Icy Sedgwick's Blog, page 22

Meet the dreaded Mackenzie Poltergeist of Greyfriars Kirkyard

It’s a cold night in 1998, the type Edinburgh specialises in, when the frigid air seems to work its way into the very marrow of your bones. A homeless man seeks shelter for the night. He finds himself in Greyfriars Kirkyard. A-ha! Look! There’s a building up ahead! The man tries the door but it’s […]

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Who is the Black Nun of Threadneedle Street?

The Bank of England has stood on Threadneedle Street since 1734. With such a long history, you’d expect it, and the area, to be haunted. Indeed, the Square Mile packs a lot of human activity into a relatively small space. The Black Nun of Threadneedle Street is a favourite story on ghost walks around the […]

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Your Money or Your Life: A Free Story

I crouch in the bushes at the side of the road with only a dead body at my feet for company. I nudge the corpse with the toe of my stolen boots. It rolls into the ditch behind me, hitting the frost-frozen earth with a hollow thump. Good riddance, if you ask me. The full moon gazes […]

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Is the ghost at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane a good omen?

Theatres attract tales of ghosts and hauntings like few other types of building. The Theatre Royal in Drury Lane is no exception. The current Theatre Royal in Covent Garden dates to 1812. It’s actually the fourth incarnation on the site since 1663. You can even find 18th-century foundations below ground level. The third incarnation of […]

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Meet the Grey Lady ghosts of Newcastle upon Tyne

Lots of locations around the UK boast a Grey Lady, a White Lady, or even a Green Lady. Such spectres are usually attached to sad tales of loss and a lot of them are nameless. When I visited Bamburgh Castle some years ago, one of the guides told me they have a Pink Lady. As […]

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Who was the Grey Man of Bellister?

Many lonely and remote parts of the UK echo with tales of local spirits, such as the Grey Man of Bellister. These legends often refer to misdeeds of centuries past, specific locations that give rise to sad tales, or stories that provide an explanation for natural features. Some even act as a warning, and the […]

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Hazel Trees in Folklore: Protection, Divination and Magic

Hazel trees, alongside oak, ash, and yew, are one of the ‘Big Four’ trees (Mac Coitir 2003). It’s considered both a protector and a marker for sacred places. While some debate that it’s a shrub, we’re going to consider it as a tree in this post. Nicholas Culpeper classified the hazel as a plant of […]

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The Fantastic Magic and Folklore of Ash Trees

Ash trees form a common part of the British landscape. Bushy and beautiful in full leaf, they provide strong hardwood when coppiced. Use this handy guide from the Forestry Commission to identify ash trees. While thorn trees provide the most common tree-related place name in England, ash trees come second (Kendall 2021). People on the […]

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What Willow Folklore Surrounds This Beautiful Tree?

The weeping willow is a common sign of mourning. Willow folklore often pokes tendrils into death superstitions and sayings. Margaret Baker relates the belief that “[i]n Louisiana, […] when a willow grew large enough to cast a grave-sized shadow, a family member would die” (2011: 159). In the UK, no builders in the Fens used sawn […]

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Meet the Oak, the Favoured Tree of the Forest!

The oak tree is pretty synonymous with the British landscape. From the National Trust logo to the mighty Major Oak that allegedly sheltered Robin Hood, we’ve got a bit of a thing about them. These trees first appeared around 65 million years ago. To put that into perspective, the first homo sapiens only appeared around […]

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