Haunted Castles

Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire.

 

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland

A servant of the castle suspects his partner of been unfaithful. Intent upon catching her in the act, he hides himself on the roof above their bed. Unfortunately, he falls and dies the next day. Soon there are reports of his corpse wandering through the town. This, of course, coincides with an epidemic that kills several townspeople. It is blamed on the "vampire." On Palm Sunday, the local priest assembles a group, and they proceed to the cemetery. Upon exhumation, the body appears engorged with blood. (It gushes out when the body's poked with a spade.) The body is dragged out of town and burned, and soon the epidemic ends.

Baldoon Castle, Scotland

Baldoons Castle ghost is mentioned in the novel by Sir Walter Scott “The Bride of Lammermuir. It is the 17th century ghost ‘Janet Dalrymple‘, she was told to leave the man she loved by her parents, instead she was forced to marry David Dunbar and went insane, she stabbed him in the bridal chamber on his wedding night. She is said to roam the castle in a blood-splattered white dress, some have seen the saddened ghost of Janet wandering pitifully among the quiet ruins, most often on the anniversary of her death. In the Lammermuir story the door of the bridal chamber was broken down after hideous shrieks were heard from inside it. The bridegroom was found lying across the threshold, awfully wounded and streaming with blood, while the bride crouched in a chimney corner, her white night-gown splashed with blood, grinning and muttering and quite mad. Apparently she never recovered and died in a while later. Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland

The nicknamed shade Green Jane has been seen at the castle. She was thought to be the daughter of an impoverished family who sent her with her baby to the castle to beg for food, but when she got there, the guards abused her then turned her away. Visitors have seen and heard her ghost stumbling down the steep steps, then going to her rescue and finding that no one was there. Many people have had feelings of been touched. Visitors also report the movement of furniture inside the castle. Rattling chains has also been heard, accompanied by stomping of feet, many say that this is the manifestation of a knight that is clad in armour.

Beeston Castle, Cheshire

The castle boasts that it has one of the friendliest ghosts in England. The ghost of a pretty lady wanders the outer bailey, but she only ever appears to children. She is seen in a lacy white dress and she looks over her shoulder. She brings a feeling of kindness to the place, she must have really like the castle. Dog walkers report that their pets refuse to enter certain areas of the castle. Deep moans have been heard coming from the well.

Berkeley Castle, Worcester

In 1327 Berkeley Castle was the scene of the infamous murder of Edward II he was gruesomely tortured with a red-hot poker. Sounds of his screams echo around the castle.

Berry Pomeroy Castle, Devon

The ghost of Lady Margaret Pomeroy appears all dressed in white in the tower named after her. A second more chilling ghost resides 'the blue lady' predicts death of those who see her ! She is said to be the ghost of the Pomeroy's daughter.

Blackness Castle, Lothian

In the late 1990s a woman who was sightseeing said she was startled when she saw a knight in armour in the tower, the angry spirit chased her out of the castle. A group of ghost hunters stayed in the castle one Halloween night. They heard what sounded like furniture scraping across a stone floor in a room beneath where they were staying. On investigation, nothing was out of place, on returning to the room above, the sounds began to start again.

Bolton Castle, North Yorkshire

Mary Queen of Scots shade wanders the courtyard wearing a black velvet dress.

Bramber Castle, Sussex

Bramber Castle, Sussex. William De Braose angered King John. He escaped to Ireland with his children, only to be captured. The king ordered that his children be held hostage for William's future good behaviour at Windsor Castle. The children were starved to death there but their spectres returned to Bramber Castle and have been seen begging pitifully for bread, dressed in rags and holding out their hands, they are said to return at Christmas.

Bodelwyddan Castle, North Wales

Bodiam Castle, East Sussex

Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire

Bowes Castle, County Durham

Burgh Castle, Norwich

Carisbrook Castle, Isle of White

The well house is haunted by the ghost of a young woman strangely her disembodied face was surrounded by draperies of her dress. A young man in a brown jerkin has been seen near the moat. A woman wearing victorian dress, followed by two shadowy dogs was witness as they strolled round the castle. A full appartion was seen in broad daylight, it wore long coat also followed by 4 small dogs.

