M.J. Wayland's Blog, page 7

Hickleton Skulls

The Hickleton Skulls, sadly missing the third after a theft Hickleton on the outskirts of Doncaster is a pretty village that once stood as an oasis in the middle of countryside marked by coal mines. It’s an ancient village and its stories revolve around its Norman church. In its Lychgate, three skulls are embedded into the wall with the motto “’To Day for Me, Tomorrow for Thee’ which probably means enjoy today as it may be your last! Hickleton crossroads is a place of ghostly activity and was once on a very ancient trackway and possible roman road. At crossroads it wouldn’t be unusual for the locals to bury suicide victims or even erect a gibbet to dish out punishment. At Hickleton it is believed that there once stood a mighty gibbet that hung three highwaymen. The local vicar at the time decided to keep the rotting skulls and embed them in his church entrance as a warning to those who wish to break the law. However after recent further research it likely to be the result or request by Lord Halifax as a form of “Memento Mori” – a symbolic gesture that you are going to die. It was […]

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Phantom Cannons of Hull

While researching unrelated books and articles, I often uncovered strange articles or incidents buried within old literature. During one of many visits to the Bradford Central Library I came across the following passage in the “Yorkshire Folklore Journal Vol.1”. Charles Fort wrote about the “Guns of Barisal” – a series of phantom sounds during the 1890s that were thought to be cannon fire, strangely the piece I found discusses a similar incident in 1658 – the Phantom Cannons of Hull. The article was originally found in “Chamber’s Papers for the People”, a chapter “relating to Yorkshire”. “The true relation of a strange and very wonderful thing that was heard in the air October 12th, 1658, by hundreds of people: Now I come to relate the matter, the which was thus: Upon the 12th day of October, in the afternoon, there was heard by some hundreds of people in Holderness, Hedon, and about Hull, and several other places in Yorkshire first, three great pieces of ordnance or cannons discharged in the air one after another, very terrible to hear, and afterwards immediately followed a peal of muskets. This shooting off of muskets continued about an half-quarter of an hour, drums beating […]

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At last found a ghost!

“Rumour is going about that the Psychical Society has at last found a ghost.” The Society for Psychical Research, one of Britain’s longest running psychical and paranormal research organisations, although I know they won’t be happy with me using the term paranormal, has been the focus of derisory articles, spoofs and offensive newspaper articles, especially during the late 1800s and early 1900s. During the last four years archival research into the history of Britain’s most haunted houses, I have chanced upon many articles that comment about S.P.R.’s alleged activities. I will publish more of these articles in future posts, but if anything it has given me a renewed respect for the S.P.R. and those pioneers who battled on to continue running the organisation. This piece highlights the approach of many journalists when dealing with ghosts and the S.P.R., the St James’s Gazette wrote in June 1885; “The committee have, we believe, hired houses warranted to be haunted by the most unexceptionable spectres, have heroically slept in the haunted chamber night after night, and have not so much heard a sigh or seen the least symptom of a faint blue light. Things were at their worst when a change came which […]

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Vampires of the Borders

Scotland and England have very prolific stories of the vampire and that is no different for the towns that are situated on the Scottish/England border. Stories of vampirism are rife in all the countries that make up the United Kingdom. Scotland and England have very prolific stories of the vampire and that is no different for the towns that are situated on the borders. The famed Croglin Vampire case claimed that during the mid-Victorian times a bout of vampirism occurred in a quiet village just 30 miles from the Scottish border, this has been discussed further on this website. Vampires were not restricted to Eastern Europe, as we already know but there were ‘Vampires’ close to the two border towns of Berwick and Melrose. The Berwick Vampire The Canon William of Newburgh, a highly respected priest who lived during the reign of Richard I in the thirteenth century, introduced the tale of the Berwick Vampire to folklore. This was the time when the plague devastated whole towns and cities in one swoop and the northern counties were no exception. William’s story concerns a rich merchant who was a victim of the plague but was known as a religious, thoughtful man. […]

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Balgonie Castle – Scotland’s Most Haunted Castle?

The Sibbald family built Balgonie Castle in Fife in the 14th century, with additions made to the structure over the following three centuries. The castle has been visited by both James the IV and Mary Queen of Scots and was for many years the seat of the Earls of Leven. In January 1716 the infamous Rob Roy MacGregor paid Balgonie a visit with some two hundred clansmen and twenty Hanoverian prisoners.  Other famous visitors to Balgonie Castle have included Daniel Defoe, Dr Benjamin Rush (signatory of the American Declaration of Independence), James Boswell and Dr Johnson. The 8th Earl of Leven sold Balgonie in 1824 to Sir James Balfour of Whittinghame (grandfather of A J Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour, Prime Minister 1902-05) who gave the estate to his second son Charles. By the 1840s letters were appearing in the Edinburgh press concerning the appalling state of Balgonie. The roofs were later taken off to avoid paying Roof Tax. Following heavy vandalism of the 1960s, the Castle was sold to David Maxwell, from Edinburgh, in 1971. He carried out restoration to the Tower before selling to the present Laird, Raymond Morris of Balgonie & Eddergoll, in 1985. The ghost for which […]

