HGB Ep. 657 - Haunted County Durham

This Month in History - Emily Warren Roebling's Birth

In the month of September, on the 23rd, in 1843, Emily Warren Roebling was born in Cold Spring, New York. She grew up in a large, supportive family where her parents valued higher education for both their sons and daughters. Emily was encouraged to push against 19th century norms by obtaining a higher education studying science, mathematics and literature. She would grow up to play an indispensable role in the creation of one of America's greatest architectural marvels, the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1872, her husband Washington Roebling, became bedridden with decompression sickness. Washington was the chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge project and Emily stepped forward as his vital link to the construction site. She did not merely carry messages; she mastered complex higher mathematics, material science, stress analysis, and cable construction to effectively communicate with contractors, engineers, and day laborers. For more than a decade, Emily managed the project's daily operations, inspected materials, dealt with competing politicians, and defended her husband's position as chief engineer. Her profound dedication and engineering competence were so widely recognized that she was given the honor of being the first person to cross the completed bridge on horseback in 1883, carrying a rooster as a symbol of victory.

Haunted County Durham (Derr um)

County Durham has a deep mining and farming heritage and is located in the northeast part of England near Scotland. This is the only English county prefixed with the word "County." The history spans so many eras that are reflected in the architecture, from Roman conquest to the Anglo-Saxons to the powerful medieval palatinate ruled by Prince Bishops. And all along the way, spiritual residue was left behind. Join us for the history and hauntings of County Durham. 

Durham is a town of quaint cobbled streets lined with boutiques and restaurants. Towering above it are two of its most distinct buildings, Durham Castle and Durham Cathdedral. Both have stood for nearly 1,000 years. Winding through Durham is the River Wear (we're), which hugs the city on three sides. The Roman Empire occupied County Durham starting in 71 AD. After that, the Romans built strategic military roads and Fort Vinovium, known now as Binchester and Fort Longovicium, now known as Lanchester. These supported the infrastructure and garrisons of Hadrian’s Wall, which was built starting in 122 AD under Emperor Hadrian. The Romans withdrew in the 5th century and County Durham became part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Bernicia, which lasted for four centuries, eventually becoming the Kingdom of Northumbria. It was during this time that Christianity arrived, as did St. Cuthbert. He became one of England's most venerated saints. When the Vikings invaded Northumbria, Lindisfarne monks fled with the body of St. Cuthbert in 995 AD, and settled at a high peninsula called Dun Holm after a vision. This would be the beginning of Durham. And while we love stories of supernatural visions, historians poo poo this fanciful story by pointing out that the area was readily defensible and the Earl of Northumbria granted them the land. The Normans conquered in the 11th century and William the Conqueror built Durham Castle in 1072 AD to secure the northern border against Scottish invasions. After the Normans left, the county was governed by the Bishops of Durham as a county palantine (pal uh tine). Palantinates emerged in England after the Norman conquest and this arrangement gave Bishops or Earls the power that the King had, but just in one small area. County Durham was unique in that the power of this arrangement endured until 1654 when Durham got parliamentary representation. The county took part in northern uprisings against the English Reformation. The region transformed through coal mining, shipbuilding, and the opening of the pioneering Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. Today, it's a great spot for tourism.

Durham Castle

Durham Castle sits atop a hill overlooking the medieval city of Durham. The River Wear (Wee-ar) circles around the castle. Construction of the castle began in 1072 and there are differing accounts on whether parts of it were originally made from wood or stone. 