Carlisle Castle, Cumbria

A sentry may have died of shock after seeing a grey figure, he lunded at it with his boyonet. A female skeleton was found bricked up in one of the walls, its was still clad with tartan clothes and jewellery. Mary Queen of Scots was incarcerated in the building as so was Bonnie Prince Charles supporters. There is a famous 'licking stone' here, tales tell that it was worn away by prisoners tongues, the stone was moist with water, they licked it in order to stay alive.

Castell Coch, Cardiff

Castle Rising, Norfolk

Castle Rushen, Isle of Man

Charleville Forest Castle, Ireland

Chepstow Castle, South East Wales

Chillingham Castle, Northumberland

Conisbrough Castle, South Yorkshire

Ghost of a grey monk, also an unhappy grey lady, she is seen at the top of the keep where she reputedly met her own death. Also strange bumping noises and whispers and ghostly candles have been witnessed here.

Comlongon Castle, Scotland

Corfe Castle, Dorset

Craigievar Castle, Aberdeen

Craig Y Nos Castle, South Wales

Culcreuch Castle, Scotland

Culzean Castle, Ayrshire, Scotland

Denbigh Castle, North East Wales

Dartmouth Castle, Devon

Dover Castle

Dudley Castle, West Midlands

Dunrobin Castle, Scotland

Dunstanburgh Castle,Northumberland

Durham Castle, Durham

Ecclesgreig Castle, Scotland

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire

Farleigh Hungerford Castle, Somerset

Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire

Glamis Castle, Dundeeshire

Six ghosts are said to haunt this lavish Victorian royal castle, they wander the rooms and corridors. The Dining room has a connecting door into the crypt which looks something like it has come out of the middle ages, it is in the crypt that there is a secret chamber, legend has it that it was here one of the Lord's of Glamis 'Earl Beardie' played cards, but as the clock struck midnight at the beginning of the sabbath the devil appeared and asked to join in the game. Earl Beardie gambled his soul away and died soon after. The chamber was promptly bricked up after foul mouthed utterances were heard, but the swearing phantom couldn't be restrained and persisted to roam the abode. Earl Beardie's spirit is said to peer at guests whilst they lay in their beds. The chapel is haunted by the grey lady, said to be the ghost of Janet Douglas, wife of sixth Lord Glamis. Also the ghost of Lady Campbell has been seen in the chapel, she was wrongly accused of witchcraft, she burned at the stake at Edinburgh Castle, her spectre is seen in silent prayer with an aura of peaceful traquility surrounding her. Glamis has seen thousands of tragic deaths, the ghosts seem to seep out of the very mortar.

Goodrich Castle, Herefordshire

Location

Goodrich, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire.

Built

1160 AD

Ghostly manifestations

On dark, stormy nights ghostly screams can be heard and there have been reports of a ghostly horseman, accompanied by a woman, spotted at the foot of the walls by the river.

Ghostly anomalies

Strong smells of freshly baked bread.

Brief History

Goodrich Castle in Herefordshire has a well known haunting relating to the tragic tale of two lovers. During the Civil War, Goodrich saw major action when in 1646 Colonel Birch, leader of the Roundheads, placed the Royalist garrison under siege. His niece, Alice, was engaged to one of the Royalists inside the castle. One night, just before the final assault, Colonel Birch allowed them to escape but in their frantic attempts to clear the enemy lines and cross the River Wye they missed the ford, they were swept away by the river and drowned.

Hadleigh Castle, Essex

Helmsley Castle,North Yorkshire

Hermitage Castle, Scotland

Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex

A local village girl tried to escape from been murdered by throwing herself over into the moat, unsuccessful, she was re-captured and murdered, she is thought to appear as the white lady of the moat. A phantom drummer has been seen marching along the ramparts at night, said to have died in the battle of Angincourt. Blue sparks radiate from his drumsticks.

Hylton Castle, Sunderland

A ghost known as the Cauld Boy, haunts the castle, he manifests himself without any clothes on and shivering, apparently murdered by his master Baron Robert Hylton who stabbed him to death with a pitchfork. The spirit boy also haunts the kitchens where he ransacks it if it is neat and tidy.

Kidwelly Castle, South Wales.

