HGB Ep. 396 - Westminster Abbey

Moment in Oddity - Rivers of Mercury in Tombs

In 2016, archaeologist Sergio Gomez representing Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History found liquid mercury in three chambers of the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Liquid mercury is a rare find in tombs. When mercury is found in Mesoamerican tombs, it is in the form of cinnabar, which is a powdery red pigment. Mercury in a liquid form would have been rare at this time as the cinnabar needs to be crushed and heated to a high temperature and then the vapor collected, which is the liquid mercury. Mercury was found in Egyptian tombs dating to about 1500 BC and it is believed that the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, who had the terra cotta soldiers built for his tomb also had rivers of mercury in his tomb. Sergio Gomez believes that the mercury in the tomb in Mexico was there as a representation of the geography of the underworld. The mercury would have indicated where lakes and rivers were in the realm of the dead. There are some who think that leaders like China's emperor would drink the mercury thinking that it led to long life or even immortality. Clearly they didn't realize the toxicity of mercury. The humidity and lack of oxygen in the tombs helped to preserve the mercury in liquid form. Flowing rivers of mercury in tombs, certainly are odd!

This Month in History - Woodstock Starts

In the month of August, on the 15th, in 1969, Woodstock began. Woodstock was a three day concert billed as "An Aquarian Experience: 3 Days of Peace and Music" that was hosted in a field near Max Yasgur's Dairy Farm at Bethel, New York. The event almost didn't happen with multiple venue changes as promoters scrambled to find somewhere willing to host the concert. Bad weather turned the field into a giant mud pit. There were 32 rock bands and singers that participated including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Iron Butterfly, Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Grateful Dead. More than 400,000 people showed up for the event. This was a defining event for the counterculture. This was a concert to promote peace and it was remarkably peaceful considering its size. There were two deaths during the three days along with two births and 742 drug overdoses.

Westminster Abbey (Suggested by: Leah Barnes and her sister Liz) 

Westminster Abbey is an iconic structure that has stood for hundreds of years. More than 3300 people are buried here, seventeen of which are monarchs and this location has hosted royal weddings and every coronation since 1066 AD. There are hundreds of memorials, statues and art pieces inside this once stronghold of the Catholic Church that is now a Protestant and British symbol recognized throughout the world. Not surprisingly, there may be a few ghosts lurking in the shadows. Join us as we share the history and hauntings of Westminster Abbey!

Starting in the 6th century, a Benedictine monastery was built here. King Serbert of the East Saxons had just converted to Christianity and he had it dedicated to St. Peter and consecrated by the first Bishop of London, Mellitus. A legend claims that St. Peter dedicated his own church himself. He appeared as a cloaked stranger and asked a fisherman to row him across the river. As they neared the church it lit up with a celestial brilliance and angels appeared in the sky singing. Then St. Peter anointed the church's walls with holy water. And yeah, that probably didn't happen, but the monastery here would be an anchor for 500 years.

The first version of the Abbey dates back to 1065 AD. Only parts of it still exist within the present Abbey. That first structure was an enlargement of the small Benedictine monastery that was re-endowed by King Edward and dedicated to St. Peter the Apostle. There was a cathedral on the eastern side of London that was known as East Minster, so this church became West Minster. King Edward died a few days after it was consecrated and he was buried in front of the High Altar. Harold would be crowned king, but that didn't last long as he was defeated by William the Conqueror and he would be the first monarch to be coronated in Westminster Abbey. This happened on Christmas Day in 1066 and that started a tradition of coronations that continues today. The parts of this original Abbey that remain today are the large supporting columns of the undercroft, some of the round arches and the Pyx Chamber in the cloisters. The undercroft was where the monks had their quarters.

After 200 years, it was decided to rebuild the Abbey and this was undertaken by King Henry III who wanted Westminster Abbey to represent the Gothic style of architecture. This new church was consecrated on October 13, 1269. The next thing King Henry III did was to move the body of Edward the Confessor into a grander tomb behind the High Altar. Over the years, this tomb has been joined by the burial of several medieval kings like Henry III, Edward I, Edward III, Richard II and Henry V. There are many memorials in the Abbey made up of 600 monuments and wall tablets. The ancient coronation chair is still here, which is remarkable considering its age. But its not the only real old item still at the Abbey. Britain's oldest door is here in the Abbey in the passage leading to the Chapter House and dates to 1050 AD. It was one of the things that King Henry III retained in the rebuild and scientists who have studied the door believe it came from a tree that grew in eastern England, maybe from Essex. The door is constructed in a unique way, not typical of the medieval period, with five vertical oak planks held together with three horizontal battens and iron straps in a flush manner. It is thought that it was originally nine feet high, but has been cut down to 6.5 feet and the rounded arch at the top was removed. There is still cow hide that is part of the door and an old legend claimed that it was human skin that had been flayed from someone robbing the church and it was nailed to the door.