As was the case with many castles built at this time, wood was an easily sourced material and many parts of a castle were built from it and then later replaced with the more durable stone. William the Conqueror ordered the building of the castle. He was William I, the first Norman king of England, and he had descended from Viking raiders and been the Duke of Normandy. He was the victor at the Battle of Hastings. This battle began the Norman conquest of England. The castle was built six years after that conquest was complete. William the Conquerer ushered in the medieval era and introduced modern building techniques for castles. A main characteristic of Norman castles was the use of a motte, which was a large man-made mound of dirt and stones, and a bailey, which were inner and outer fenced in areas. Many times, the outer bailey was at the bottom of the mound. The day to day activities took place in the bailey, while the castle keep was built atop the motte. William the Conquerer died in 1087 in an unusual way. He was sitting atop his horse watching a Norman village burn when his horse was suddenly startled and reared up. The horn of the saddle struck William in the abdomen with much force. It was hard enough to cause internal injuries and William bled to death  internally. It took several days for him to succumb to the injury. The coffin that was built for him was too small and he was stuffed inside. Legend says that his putrifying body split open. Many centuries later, in 1562, grave robbers stole what was buried in the coffin, leaving only a thigh bone.

Supervision of the construction of the castle was under the Earl of Northumberland (nawrthuhmberland), Watheof. His supervision ended in 1076 when he rebelled against William and was executed. Walcher (waw lchur), the Bishop of Durham, took over control of the castle  and was given the title of Prince-Bishop of Durham. This title remained until the 19th century. It was the only title of its sort and made Durham unique in England. 

Walcher was in charge when many of the buildings of the castle were constructed. The castle today has a gatehouse, two chapels, a Great Hall, kitchen, a courtyard, the Black Staircase and another large building known as the Northern Range with several rooms that was built in the 12th century by Bishop Le Puiset (Pwee zeh). He more than likely built it as two large halls that were later subdivided. One of the chapels and the bell-tower were built by Bishop Tunstall in the 16th century. The Tunstall Chapel is gorgeous with stain glassed windows and carved wood. Durham Castle was crucial to protecting the border with Scotland and quelling English rebellions. The Historia Regum states that the castle was needed "to keep the bishop and his household safe from the attacks of assailants." The Palace Green that runs between the cathedral and the castle was once the old marketplace and originally had several wooden houses built there. Bishop Flambard had the houses taken down during his time to prevent fires. In 1837, the castle was donated to the University of Durham. It was named University College and the castle was restored by architect Anthony Salvin who followed the plans of the original keep. The restoration was completed in 1840 and now provides accomodations for students. More than just students reside here though. It would seem they are joined by the Grey Lady. She is reputed to be the spirit of Isabella Van Mildert. She was the wife of one of the bishops who served during the 17th century. The story goes that she was coming down the Black Staircase when she suddenly fell and broke her neck. Witnesses, many of whom are college students, claim to see a ghostly woman that appears to be grey, floating down the staircase.

There also is reputed to be a ghost from more modern times. Frederick Copeman was one of the university's first students and he had big dreams and expectations. Unfortunately, he did not do well on his final exams. He flunked them all. He was devastated. He climbed to the top most part and threw himself off. He is now seen around the castle grounds and paces the upper rooms. The Grammar School that sits along the Palace Green is reportedly haunted by a young pupil that was killed when one of the school masters threw him from a balcony. 

Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral is directly opposite from Durham Castle. The Durham Cathedral started off as The White Church, which was a wooden structure built to house the relics of St. Cuthbert. Upon entering the Cathedral, there is a grotesque knocker that provides comfort and protection against evil to those who touch it. 

The Galilee Chapel is at the Western end of the Cathedral and was built in 1170 and looks different from the rest of the cathedral. This started as a Lady Chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This has pointed arches and slender columns. This was renovated in the 15th century with a new roof and windows. St. Bede (Bead) has this as his final resting place as he was moved here in 1370. He was a Benedictine monk and scholar. The Nave is the main room of the cathedral and has these giant stone pillars measuring over 22 feet high, supporting the nave’s vaulted stone ceiling. The famous Rose Window is here. All the stained-glass windows had to be replaced after Cromwell ordered them smashed during the 17th century civil war. The Quire is where daily worship takes place. It is just behind the crossing of the Nave. In 1640, the Cathedral suffered significant damage when Scottish soldiers burnt much of the wood. Bishop John Cosin commissioned George Clement in 1665 to create new quire stalls that are gorgeous. They feature Gothic canopies with slender supporting columns adorned with elegant scrollwork. Behind this is the organ with red and gold coloring, built by Father Henry Willis and a staggering 5,746 pipes. The South side of the choir has the tomb of Prince Bishop Thomas Hatfield with the Bishop's throne above that. The Gilbert Scott Screen looks out of place since it clashes with the Romanesque design, but the construction from marble and alabaster is gorgeous. The building originally started to house and honor St. Cuthbert and he remains here in The Shrine of St. Cuthbert, buried beneath a stone slab. He wasn't always at peace here. 