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Standard Hill Ghost at Nottingham Castle

Is Nottingham the most haunted city in England? Nottingham Castle is one location that has its fair share of ghostly activity and here is one such story about its hauntings. In the shadow of Nottingham Castle, the houses of Standard Hill date back nearly two hundred years. The name Standard Hill itself dates to the time when Charles I raised his standard and the English Civil War began. In 1921 reports of a ghost began to circulate in the area which alarmed the tenants so much, that they dare not step outside after dark. Superstitions had remained in the area that the spirit of Mortimer, Earl of March, haunted the castle, and a subterranean passage known as “Mortimer’s Hole”. Mortimer had used this passage to surprise and attack the nobles supporting King Edward II, husband of his mistress Queen Dowager Isabella. Later King Edward II was deposed of the crown and cruelly murdered in Berkeley Castle, where he is said to still haunt. The ghost of Standard Hill manifested as a shadowy form and phantom footsteps, determined to uncover the reason for the haunting, one householder kept vigil in the tunnel. “He turned the light low, he said, and waited. […]

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A Ghost at Nottingham Castle

Is Nottingham the most haunted city in England? Nottingham Castle is one location that has its fair share of ghostly activity and here is one such story about its hauntings. In the shadow of Nottingham Castle the houses of Standard Hill date back nearly two hundred years. The name Standard Hill itself dates to the time when Charles I raised his standard and the English Civil War began. In 1921 reports of a ghost began to circulate in the area which alarmed the tenants so much, that they dare not step outside after dark. Superstitions had remained in the area that the spirit of Mortimer, Earl of March, haunted the castle, and a subterranean passage known as “Mortimer’s Hole”. Mortimer had used this passage to surprise and attack the nobles supporting King Edward II, husband of his mistress Queen Dowager Isabella. Later King Edward II was deposed of the crown and cruelly murdered in Berkeley Castle, where he is said to still haunt. The ghost of Standard Hill manifested as a shadowy form and phantom footsteps, determined to uncover the reason for the haunting, one householder kept vigil in the tunnel. “He turned the light low, he said, and waited. […]

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The Coverdale Ghost Light

For years a ghost light haunted a remote Yorkshire Dales village’s road. Was it the ghost of a murdered woman or something stranger? In the late 1930s, there were numerous reports of ghost light annually appearing on the outskirts of Coverdale village in North Yorkshire. Interviewing Mr J. Pickersgill, a Middleham butcher (just a few miles away from Coverdale), a Yorkshire Post journalist was told, I have seen it two or three times. You pull up at the side of the road which is narrow, expecting a car to pass you. It doesn’t come and as soon as you start again, the light goes out and there is nothing on the road. Nearly everybody in the dale has seen it. There is a man at West Scrafton who has seen it more than anybody, and he is puzzled. It has been seen for years on this road but not always on the same stretch. The road from Coverdale to West Scrafton, between the hamlets of Caldbergh and East Scrafton is where the ghost light was most reported. And although not mentioned at the time, the road has an urban legend, or ghost attached to it. 13th Century Coverham Abbey on […]

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Ghostly Treasure & The Older Woman

Some of the oldest beliefs about ghosts are that supernatural entities protect or are connected to ‘treasure’. One of Britain’s oldest treasure tales is the Golden Ghost of Mold. In North West Wales, the small town of Mold has an interesting ghost/fairy story.  In 1833, John Langford had purchased land nearby and commissioned workmen to flatten a bank of earth on his land. It soon became apparent that they were not digging an earthen bank but actually a prehistoric tomb.  The workmen and Langford discovered bones, beads but at its centre, a gold corselet – a golden poncho. Connected to the mound is an interesting ghost story, the following letter comes from the Reverend Clough who was in the parish at the time of discovery. “Connected with this subject, it is certainly a strange circumstance that an elderly woman, who had been to Mold to lead her husband home late at night from a public house, should have seen or fancied, a spectre to have crossed the road before her to the identical mound of grave, ‘of unusual size, and clothed in a coat of gold, which shone like the sun,’ and that she should tell the story in the […]

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Screaming Skulls and Headless Spirits

For thousands of years across many different cultures across the world people have believed that the head or skull has held the soul. Some tribes would preserve the skulls of their fallen enemies and the Celts would decorate their shrines with skulls. In Britain, we have strange folklore of skulls that scream if taken from the location that they are held. At Wardley Hall in Lancashire the skull of 16th-century Catholic martyr Father Ambrose Barlow is on view at the head of the staircase with the legend that if anybody removes it the skull will emit a blood-curdling scream! The Screaming Skull of Burton Agnes Hall According to legend, Burton Agnes Hall in Yorkshire has another screaming skull legend, this one belonging to Anne Griffiths. After being attacked and beaten by robbers, Anne in her dying breaths expressed the wish that her head should be buried in the home that she so much loved. Nevertheless, her family buried her in the village churchyard. After the funeral, terrifying groans and poltergeist activity such as doors slamming and crashes were heard around the house. The dead girl’s body was exhumed and her skull was exhumed and bricked up in a wall off […]

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