King Henry VII was the first of the Tudors and he added the Lady Chapel to the Abbey, which is a magnificent space. For people who don't know, many cathedrals have a Lady Chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The most spectacular part of this space is the ceiling. This is described as fan-vaulting and we've never seen anything like it, but it really does look like lace fans that have been carved, coming out of the ceiling. The floor is black and white checkered with carved wooden seats lining the walls. Banners of the current Knights Grand Cross line the walls above the chairs. There is lots of stained glass in here too with the Battle of Britain memorial window, along with other themed windows. Speaking of the stained glass, there had once been many medieval pieces in the Abbey, but little of that remains. A few can be seen in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries. The King's tomb is here and was designed by Italian sculptor Pietro Torrigiano who crowned the tomb with gilt bronze effigies of the king and his wife. The tomb is encircled by a bronze screen made by Thomas Ducheman. The chapel was consecrated on February 19, 1516. There are fifteen kings and queens buried in here as well, including Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and from the Stuart line, William and Mary and Queen Anne.

In 1540, King Henry VIII dissolved the Catholic hold on the Abbey and set-up a bishop, the first of who was Thomas Thirlby. Westminster Abbey was made a cathedral by an Act of Parliament in 1550 and Queen Elizabeth I refounded the church as a Collegiate Church, which is a Church of England outside of the jurisdiction of the diocese and under the direction of the monarch. The Westminster School is here as well. And speaking of Elizabeth I, her tomb is creepy as hell with her likeness carved into the marble that makes it look as though she is lying down on her tomb with her eyes open. There is a bejeweled crown on her head. 

The two western towers were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built between 1722 and 1745 out of Portland stone in the Gothic Revival style. An earthquake in 1750 damaged one of the piers on the north side of the Abbey and crushed several houses and the Abbey suffered damage during the Blitz on November 15, 1940. There was also damage by some bombs in 1941. Notable things connected to the Abbey in our lifetimes are the wedding of Prince Andrew and Fergie in 1986, the funeral of Princess Diane in 1997, Prince William and Kate Middleton were married in the Abbey in 2011 and Pope Benedict XVI was the first pope to set foot in the Abbey and he did that in 2010.

There are ten change ringing bells that were cast in 1971 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The first bells here were installed in the mid 1200s. King Henry III ordered that a bell be made for the Abbey bigger than any bell that had been made before and this was joined by a small bell that was in tune with the great bell. By 1255, there were five bells in use. Eventually there would be six bells and that number would remain constant until the twentieth century. A bell from 1310 is on display in the Jubilee gallery. The bells are rung during coronations, major church festivals, saints' days, Royal and Abbey anniversaries, civic events, special occasions and chimed daily prior to evening service. The tenor bell is tolled upon the death of a member of the Royal family. The Westminster Abbey Company of Ringers are responsible for ringing the bells. When the bells ring out in a peal, there are 5,000 changes without a break.

The Nave is at the western end of the Abbey and took 150 years to complete. It was completed in 1517 and features the graves and memorials of many famous people. One of those people is Sir Isaac Newton and his burial is right in front of a decorated screen leading into the Quire. The Quire has stalls for the choir, who sing daily during choral services. And that makes sense because quire is just another spelling for choir. Other stalls in here are for clergy. There is a black and white checkered floor that dates to 1677. Another famous person interred here is Geoffrey Chaucer and his burial would be the start of Poets' Corner, which houses the burials of other poets, writers and musicians like William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Hardy who Diane has an affinity for. Abolitionist William Wilberforce was buried here in 1833 and Charles Darwin was buried here in 1882. Stephen Hawking's ashes were interred on June 15, 2018. The majority of interments at the Abbey are of cremated remains. The Deans of Westminster decide who gets buried. There are also memorials dedicated to C.S. Lewis, Sir Winston Churchill and President F.D. Roosevelt. The western window is stained glass featuring Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and fourteen prophets. There are beautiful Waterford crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and glass doors were installed in 1990 and have various inscriptions and shields.

Clearly, Westminster Abbey is not only a location of significant historical value, but this is a graveyard. A burial ground for well known creators and royalty. So it's not surprising there are many ghost stories to go with this location. John Bradshaw presided at the trial of King Charles I and ordered his execution. He was buried here and his spirit is probably at unrest because of something King Charles II did. He disinterred the bodies of all those responsible for the death of Monarchs and Bradshaw was one of those people. His decomposing body was taken to the Tyburn Gallows and hung up. His head came off and stuck on a spike outside of Westminster Hall to serve as a warning. People claim to see him walking Westminster Abbey's Triforium where he had an office. This usually takes place on the anniversary of Charles I execution.