In late 1539, King Henry VIII's commissioners were ordered to dismantle the shrine and they stripped it of the gold, silver, and jewels. But when they discovered Cuthbert's body in its priestly garments not rotted, they reinterred him. The Chapel of the Nine Altars was built between 1242 and 1280 and actually has three altars in it today. There is a wooden Pieta on display.

Lewis du Beaumont was a poorly viewed 'Prince Bishop' of Durham and was appointed because of his relation to the queen. He died in 1333. Some of the vergers in the Cathedral called him the Evil Bishop because he was so "rubbish" (illiterate, lazy, spent all of the cathedral's money.) Yet he was buried in a prime space in front of the high altar steps. His grave is marked by a large blue marble slab. Such was the disrespect for him, that they chipped away at the decoration of his tomb over time and now his tomb is hidden by a large wooden board and a large rug. 

An interesting piece of legend about the Durham Cathedral is that a secret passage runs from the Cathedral to Finchale Abbey and that the journey through that passage is a dangerous one. In fact, it is apparently so terrifying that no person is able to make the trek and live to tell about it. 

Durham Castle and Cathedral were awarded the status of World Heritage Site in 1986. And then there is the Sanctuary Knocker, which is a famous bronze knocker on the north door with a grotesque face that was designed to ward off evil spirits from the holy grounds. If criminals touched it, it allowed them 37 days of protection in medieval times. Spirits here include the Jumping Man with local folklore claiming that this was a man who jumped from the top of the cathedral and survived, but then he fell and died on a second attempt when his target was accidentally moved. His confused figure can sometimes be seen repeating the fatal leap in ghostly form. Another legend connected to the cathedral, and specifically to St. Cuthbert, is this story about a mist that showed up during World War II in May 1942. German bombers had targeted Durham. Witnesses claimed a miraculous, localized fog created by St. Cuthbert, rose from the river and completely hid the building, saving it from destruction.

Dun Cow Pub

The Dun Cow is a historic pub located at 37 Old Elvet and is said to be the oldest surviving pub in the town. The building dates back to the late 1500s. A story is told that when those Lindisfarne monks were searching for a resting place for the body of St Cuthbert, they came across a milkmaid looking for her lost cow. She directed them to Dun Holm or Durham and so the pub is named after the story, Dun Cow. 

This pub is said to be haunted by the notorious 17th century serial killer Mary Ann Cotton who killed 11 of her 13 children and three of her four husbands. Mary Ann grew up in Durham and became a nurse and a dressmaker. She married for the first time in 1852 and had eight or nine children with him. Everybody in the family, but one daughter, died from gastric fever, believed to be arsenic poisoning. She married one of her patients and he ended up dead. Mary Ann was collecting insurance money all along the way. She killed her mother and then the daughter who had survived. She found work for a widower named James Robinson and soon his children were succumbing to gastric fever. The two married and had two children and one of those children died. Robinson threw her out. Mary Ann married another widower and well, yeah, he died too. And two more children. This woman was poisoning everybody with arsenic. She was hanged for her crimes. The executioner went to the Dun Cow Pub afterward for a pint and apparently, Mary Ann Cotton followed him there. She also apparently haunts her former home in another town too. She's probably mad at the executioner cause he bumbled her hanging with the trap door not high enough to break her neck. He had to push down on her and it took 3 minutes for her to die. 

