Haunted Isles -in the company of Grace Clairmont

  This is Emily a porcelain doll belonging to a 50 something witch we'll call Angela (name change for the sake of anonymity).  Angela purchased Emily from Ebay as a "little sisiter" to a haunted doll already in her possesion. She says that she had never thought about collecting haunted dolls until one day she noticed a doll for sale in a new age type shop she had visited to buy some coloured spells candles. The doll that caught her attention was said to be haunted by the spirit of a 7 year old girl named Louise and for some reason unknown to herself Angela was very drawn to her. At first she ignored this feeling, bought the spell candles and left the shop, but, she couldn't get Louise out of her mind so returned next day and bought her. Nothing much happened with Louise, or so Angela thought, though she did find herself putting children's TV programs on for the doll to watch. Also she began to feel that Louise was lonely and needed a companion, a sister. This led ...

  The 18th century folksong "A Spanish Lady's Love to an English Sailor" is reputed to tell the story of Sir John Bolle and Donna Leonora Oviedo. There are serval versions of the story, one states that Donna Leonora fell in love with Sir John Bolle ( 1560 -1606) when he was in charge of keeping her in custody at the time of the Siege of Cadiz. The other version has Sir John Bolle as the prisoner and Donna Leonora arranging his escape. Both versions agree that Donna Leonora loved Sir John Bolle very much, and that he returned to his wife Elizabeth. Upon parting Donna Leonora gave Sir John a portrait of herself in a green dress. Versions differ as to what happened next, some say Donna Leonora Oviedo entered a convent where she spent the rest of her life. The more dramatic version of this tale of unrequited love has the Spanish lady following Sir John to his home, Thorpe Hall, in England where she committed suicide in the garden.  Wherever Donna Leonora died, ...

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 ...