Knaresborough Castle, N Yorkshire

Lancaster Castle, Lancaster

Leap Castle,Roscrea, Ireland

Lincoln Castle, East Yorkshire

Lindisfarne Castle, Northumberland

Ludlow Castle, Shropshire

Lydford Castle, Devon

Notorious 12th century prison, reputed to be haunted by Judge John Jeffery's 'The Hanging Judge'. Lady Howard manifests herself here as a black hound, she also haunts Okehampton Castle.

Margam Castle, Wales

Meggernie Castle, Scotland

Middleham Castle, North Yorkshire

Known as the ‘Windsor of the north’ the castle was built in the 12th century on the site of an earlier Norman fortification. It was Richard III most favoured castle. It is reputed to be the site of a buried hoard of treasure, to pin-point the treasure you must run a round the castle three times, and where you stop the treasure will be found. Unfortunately there is no indication of where you should start. A crying of a newborn baby has been heard by visitors to the castle.

Monmouth Castle, Wales

Morton Corbet Castle, Shropshire

Muncaster Castle

Newark Castle, Notthinghamshire

Nottingham Castle, Nottingham

Nunney Castle, Somerset

Okehampton Castle, Devon

Every night at midnight Lady Howard rides a coach made from the bones of her four dead husbands and with a skull on each corner of the roof. Also a headless coachman is her driver !

Old Wardour Castle, Wiltshire

Orford Castle, Suffolk

Peel Castle, Isle Of Man

Pendragon Castle, Cumbria.

Under the foundations of Pendragon Castle there is treasure ! This legend is quite bizarre; if you decide to try your hand at unearthing the gold, you may be confronted by a spectral black hen, which promptly scratches and pecks until the hole is refilled ! A spectre of a horseman gallops towards the castle whilst a grey lady glides her way through the castle walls.

Pengersick Castle, Cornwall

Penrith Castle, Cumbria

Pevensey Castle, East Sussex

Pontefract Castle, West Yorkshire

Location

Pontefract, West Yorkshire

Built 1070 AD

King Richard II was murdered here, no-one has yet spotted his ghost.

Monk figures seen walking around the outskirts near the catholic chapel and 2 figures of children seen playing near the dungeons. Holding a large axe, this figure walks around the ruins of the castle. a black monk walking from the remains of the kitchen towards the steps up to the ruins of the Queen's Tower. Strangely the monk is always seen walking from west to east, never in the opposite direction. The monk has been seen by quite a lot of people over a considerable period of time and they are of all ages and different backgrounds and "when you hear it from so many people you start to believe it." Sightings are usually around 5pm". Ghostly foosteps have been heard in the magazine area.

Porchester Castle, Hampshire

Pickering Castle, North Yorkshire

Pudhoe Castle, Northumberland

Chanting has been heard coming from the chapel area. A white horse silently walks around the outer ward of the castle; one night a man that lived in one of the blocks saw that horse running towards him. In the 1950's a lady witnessed noises like a ball being bounced against the wall but when she looked, no one was there. Another couple heard water being thrown at a door with force. One night a heavy oak table was flung to the floor in the hall, apparently the noise was that loud the residents thought that there had been a gas explosion.

Richmond Castle, North Yorkshire

Rochester Castle, Kent

Ruthin Castle,North Wales

Sandal Castle, West Yorkshire

A phantom dog has been witnessed at the castle.

Scarborough Castle, North Yorkshire

Scotney Castle, Kent

Sherborne Old Castle, Dorset

Sir Walter Raleigh who was executed for disobeying orders and was beheaded in 1618 - walks the grounds of the castle, his shade appears at midnight on Michaelmas Eve "headless" !

Skibo Castle, Scotland

A ghostly white lady flits through the castle at night, her nocternal roamings are precipitated by terrified screams and blood curdling moans. The grisly remains of a woman's skeleton was found hidden behind one of the castle walls, only after the re-burial took place that the hauntings ceased. A local girl had gone missing, there was talk that she was murdered by the Castle's keeper. In 1898 American millionaire Andrew Carnegie bought the ruined estate. Carnegie's grandson Rosewell Miller the third, saw the female phantom one night, she was seen drifting silently along one of the third floor corridors where she turned into one of the bedrooms, Rosewell followed her but she had disappeared into thin air.