Barnard Castle

Barnard Castle is a market town named for a ruined medieval castle that it is built around. The castle was built in the 12th century and passed down through the Balliol family until Richard Neville became the owner. King Richard III inherited it and it fell into ruin after his death. 

In the 18th century, the town was a center for hand-loom wool weaving and in the 19th century, the spinning and manufacturing of shoe thread. Visitors and locals report seeing the spectral figure of Lady Ann Day who was a 16th-century noblewoman. Legend says she either plunged to her death while fleeing soldiers or threw herself from the battlements after her lover was beheaded. Her body was swept away by the swift current of the River Tees and never recovered. People see her ghostly figure tumbling from the castle's high tower. Some people hear a heart-rending scream as she falls. Visitors to the medieval Round Tower often report a sudden, heavy feeling of inexplicable dread.

Lumley Castle

Lumley Castle is a 14th-century quadrangular fortress built in 1389 by Sir Ralph Lumley with Norman and Gothic elements. This became a family seat and a defensive stronghold. Sir Ralph plotted against King Henry IV and when he was found out, he was executed. 

The castle became a bishop's residence and then a university hall. In 1976, it opened as a four-star luxury hotel. The interior features rich wood-paneling, ornate tapestries , regal suites and grand fireplaces. The opulent Knights Restaurant serves up elegant dining, while the Library Bar is a cozier restaurant with an a la carte menu. The ghost here is Lily of Lumley. She was the wife of Sir Ralph Lumley who was murdered by two priests after she converted from Catholicism to Protestant. They threw her body down a well to hide it. Her spirit is rumored to float up from the well and wander the corridors, rooms, and grounds of the historic fortress.

Jimmy Allan - The Gypsy Piper

Under Durham Castle is Elvet Bridge, which is said to be haunted by Jimmy Allan, the Gypsy Piper. Jimmy Allan was known by many names; Jimmy, Jemmy, Jamie, James, The Duke’s Piper, the Piper of Northumberland, and The Gypsy Piper. Just as he went by many names, he was also known as a musician and a friend of the aristocracy, a thief, a bigamist, and a deserter. 

Jimmy’s parents were thought of around Northumberland as Gypsies, although they did not self identify with that label. Jimmy’s father Will was a tinkerer and he was also very good at playing the bagpipes. Jimmy’s mother Betty kept the home and looked after their six children. Jimmy was the youngest and he was born around 1734. Jimmy was taught to play the bagpipes by his father and quickly made a name for himself with his prodigious musical abilities. He began to travel Northumberland playing when he was a young man. He first played for the Duchess of Northumberland in 1746 or 1747 (exact date unknown). She was so impressed that she made him her official piper. In fact, the Duchess was so fond of Jimmy’s playing, she procured special pipes for him from Edinburgh that were made of ivory and decorated with silver chains. He played on these pipes at the coronation of King George III. The Chamberlain of Alnwick appointed Jimmy to the prestigious position of the town waits (musician). But he was soon fired from that post and from his job at King George’s castle when he committed theft. Jimmy Allan was married three times during his lifetime and two of those marriages were simultaneously, which made Jimmy a bigamist. Jimmy also enlisted in the army only to subsequently desert several times. In 1803, in Gateshead, he was convicted again of theft for stealing a horse and was sentenced to death. King George stayed his execution and remanded him to live on Botany Bay, which was a penal colony in Australia. But before he could be moved to Australia, he died in the Durham’s House of Corrections beneath the Elvet Bridge on November 13, 1810. His body was buried in St. Nicolas’s churchyard in Durham City. Nine months before he died, there was a petition for his release that was presented to King George. However, the King was too sick to sign it. His son, the Prince Regent, signed the document after the King’s death, but it arrived four days after Jimmy Allan had died. His famous pipes were given to two gentlemen in North Shields. 

