Gathering Ghosts In May

For  May ghosts we travel from the shores of Loch Ashie near Inverness to the bridge over the River Thurne at Potter Heigham in Norfolk.

On the shore of Loch Ashie - by Mike Coats (CC A-S A Generic License)

 The origin of Loch Ashie's name is unknown; it is not a Gaelic word, and may be derived from the Norse warrior, King Ashie. From a boulder called King Fingal's seat he watched one of the Norse- Pictish battles that took place in the area.

Shortly after dawn on May morning a silent ghostly battle is often seen; records of it run back into antiquity. Large bodies of men in close formation and smaller cavalry groups face an attacking force advancing from the east. Injured men are said to bind sphagnum moss to their wounds with strips from their shirts.

Blickling Hall - by Les Hull (CC A-S A 2.0 Generic License)

The ghost of Anne Boleyn appears at Blickling in Norfolk on the anniversary of her death on 19th May, 1536. A phantom coach pulled by four headless horses drives towards and pulls up on the driveway of Blickling Hall (the place of her birth and childhood). Anne is said to be sitting in the carriage with her head in her lap; she climbs out and inspects each room of the Hall.

On the same date Sir Thomas Boleyn is said to drive a team of headless horses in the area, cursed to cross twelve bridges including those at Aylsham, Coltishall and Wroxham.

 Bridge over the River Thurne at Potter Heigham - by David Metcalf (CC A-S A 2.0 Generic License)

The three-arched bridge over the River Thurne at Potter Heigham is reported to be haunted by a phantom coach and horses.

In the 18th century Lady Evelyn Carew was married to Sir Godfrey Haslitt in Norwich Cathedral on 31st May. But Lady Evelyn had already sold her soul to the devil who wanted payment. At midnight she was seized by the devil's henchmen who seized her and carried her off n a coach pulled by four black horses.
The coach raced down the road to Potter Heigham but crashed into the bridge before it got there, smashing into a thousand pieces and throwing the occupants into the river. All were killed.

Now at midnight the coach is said to reappear and re-enact the fatal crash.

Festive Ghosts

Christmas and New Year’s Eve vie with Halloween for ghosts.

Local legend in Dorset concerns a phantom donkey standing on Newton Heath, near Studland. Its owner was robbed and killed while travelling across the heath; the donkey disappeared without trace. The animal returns each year on 22 December in the hope of finding its master.

 Rochester Castle

 (photo by Stephen - www.picturesofengland.com)

Famous ghosts are those immortalised in Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Dickens ghost walks through the gravestones in the graveyard at Rochester Castle on Christmas Eve. Dickens loved Rochester throughout his life and wanted to be buried there. In fact he lies in Westminster Abbey. His ghost is said to appear outside the Corn Exchange at midnight, winding the hands on his watch.

Hever Castle

(photo by Sarah Dawson -  www.picturesofengland.com)

On Christmas Eve a ghostly female, thought to be Anne Boleyn, glides across the bridge over the River Eden in the grounds of Hever Castle in Kent. She is also seen under the great oak where Henry VIII courted her.

December 24^th is the time at which a ghost of a monk is to be seen wandering through the ruins of the old Cistercian abbey at Strata Florida, Ceredigion in the north-east of Tregaron.

There is more than one version of why the ghostly ringing of a sunken bell may be heard at Bomere Pool, near Shrewsbury, Shropshire on Christmas Eve. A village once existed where the pool is today.

One farmer persisted in cutting his corn on a Sunday; the whole village was punished for this infringement of the 10^th Commandment by being sunk beneath the waves.

An alternative story says the people gave themselves to godless and riotous living; one year they refused to go to church on Christmas Eve. As a consequence the waters rose and drowned the village and its inhabitants.

Some people claim to hear the voices and cries of children and the church bells still toll in the watery world of Bomere Pool.

More bells but this time from the depths of a lake in Cheshire. Monks removed the bells from Combermere Abbey, near Nantwich when the original abbey was dissolved. The bells fell off the boat in which they were being transported. Now on 24^th December the bells are sometimes heard, often accompanied by sightings of a ghostly monk.

The Tudor mansion, Madingley Hall in Cambridgeshire was built by Sir John Hynde in 1543. The ghost of Lady Ursula, his wife forever walks the Hall wringing her hands in despair. Lady Ursula was distressed at her son’s destruction of the local church of St Ethelreada in Histon to obtain building materials for the Hall. Each Christmas Eve she walks between the Hall and the church.

It was Prince Albert who introduced the Christmas tree to England when he had one set up at Windsor Castle. Albert bought Sandringham House for Queen Victoria and it remains a royal residence today.

Sandringham is known for its Christmas poltergeist. Noisy activity is seen and heard in the servants’ quarters on Christmas Eve and around the Christmas period. Cards are strewn around; footsteps heard and unpleasant presence felt. Staff have felt uneasy to be alone in the footman’s corridor.

Festive Ghosts will be continued with that of Thomas à Becket and the ghosts of New Year’s Eve in a later  post.