Skipsea Castle, East Yorkshire

Slains Castle, Scotland

Snape Castle, North Yorkshire

Southsea Castle, Hampshire

Spofforth Castle, North Yorkshire

Stafford Castle, Staffordshire

Stokesay Castle, Shropshire

St Michael's Mount, Cornwall

Tamworth Castle, Staffordshire

Location

Tamworth, Birmingham.

Built 1070 AD

History

Tamworth castle is of Norman motte & bailey design with a shell keep. The present stone structure replaced the first timber tower surrounded by a palisade which was built shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Ghostly manifestations

The black lady, the white lady. The Black Lady is allegedly the ghost of a nun called Editha who founded her order in the 9th century; her nuns were said to have been expelled from a nearby Convent by Robert de Marmion.

Ghostly anomalies

Spirits have been heard and seen wandering through the 'Haunted bedroom' and the staircase.

Tattershall Castle,Lincolnshire

Tintagel Castle, Cornwall

Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire

Tynemouth Castle, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Walworth Castle, County Durham

Warkworth Castle, Northumberland

Warwick Castle, Stratford

Wigmore Castle, Herefordshire

Yester Castle, East Lothian

Spofforth Castle, North Yorkshire - castle, manor house,

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I've been to Spofforth Castle quite a few times, it is allegedly haunted by the blue lady, people say she took her own life by throwing herself from the tower. Now, I have frozen my whatnots off here waiting for this shade to turn up; I even stood out in the cold until 2am on Christmas Eve! Its a cute place, set in the small hamlet of Spofforth 'Spoff' as we used to refer to it. We usually stay in the undercroft, it's really sheltered from the elements and there is a staircase that goes to nowhere, which comes in very handy on cold nights, the stones hold in quite a bit of warmth from the day. There is even a cute little window ledge for putting you flask, sandwiches and maltezers on :D I didn't hold much hope of been witness to anything paranormal at the castle, it almost always appeared 'dead'. Months were spent going back-and-fro and nothing! Not a sausage. Then one night, it happened! I was stood in an enclosed bit of of the undercroft and I saw for just a few seconds an electric blue circular light reflecting back off a side-wall. I tried to rationalise it, but couldn't find a good explanation for it. No one else saw it to corroborate if for me. Unfortunate this could be suggestion on my part as I know the story, but I saw it plain and simple. I was really pleased, maybe this is what people have been seeing? I can't say for sure that there isn't something atmospheric going on, its a damp old place, why blue? I am not sure it's anything paranormal, don't know for sure. I don't suffer from cyanopsia. It's got this sceptic thinking.

Official website English Heritage

A blue  figure has been seen at the top of this tower, before plummeting to the ground below.

The Battle of Marston Moor

Visit type: Legend trip

We arrived in the dark around 6pm. Walking quietly around the moor for a good 2 miles on the footpath. It was a bit windy, we heard a metallic clattering sound which could have been interpreted as a clashing of swords, instead we found that something was waving around on one of the electricity pylons.

Troops

Location: Marston Moor - General area

Type: Haunting Manifestation

Date / Time: November 1932

Further Comments: Seen crossing the road in front of a car, these figures looked ragged and battle weary, dressed in clothing that matched that of the 1644 Battle of Marston Moor. Local reports say the battle is sometimes replayed in full, normally on foggy nights. 

Source Paranormal Database

The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the First English Civil War of 1642–1646.^[a] The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfaxand the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters under the Earl of Leven defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquess of Newcastle.

During the summer of 1644, the Covenanters and Parliamentarians had been besieging York, which was defended by the Marquess of Newcastle. Prince Rupert had gathered an army which marched through the northwest of England, gathering reinforcements and fresh recruits on the way, and across the Pennines to relieve the city. The convergence of these forces made the ensuing battle the largest of the Civil Wars.

On 1 July, Rupert outmanoeuvred the Scots and Parliamentarians to relieve the city. The next day, he sought battle with them even though he was outnumbered. He was dissuaded from attacking immediately and during the day both sides gathered their full strength on Marston Moor, an expanse of wild meadow west of York. Towards evening, the Scots and Parliamentarians themselves launched a surprise attack. After a confused fight lasting two hours, Parliamentarian cavalry under Oliver Cromwell routed the Royalist cavalry from the field and annihilated the remaining Royalist infantry.