That was not the end of Jimmy the Gypsy Piper though. He would continue to play his infamous bagpipes in the afterlife and the living would hear them. Jimmy favors the Elvet Bridge and many times people have reported hearing the haunting sounds of a bagpipe from underneath and around the Elvet Bridge.

Ceddesfeld (Seddes feld) Hall

Sedgefield is a historic market town and civil parish in County Durham. This was a hunting center during the 1800s. The first parsonage in Sedgefield was built in 1791. It was headed by Reverend John Gamage. One of the parsons of Sedgefield died unexpectedly one week before the Parson's tithe was due. This was a tax consisting of one tenth ‘tithe’ of a crop, a herd, or the harvest from a woodland. As time went on, cash payments replaced actual crops. His wife was dismayed because they really needed the money, so she hatched a morbid plan. She made a pickling solution from brine and brandy and she put his body in it to pickle him, thus preserving his body and delaying decomposition. Then she propped him up in the Parsonage window, so that passers-by would still think he was alive and bring their tithe. After she had collected all the tithes on his behalf, she announced that the parson had died. The pickled parson wasn't happy about his wife's deception and strange ghostly things started happening at the rectory. For almost 50 years the parson haunted the place until a major fire destroyed the building. Ceddesfeld Hall now sits on that spot. It was a new rectory for a time and is now a community center. 

The Pickled Parson's phantom is said to still haunt Sedgefield and roams the grounds between Ceddesfeld Hall and St. Edmunds Church.

Crook Hall & Gardens 

Crook Hall is the only open hall in County Durham. The main house is believed to have been built in 1217 and was known as the Manor of Sydgate. It is one of the oldest inhabited houses in the area. The house was granted to Peter del Croke not long after and the current name Crook Hall is in honor of him. John Copeland lived at the Hall from 1340 to 1372. From 1372 to 1657, it was owned by the Billingham family. Thomas Billingham piped water from a spring to the Hall in 1450. In 1615, Cuthbert Billingham cut off that water supply to the area and diverted it to his own mill but he was later forced to restore the pipes to the town. The current building mainly survives from the 14th century and represents three eras: The 14th century, the Jacobean Era and the Georgian Era. The Medieval Hall is the surviving section from the 14th century. The Mikletons built on an extension that is on the other side of the Screens Passage around 1657 during the Jacobean Era. The Hoppers built the main block in 1736 during the Georgian Era. The Manor House was built from sandstone and has a Welsh slate roof. The hall is 14th century sandstone and brick. The buildings on the property include two barns, a coach house, granary and farm house. There is the Main Hall and then the Great Hall that is sparsely furnished with just a table and chairs. Most doors to the hall have been closed in. The fireplace and minstrel's gallery remain. On one end of the table, there is a niche set into the wall. One opening from the Screens Passage leads to a narrow tunnel and the other side leads to a sitting room furnished with artifacts from the history of the Hall. A staircase leads to the minister’s gallery. An ancient set of stairs has been closed in so they appear to go up to the ceiling and stop. To get to the top floors there is a tower staircase. The gardens are constantly noted as being spectacular and contain a Secret Walled Garden, Shakespeare Gardens and maze. and sit across from the River Wear with a view of the Cathedral and encompass four acres. Reverend Hopper Williamson leased the property from 1834 to 1858 and the poet William Wordsworth visited the house often when Williamson lived there. 

The Fowler’s owned the house starting in 1859. They lost the property in the 1920s during the Great Depression. The halls fell into disrepair at this time, but in 1979, the Hawgood family moved to Crook Hall and restored the home and grounds. They lived there until 1995. 