There is a statue of Daniel Pulteney in the South Cloisters that is holding a book and visitors sometimes think they see it turn a page.There is a Tomb to the Unknown Warrior here. This is dedicated to soldiers who died during World War I and was dedicated on November 11, 1920. An unidentified soldier was given a royal funeral and buried beneath a marble stone from Belgium. Soil was brought from the battlefields of France as well. Visitors have sometimes spotted a see-through soldier standing near the tomb with his head bowed before he dematerializes. 

One of the specters that has been seen here many times belongs to Father Benedictus. He was a monk and even though he is now a spirit, many people think he is still alive because he appears very solid and carries on conversations. Many times he is seen floating off the ground and that is for a good reason. Over time, the floor of the abbey has lowered, so it Father Benedictus is walking on where the floor had originally been. He usually appears in the evenings around five or six. One of the first recorded interactions with the monk came in 1900 and the story goes that a group of visitors saw him and watched him for twenty-five minutes before he backed into a wall and disappeared into the fabric there. Two Americans were visiting the abbey in 1932 when they got lost. It was close to closing time and they feared they wouldn't be able to work their way back out of the hallways when they ran into a helpful monk. He helped them find their way and told them he was Father Benedictus as they left. The next day they decided to return to thank him for his help and when they asked after him they were told that no monks were living in the Abbey.

A woman named Lilian Carpenter was in the Abbey one evening when she saw the solitary figure of someone in the robe of a Benedictine monk. He had his head bowed as he walked as though in prayer and she immediately wondered if this was the ghost she had heard about because no Benedictine monks should be here. The spirit made its way through the deanery and into the Nave before passing under the organ screen. Lilian followed it and saw it go into the Quire and as it entered a stall, it faded away. In the Quire, she knew she had seen a spirit because the figure was floating eighteen inches above the black and white pavement. The floor hadn't been at that height since the Reformation.

The On The Tudor Trail Blog shared an experience a reader named Katherine had here in 2009, "I had gotten there early and had to wait about half an hour. Eventually they opened. I paid my admission fee and was actually the first visitor in that morning. Those who have been there know you enter through the north transept door and are kind of channeled around up through Henry VII’s Chapel, back down again, out through the cloisters, then back through the nave and out the west door. I usually just follow the flow as it goes to all the places I want to go to anyway. That morning though I wanted to see Frances Brandon Grey’s tomb. She is buried in St. Edmund’s Chapel on the south side of the Abbey, just east of the south transept. I had found the tomb on a previous visit, but had neglected to write down the inscription on it. I decided to do that first, so I went directly there. St. Edmund’s Chapel is very small and nobody famous (e.g. anybody whose name would be known to the general public) is buried in it. Like most Abbey chapels, it has gates that can be shut to close the chapel. The best way I can describe the gates is that they look like the saloon doors in every western movie you’ve ever seen — two small doors that could pushed open to enter. Unlike the saloon doors though, they aren’t on springs. Instead they could be pushed all the way back to lock on the wall so they would stay opened. When I got there, they were already open. I found Frances’s tomb again against the far wall of the chapel from the doors, wrote down the inscription, and then spent some time studying the decoration and design. I was there for maybe 10 minutes total. During that time I believe only two people came in. Both stayed only seconds before wandering out again. When I was ready to leave, I turned around to walk to the door and noticed that the gate that was closest to me was closed. And even as I watched, the other gate lifted up from the wall and very slowly started closing! I was too astounded by this to even move. I just stood and stared at it for about fifteen seconds or so until it was completely closed. The hair on the back of my neck and on my arms was standing up. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so creeped out by anything in my life. Finally I scooted over to the gates and pulled them both open. Fortunately they weren’t locked — I’m sure I would have screamed bloody murder if they had been! I wasn’t about to stay around long enough to try to lock the doors back in place. I just rushed out and made sure I didn’t go near there again during that visit. I can’t say I really believe in ghosts. I’m pretty much an open-minded skeptic on the subject. But I did make sure before I left the Abbey to stop and light a candle for poor Frances. I doubt she gets many visitors."

Leah and Liz's experiences: "My twin sister and I are definite believers of the paranormal, with my sister being more of an empath than I, but it doesn’t make me any less of an enthusiast. We visited England and Scotland back in March 2017. This was the first time we had ever been overseas, and man, was this the trip of a lifetime. We got to visit so many beautiful palaces and castles during our trip, including Hampton Court and Westminster Abbey. While we were visiting Westminster Abbey, (which by the way, is MIND BLOWING!) we were walking down to the older portion of the abbey and walked into what used to be a prayer room/classroom and my sister instantly felt a presence. A very OLD presence. She said it was probably the oldest spirit she’d ever encountered, older than old from her words. She felt a sense of immense peace and clarity in that moment, and she said, "It’s a monk. It’s definitely a monk.'"

We love it when listeners have personal experiences at some of these historical locations that we feature because it makes the ghost stories more real. Many people have had unexplained experiences here. Is Westminster Abbey haunted? That is for you to decide!