After their defeat the Royalists effectively abandoned the north of England. They lost much of the manpower from the Northern Counties of England which were strongly Royalist in sympathy, and access to the continent of Europe through the ports on the North Sea coast. Although they partially retrieved their fortunes with victories later in the year in the south of England, the loss of the North was to prove a fatal handicap the next year, when they tried unsuccessfully to link up with the Scottish Royalists under Montrose.

Source Wikipedia 

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Blackness Castle - Sterling, Scotland

Erry up its cold!!

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Double Glazing?? No! go away we don't need any thanks ;)

Boo!!

On our way back across the Forth Bridge I spotted a sign for Blackness Castle, that rang bells with me and we decided to have a drive down to it, the winding road went on forever! Eventually we arrived, at the ticket office and we were met by a nice Scottish man dress all in green tartan, I needed my memory jogging regarding any paranormal information and warned Richard to hide his humiliation at this request. The Scottish chap obligingly offered us some tales and continued on with a lengthy pitch about its paranormal pleasantries and unpleasantness's . "She was chased out of the building by the jailer you know!"  and out he pulled a copy of Richard Jones book "Haunted Britain and Ireland" Yes! I have a copy I said to him and thanked him for jogging my memory.  This is the first castle I had ever visited that was in the shape of a ship, very odd! As I looked out of the window out on to the windy firth of forth estuary, it made me want keep looking over my shoulder as I felt like I was about to be shoved out of it at any second.  The courtyard was tricky underfoot and I was precariously walking over the outcrop hoping that my twisted ankle wouldn't play up again. I took some short videos (which I shall upload once I get my computer fixed!) People have heard unexplained banging and furniture being dragged across a floor, areas that were totally unoccupied. An angry knight is said to have chased a visitor out, some say its a jailer as the castle used to be a prison, there are differing stories to this, but they all sound great!

Source: Paranormal database

Angry Knight

Location: Blackness - Blackness Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1990's
Further Comments: This vexed spirit chased a female witness out of the castle during a sightseeing tour. Banging sounds have also been reported, with no source ever being found.

The Ancient Ram Inn, Gloucestershire

Is that an EMF detector in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

TripAdviser

Reviews

The Oldest Inn in England

Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England.

Grade II listed, in 1145 AD

Official website  www.theancientraminn.com

Famously nicknamed as the 'Scam Inn' the Ancient Ram Inn is believed to date as far back as 1145. John Humphries, the current owner, bought the property from a brewery back in 1968. The Ancient Ram is a Grade II listed building and John Humphries has spent the past 30 odd years renovating it. When he first moved in he was totally unaware that the place was haunted until he was awoken by someone with icy hands grabbing at his ankles and trying to pull him out of bed. His daughters also had several experiences. The Ancient Ram is believed to be built on an ancient burial ground where ritual killings took place. It is also opposite a henge. Apparently things happen on a daily and nightly basis ranging from tappings on windows, objects moving, strange smells, ghostly figures, people being pushed.

John is well known amongst the paranormal community and is famous for his strangeness and questionable techniques in getting money out of gullable ghost hunters.

Incubus, Ghost of an inn keeper, ghostly lady. baby crying, a monk, a cavalier.

A frightening incubus creeps into the beds of terrified victims in the dead of night, scaring both owner and visitor alike. A succubus is the female version on an incubus, a negative entity that feeds off the sexuality of the living.

Violent poltergeist activity, power drains, rattling of door knobs, footsteps, light anomalies, objects being moved, cold spots, an unexplained black cat, doors slamming.

I found the Inn hidden at the bottom of a hill in Wotton-under-Edge. It is a rickety looking old house, it looks like it's actually sunk into the ground. The site in which this once Inn stands is known to be an ancient site on a major leyline (there is no evidence leylines exist). Bones of children have been unearthed by archaeologists inside the house and two ceremonial daggers have also found close by the bones. There are also stories of murder and bloodshed here. I didn't find the henge, only modern buildings surround it.

