Haunted Isles -in the company of spirits

Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel "The Haunting of Hill House" has been adapted to film a few times, the 1999 Jan de Bont adaptation with Liam Neeson, Catherine Zita Jones and Owen Wilson used Harlaxton Manor near Grantham in Lincolnshire for the exterior shots. Harlaxton is a house which is itself believed to be haunted. Built by Gregory Gregory (1786-1854) the current Harlaxton Manor replaces a 14th century manor house formerly used as a hunting lodge by John of Gaunt, later purchased by Gregory's ancestor Daniel De Ligne.  Sadly Daniel's first child died in a tragic accident. The death of the baby had been foretold to Daniel and his wife Elizabeth who did everything they could to prevent this tragedy. They employed a nursemaid to stay with the child at all times. The nurse did her best to obey her employers instructions but fell asleep whilst holding the babe who slipped out of her arms and into the fire. (Source: Mrs Delves Broughton "Beautiful Homes: Harlaxto...

In the midst of a thunder storm on 4th August 1577 Black Shuck appeared in Suffolk, the huge black dog with blazing red eyes burst in through the door of the Church of St Mary in Bungay  and proceeded to run "all along down the body of the church with great swiftnesse and incredible haste, among the people, in a visible fourm and shape, passed between two persons, as they were kneeling uppon their knees, and occupied in prayer as it seemed, wrung the necks of them bothe at one instant clene backward, in somuch that even at a momet where they kneeled, they stragely dyed" ( quote Abraham Fleming ) "This black dog or the divel in such a likenesse" ( quote Abraham Fleming ) then made his way to Blythburgh, just outside Southwold on the coast, where the storm was lashing down upon the Church of The Holy Trinity.  Black Shuck threw open the church doors and leapt into the church in the middle of a service: "All down the church in midst of fire, the hellish monste...

  Imagine being 8 or 9 years old, out with your brother or sister and a few friends in a place you are not supposed to be as dusk is falling. Time has run away with you as you were having fun out and about without parental supervision. But now you're getting a little tired and are beginning to think that you should all go home especially as it is getting dark and lots of little people, half the size of you, have appeared in cars. They are laughing and they are chasing you around, some of your friends have been in the out of bounds "swamp" and come out covered in mud.  It would be quite scary wouldn't it? This is apparently what happened on 23rd September 1979 to a group of primary school children playing in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, when they were chased by gnomes driving small cars. Each car had a gnome driver and a gnome passenger, eventually the children ran out of the park and the gnomes stopped following them. Back at school a few days later each child was indiv...

 The 31 Colleges that comprise the University of Cambridge are housed in beautiful historic buildings set in stunning grounds, with the oldest, Peterhouse, being established in 1284 by the Bishop of Ely it's hardly surprising that many Colleges are believed to be haunted. In this blog post Haunted Isles takes a look at some of the ghosts of the Cambridge Colleges: Peterhouse Two of Peterhouse's ghosts have been subject to exorcism, a poltergeist was exorcised from a student's room during the 18th century, also a "presence" in the old courtyard was exorcised by a College Dean. However during the 1990s the ghost of  an 18th century Peterhouse Senior Fellow, Francis Daws narrowly escaped exorcism. Francis Daws, 18th century Senior Fellow of Peterhouse College, committed suicide in 1789, apparently in an act of remorse following his part in the election of the unpopular Master, Frances Barnes. It is believed that the ghost of Francis Daws was responsible for the 1997 ...

  In his 1993 book 'Ghosts and How to See Them' the late President and Chief Investigator of Britain's Ghost Club, Peter Underwood,  advises that even if we see or hear things that we cannot explain "it does not mean that ghosts are responsible." He then proceeds to tell us about one such incident that he experienced: The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) had asked Peter Underwood to investigate a case of ghostly music in a London home that had left other investigators baffled. Music was heard at various times of day and night in the downstairs rooms of the house, the owner didn't seem disturbed by the music but was seeking an expert answer as to what was going on. Upon arrival at the house Peter and the owner sat and talked about the unexplained music when lo and behold it started playing in another room. Mr Underwood went to investigate, the owner followed him and the music stopped.  Peter Underwood spent three hours in that house, going from room to room...

In his 1980's book "Timpson's England a look beyond the obvious" author and broadcaster John Timpson writes of Barnwell Abbey: "For sheer variety in ghosts it would have been difficult to beat Barnwell Abbey House in Cambridge. There was a squire, and a White Lady, and a poltergiest, and a disembodied head. There was also the statutory clanking chain and, less likely, a ghostly squirrel and a hare." Timpson goes on to suggest combining all the above into one ghost story but concludes with: "But alas it is too late. All that remains is a building called Cellarers Chequer and these restless spirits with their ghostly menagerie must have long since departed." But have they? Barnwell Priory itself fell victim to the Reformation and was dissolved in 1538 subsequently falling into ruin, Abbey House was built on priory land and Abbey House is reputed to be very haunted.   One ghost is that of Squire Jacob Butler, the oldest barrister in En...