gone badly wrong. Hear the supernatural situation of Mrs Baird and Dr Reid, the minister's wife and the spiritualist who tackle a creepy entity in the Chaplainary near St Machar's.  Also includes the Hermit of Powis; the Ghost of the King St Barracks and the mysterious Mason's Mark.  More details here. 

MEET: Outside Kings College, entry path, High Street, Old Aberdeen (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2hr
TICKETS: Click HERE  to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

TRAGIC & TERRIBLE TALES OF TORRY
THURSDAY 26 JULY 2018

3rd of our walks investigating the dark side of the city's history. Beginning in Abbey Place, outside the Old Torry Community Centre, we tell tragic and terrifying stories from this ancient fishing community, including: The Dee Ferry Disaster (1876); The Wreck of the Oscar (1813); The Unsolved Murder of Betty Hadden (1945); The Mysterious Death of Robert Davidson Jnr (1829); The sad tale of brave Covenanter, William Milne of Kincorth who defended his cause to the death, in far away Yeovil at the Battle of Langport (1645).  A revival of the old Torry Ghost Tour from years back!

MEET: Outside Old Torry Community Centre, 2 Abbey Place, Torry (MAP)  
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2hr 
ENDS: Old St Fittick's Kirk
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

BLOOD & GRANITE: THE MURDER HISTORY TOUR
FRIDAY 27 JULY 2018

The original and the best crime history tour in Aberdeen.  The ONLY tour with research from the late lamented Grampian Police Museum! Final of our 4 walks delving into Aberdeen's dark side.  See the sites and hear the stories from our city's dark and criminal past. War and bloodshed, murder and mayhem, it's all under your feet!! Taking you back in time to some of the city's most notorious slayings, the Murder History Tour brings out the horrors behind the doors of some of our most innocuous tenements and monuments. More details here. 

MEET: Trinity Cemetery, Park Road Gates nr Pittodrie (MAP)  
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2hr 
ENDS: Justice Port Flats, Park St.
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

UNION STREET: ABERDEEN'S MODERN HEART 
MONDAY 30 JULY 2018

Union Street represented the break with and indeed the destruction of the medieval city as it cut through the old, crowded streets and lead the way to a new development at the far side of the Denburn Valley which had once been the border of the burgh. This tour aims to show a little of what was there before, including a look at the vaults, the piers which hold up our main street, as well as explaining the fight the business community had to persuade the council to go ahead with this new development.  More details here.

MEET: Outside Aberdeen Town House, Union St entrance (MAP)  
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 1hr 
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

ABERDEEN'S MEDIEVAL & PREHISTORIC ORIGINS
TUESDAY 31 JULY 2018

Starting at Shiprow, once thought to be the city's oldest street when it was called "The Way of the Ash Tree" in 1212AD, then skirting the remains of St Katherine's Hill, now the Adelphi through to the Green where the Trinitarian and Carmelite Friars had their monasteries. We then follow the trail through the Denburn Valley, now Union Terrace Gardens, to the site of the city's mineral spring of repute, the Spa Well,and end at Hill Street, Gilcomston to the earliest sites of local settlement stretching back to Neolithic and Mesolithic times (6-10,000 years ago).  More details here.

MEET: Outside Aberdeen Maritime Museum, Shiprow (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: Approx 2hr
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow 

OLD TORRY'S LOST VILLAGES (MINI TOUR)
WEDNESDAY 1 AUGUST 2018

Following on from the talk "A Tale of Two Torrys", the mini tour takes you on a journey of 800 years in just one hour! From the ancient kirk of St Fittick's dedicated to Torry's mysterious patron saint and the brave Covenanter, William Milne, who is buired in the kirkyard, to the story of how old fisher Torry was demolished TWICE, due to harbour development and the coming of the oil industry, with just 100 years between.  More details here.  N.B. AFTERNOON TOUR

MEET: Junction of Sinclair Road/ Baxter Street (Outside former Torry Bar) (MAP)
STARTS: 1pm
DURATION: approx 1hr
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

CASTLEGATE'S HISTORIC PAST: MINI TOUR 
THURSDAY 2 AUGUST 2018

A whirlwind tour of Castlegate's Georgian, Victorian and medieval past including the Mercat Cross, Peacock's Court, the Salvation Army Citadel and the tale of Aberdeen's vanished castle.  Begins Old Blackfriars pub where you can get 25% off your food order by presenting your ticket.  Pop in for either a late or early lunch! More details here. 

