Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Visitors with a taste for the macabre may decide to wander down to Brodie's Close. This stone floored alleyway with its old stone buildings may give you the impression that you are on the set of some spooky Victorian melodrama. You almost expect urchins in rags to pop out from behind a corner, or a horse drawn carriage, to appear as if from nowhere, and come to a halt before a dark cloaked figure emerges. This atmospheric alley was named after the infamous Deacon Brodie who was a respectable councilor by day but a cunning thief by night. He was the actual inspiration for the novel by Robert Louise Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde- which told the story of a man with two polar opposite personalities. The author shifted the location of the story to foggy London - thereby almost robbing Edinburgh of another possible attraction - but fear not, guided tours, in cloaked costumes are available to take visitors around Edinburgh - after dark of course, to recount dark tales including Brodie's. Boride's achievements included refining the mechanism of the hangman's scaffolding, on which by supreme irony, he gave the ultimate test in 1788.
|