There is a medical condition called NREM Arousal Parasomnia (explicit) which makes sense regarding some incubus and succubus experiences.

Hermitage Castle, Scotland (2)

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If the gates to Hermitage Castle were unlocked at night, you would certainly find me wandering around this ominous pile alone..OK maybe that would be foolhardy and stupid.  This is a bleak place even in daylight hours. The castle has a somber feel about it, I really can't put my finger on it, its certainly is eerie even for the more hardened investigator and it's practically in the middle of nowhere. The nearest village of Newcastleton (where we stayed) is about 6 miles away.

Read more:  Hermitage Castle by Daniel Parkinson at Mysterious Britain and Ireland.

Ghoulish Crimes and Punishments through the centuries

Not for the faint of heart!

Ghoulish crimes, punishments and morbid tales

It's little wonder ghosts still haunt some places, as they still linger and fear to move on to the next world.

Only people who did heinous crimes were subjected to the most horrible of punishments in England.

In the past people craved a decent burial, but if you were tried for murder or any other heinous crime then you could find yourself gibbeted, or hung drawn and quartered, flogged, burned alive, guillotined or pressed to death.

If you were lucky you would get off with a straight forward hanging from a long drop which brought you a quick death, alternatively if you weren't so lucky, you would be hung from a short drop where your body would have writhed about for at least and hour, you would choke and vomit yourself to death.  The innocent were also punished too. Gibbeting..hung up from a metal cage, the local blacksmith would measure you up for a gibbet cage and they would cram you in it, hang you 30 foot high off the ground then leave you to die where bits would drop off and what remained of your decomposing flesh the crows would peck off including your eyeballs.

'Gallows birds' The gibbet story of a Lincolnshire murderer 'Tom Otter' the flesh fell off his jawbone and a blue tit nested inside his mouth and had its young. The poem goes  "nine tongues within one head the tenth went out to seek for bread, to feed the living within the dead" As the old lady walked past his gibbet cage she noticed a nest of starlings in his rib cage. 44 years he was hung up in the gibbet, eventually it blew down in the wind. His bones lie buried beneath the gibbet post.  You can still hear the phantom creaking of the gibbet post and hear the rattling of chains that held up Tom Otter's gibbet cage.

If you found yourself living rough in the sleazy part of Edinburgh in the 1700's then it wasn't a pleasant time for you, you didn't lay down to sleep without keeping one eye open because a body snatcher might be lurking round the next corner. Body snatching was rife in the area and you could have been their next victim! Body snatching and grave robbing was so bad graveyards had large walls and railings built around them, doctors would pay good money for a good supply of cadavers, they also used executed criminals for anatomical experimentation. But criminals found their own sinister methods of profiteering the business by supplying medical students with fresh bodies, so fresh in-fact they were just barely alive!  Burke and Hare were notorious body snatchers of the era, they had their own form of strangulation by restricting their victims breathing by covering the nose and mouth so as not to damage the body, the method was known as 'Burking'. Dr Knox paid up to seven pounds seven shillings for the bodies so he could carry out his 'no questions asked' work, easy money for the pair. When they did the grave robbing they would remove the body and replace it with tanning bark.  After many years the pair were found out through rumour and Burke was sentence to hang. On January 28th 1829 Burke was hanged, over 25,000 people attended the execution, the crowded cheered 'Burke him, Burke him!!"  Ironically HIS body also ended up being dissected by medical students who removed sections of his skin and bound a book with it, it is stamped on the front in gold lettering 'Burke's Skin 1829' but before dissection, Burke's corpse was put on a slab in town, a public exhibition for thousands to see and walk past at a rate of sixty people a minute. His skeleton can still be seen at Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh along with his death mask and the life mask of is cohort Hare, but did you know, Hare got off Scot free!!

Mary Queen of Scots ghost wanders many an earthy pile, her life was taken away in 1587 by the executioners axe.

She laid down her head, putting her chin over the block with both her hands she laid there quietly, and stretching out her arms cried, In manus tuas, Domine, she endured two strokes with the axe, making hardly a noise or moving so the executioner cut off her head, although not detaching it accurately, he lifted up her head to the view of all the assembly and bade God save the Queen. Then lifted her wig off her head, her hair appeared as grey as a women's of threescore and ten years old, cut very short, her face in a moment being so much altered from the form she had when she was alive, as few could remember her by her dead face. Her lips stirred up and a down a quarter of an hour after her head was cut off.