MEET: Old Blackfriars, 52 Castlegate (MAP)
STARTS: 1pm
DURATION: Approx 1hr
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

OLD ABERDEEN: HISTORICAL SECRETS (MINI TOUR)
FRIDAY 3 AUGUST 2018

A zip through Old Aberdeen's history comparing the 20th century and medieval quadrangles, hearing the stories of Elphinstone Hall, New Kings and 16th century Kings College; visit the hidden remains of the 15th century Snow Kirk and the tales attached to the post-Reformation Powis estate represented today by the impressive gates which replicated the former towers in the old quad.  More details here. 

MEET: Outside Elphinstone Hall, Regent Walk, Old Aberdeen (MAP)  
STARTS: 2pm
DURATION: approx 1hr 
TICKETS: Click HERE to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

GALLOWGATE GALA - HISTORICAL TALK
WEDNESDAY 8 AUGUST 2018

As part of the local gala held at St Margaret's Episcopal Church, Hidden Aberdeen Tours' director, Dr Fiona-Jane Brown will be giving a talk on the history of the Gallowgate, partly to highlight the launch of the new tour "Aberdeen's Borderlands: The North - Gallowgate" on Thursday 9th.  Including Gallowgate's earliest origins as the first site of civic execution, the development of industry and the changing face of the street through time.  Free talk, donations to the church suggested.  Followed by tea/coffee in the church hall.

VENUE: St Margaret's Episcopal Church, Gallowgate (MAP)
STARTS: 1pm
DURATION: approx 1hr
FREE EVENT

THE GALLOWGATE: ABERDEEN'S BORDERLANDS - THE NORTH (NEW TOUR!)
THURSDAY 9 AUGUST 2018

A brand new tour, first in a series of four, covering "Aberdeen's Borderlands".  The Gallowgate represented the way to the city's Northern border, Mounthooly, as Aberdon was a separate burgh until 1891.  From its earliest origins as the first site of civic executions to the home of the city's earliest thread mill, Porthill, the Gallowgate has changed rapidly through time.  An industrial area from earliest medieval times with the home of the Tannery near Broadgate, and later Soapy Ogston's; site of the Quakers' burying ground, often dug up by an less than supportive council; the home of "Mar's Castle", a curious building latterly used for the medical students to hold their earliest meetings of the Medico-Chirurgical Society; and the site of the famous Middle School, the first to have a swimming pool in the city.  Gallowgate hides many secrets, we will attempt to reveal some on this tour.

MEET: Outside NESCol, Gallowgate (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2hrs
TICKETS: Click HERE to book online or at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

ROSEMOUNT RAMBLE
TUESDAY 14 AUGUST 2018

Our new favourite, taking you around the streets of Rosemount and revealing its past as Gilcomston, home of weavers and craftsmen, and the site of the earliest medieval mills when the landlords, the Menzies of Pitfodels had the best grain and lint mills outside the city.  Featuring the hidden gems of Mackie Place and Rosemount House.  More details here.

MEET: Outside the Cult of Coffee, 28 Esslemont Avenue, Aberdeen (MAP)
STARTS: 7.30pm
DURATION: approx 2hr
TICKETS: Click HERE  to book or, in person at Visit Scotland's iCentre, Shiprow

More dates will be added very soon!

Please note, if dates are not shown it means there are no tours planned yet for those dates or they are free for private bookings.