Mercat Tours has announced a brand-new history tour Witches; Trial and Truth. Delving into injustices of the past and telling the truth about the witch craze which gripped Edinburgh, the adult-only tour aims to shed light on this dark period of paranoia and persecution. The tour transports visitors back to the past and separate facts from commonly held myths.
Starting at Mercat Cross, visitors will learn when Scotland was ruled by an irrational king and his obsession with the dark arts. Mercat Tours’ five-star, award-winning storytellers will walk visitors back two centuries as they follow the accused’s tragic last steps through the cobbled streets of Edinburgh’s old town and its centuries-old closes to uncover the historic tales before finishing at Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.
As part of the tour launch, Mercat Tours have introduced a campaign highlighting that Edinburgh’s ‘witches’ were really ordinary, innocent, people ‘Just Like You’. It illustrates how the company celebrates diversity in their team and visitors by making a connection between the injustices and lack of diversity of the past versus now.
Putting its own team members at the centre of the campaign, which is important to Mercat as an inclusive employer, it shines a spotlight on individuals who would’ve been targeted for their differences in the past. Drawing parallels between their team today and the real stories of those who suffered, reveals they were ‘just like you’, ie. someone who can heal such as Janet Boyman, an independent business women like Agnes Finnie, and those who speak a foreign language, to reflect modern times and a more inclusive society that exists today.
Kat Brogan, Managing Director at Mercat Tours said, “Inclusion and belonging is at the heart of everything we do at Mercat, it’s what we are valued for by the team and our visitors. It was important to reflect this through our new tour as we identify real life stories today that in the past would’ve led to something very different and considered a crime.
“Mercat have been making connections between people and the past by giving history a damn good telling since 1985. We want visitors to make a thoughtful connection with injustices of the past and form their own thoughts about it.”
Click here to find out more about Mercat Tours.