A very ordinary lady by the name of Margaret Clitheroe who lived in York in the 1500's was found guilty of practicing Catholicism which was considered treason in that era.  She held mass in her house knowing that if the authorities found out, there would be hell to pay.  Alas one day her home was searched and chalices and vestments were found and she was arrested.  But the trial couldn't proceed because she wouldn't plead, she shouted "I need no trial!" which lead to a very barbaric death by pressing.  Only aged thirty she was laid on the floor with a stone under her back and a door place on top of her she was subjected to having heavier and heavier stones placed upon her chest until a plea was entered, the weight of the stones on  her chest became too great for the condemned lady to breathe, fatal suffocation finally occurred.  Her home is now a shrine.

Fountains Hall and Abbey, North Yorkshire - my first ghost sighting?

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Fountains Hall

Fountains Abbey was full of surprises one Sunday afternoon. We were visiting in a none paranormal fashion.I actually saw something on a normal day out with hubby and the dog. It was a glorious sunny summers day, we went to Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire England, the place was packed, folks having picnics on the grass and stuff.

In street view below is the building where I saw the ghost?

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We decided to go in an old barn that had been converted into mini history museum about how the cistercian monks lived and worked, no one else was in the building except me, Rich was waiting for me outside with the dog. I wasn't thinking about anything paranormal that day. When I reach the centre of the room I saw for a split second but long enough to gain a description of him - a man crouched down working on something, he was wearing what looked like a leather waistcoat, it was really weird, it was like residual?/mental projection. I claim I am not psychic, I am scientifically minded but it looked like something from the phantasmagoria (Peppers ghost illusion) or very much like it, it was very odd! I still can't get my head round it.

Peppers ghost illusion (phantasmagoria)

'The blue ghost resides in nearby Fountains Hall also an Elizabethan gent has been seen coming out from some wood panelling at the hall.

Choral choirs and chanting have been heard at the abbey.

Abandoned Villages

Yorkshire's abandoned village - Wharram Percy

Crumbling buildings that in a bygone age housed growing families, vanishing streets that once echoed to the gleeful screams of children. Is there anywhere riper for thoughts that drift to ghosts and spirits that surely linger, unwilling to leave their former home?

Such former settlements are scattered over these lands and always repay a visit, especially if you are prone to sentimentality or melancholia. These must be the loneliest places, once so vibrant but now mute and lost.

In Scotland they have more than their fair share of abandoned villages. As a woman who boasts some Scottish blood in her lineage it is with special regret and sadness to dwell on the infamous clearances when landowners decided, with shameful disregard for their tenants, to 'clear' whole settlements in the Highlands to make way for sheep, considered to be far more profitable a use of their land.


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One village that suffered this fate was Lawers on the banks of Loch Tay. Once the home of the famed prophetess, the Lady of Lawers, she was said to have foretold the clearance by the second Marquis in the early years of the nineteenth century which decimated the population of the area for nothing more than sheep farming.

Today the isolated village is nothing more than a collection of ruins accessed by a path from the Ben Lawers Hotel situated on the A827 nearby; but unlike many similar deserted settlements Lawers has acquired a reputation of being rather less restful than one would assume. Australian bar staff were in the habit of taking the fifteen minute walk to the picturesque ruins but some started to report a 'presence' at the site accompanied by a feeling of being watched, or worse, followed. The staff were previously unaware of the tales of haunting and the ghost of the White Lady, according to local legend the shade of the Lady of Lawers.



The area is steeped in folklore, much of it related to the prognostications of the prophetess. It is told that early last century a man was foolish enough to ignore the advice of neighbours and cut down a tree planted by the Lady. She had predicted many events that would correspond with heights that her tree would have reached at the time. She also foretold of tragedy for anyone who harmed the tree as the injudicious man who ignored the tale sadly found out. He was gored to death by his own bull and a friend who assisted him in the deed lost his mind and was committed to a mental asylum.

Written for me by the late Toby Ion, this website is dedicated to him.

Yorkshire's abandoned Village (BBC)