Tradition / Region: Scotland (Edinburgh, Old Town)
Alternate Names: —
Category: House dweller / subterranean horror
The Myth
Beneath the Old Town of Edinburgh lies a network of cellars, tunnels, and hidden passages. Among these underground spaces is a tunnel said to run beneath the Royal Mile, stretching from the Castle to the Palace of Holyrood. Long ago, soldiers used this passage to launch surprise attacks, but over time it fell into disuse. After that, the tunnel was said to become the lair of a being known as Great-hand, and no one who entered it ever returned alive.
Great-hand is never seen in full. The only part of it that has ever been described is a single hand—enormous, grisly, and inhuman. Its fingernails are said to be long and curved like the talons of an eagle. Whether this hand is attached to a body or exists alone is unknown, as no one has ever seen anything beyond it.
After the tunnel had been avoided for a long time, a piper once declared that he would pass through it to prove that it could be crossed safely. He said he would play his pipes the entire way so that those above ground could follow his progress by sound. Taking his dog with him, he entered the tunnel through a cave near the Castle. As he moved underground, the sound of the pipes could be heard descending the hill.
When the music reached the area of the Heart of Midlothian, it suddenly stopped. Alarmed, those listening rushed back to the tunnel entrance. From the darkness emerged only the dog, running in terror, its fur completely gone. The piper was never seen again.
After this event, the tunnel was sealed at both ends. Stories of Great-hand spread, and similar tales were told across Scotland of haunted caves, lost pipers, and dogs driven hairless by fear. Great-hand remained beneath the city, an unseen presence in the darkness, guarding the underground and claiming any who dared to enter.