At that time, Keith and Maggie Bell purchased Crook Hall  and they still own the property. They realized that it cost a lot of money to maintain the property and they opened it to the public creating special areas like the Tea Room. Crook Hall has been fully restored. The Hall is open all year from Sunday through Wednesday. They have tours, afternoon teas in the gardens and are available for private events and weddings. They also have special events ranging from theatrics, Halloween festivities and traditional English Christmas. The property plays host to more than just the living. Several spirits are here, the most famous is, of course, the Lady in White. The White Lady at Crook Castle is said to be the niece of the tempestuous Cuthbert Billingham (the same one who cut off the water supply to the town). No one quite knows why she haunts the house but she is said to glide down the stairs and then disappear on St. Thomas Eve, December 20th. Christmas seems to be a favorite time for hauntings. One year, a feast was set out in the hall and there was a loud crash. Everything had been overturned or broken and a glimpse of the White Lady was seen as the guests went to see what had happened.The stairway that rises to the ceiling is a spot where she is seen running up quickly and then disappearing into the ceiling as well. She seems to be a residual haunting because she is silent and never talks to anyone, nor acknowledges anyone.

As mentioned earlier, there is a nook in the corner of the Medieval Hall. This nook is rumored to be haunted. A soldier was murdered here and the means by which he was killed was unusual. He was bricked into this nook. People feel cold spots near here or the rush of a cool breeze that seems to slip past them. The soldier's ghost likes to tap people on the shoulder.

Another bizarre haunting experience is the sound of disembodied footsteps on a stairway and what makes this really creepy is that the stairway no longer exists. The Bells were skeptical when they heard stories about their new home being haunted. They became believers when they heard those very footsteps themselves. Maggie Bell wrote on This is Durham, "Many visitors have also had strange experiences at Crook Hall – including one who saw children playing on the gallery an hour after the last child had left the premises. Another visitor rang from the coach he was traveling home on to report that he had seen an old man in bedclothes asleep in a chair before he left. Other people on his coach had also seen the man."

Is Durham County truly one of the more haunted areas in the UK? These various locations and experiences make that premise seem to be true. Does the Gypsy Piper still play his bagpipes in death? Is Durham Castle haunted? Is the beautiful Crook Hall hosting spirits from the past? That is for you to decide! 

HGB Ep. 633 - Chistlehurst Caves

This Month in History - The Black Monday of 1360

In the month of April, on the 13th, in 1360, a Black Monday occurred. Although historically better known to describe stock market crashes, this Black Monday was different. This particular Black Monday took place on Easter Monday during the Hundred Years' War between England and France. King Edward III had led his army of 10,000 men to the gates of Paris on April 5th where he was unsuccessful in engaging the French who refused battle. The English were unable to breach the French's defenses, so over the next week, the English moved on to the gates of Chartres (SHAR-truh). The French defenders at this location again refused battle and took shelter behind the Chartres walls. On the night of April 13th, 1360, the English soldiers made camp outside the walls of Chartres and an unexpected storm materialized. Lightning struck killing many soldiers, the temperatures dropped and huge hailstones and freezing rain fell down upon the English. Two English leaders were killed, and hysteria set in amongst the remaining soldiers. Approximately 1,000 English soldiers and 6,000 horses were killed during the storm. The freak storm had produced more casualties than any previous battles of the Hundred Years' War. The sudden intense storm ultimately forced King Edward III to stop his siege of Chartres and led to peace negotiations. The culmination of the negotiations became the Treaty of Bretigny (BREE-teen-yee) which ended the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.

Chistlehurst Caves (Suggested by: Alana Ashby)

The name Chistlehurst Caves is a bit deceiving because this system of tunnels and caverns near London is not natural. These are man-made. They started off as chalk and flint mines and later were used for ammunition storage and then as a bomb shelter and this was even a music venue for a time, hosting the likes of Hendrix and Bowie. An entire underground city was once here. There are legends connected to the caves that include tales of Druid ceremonies and there are claims of ghosts. Join us for the history and hauntings of Chistlehurst Caves.

Chistlehurst Caves is a 22-mile labyrinth of dark and mysterious passageways. The caves claim to have a history stretching back 8,00 years to the Neolithic period, meaning that these were first dug out by an ancient people. The town of Chistlehurst has a long history too, being mentioned for the first time in a charter from 973. The name is Saxon with cisel meaning "gravel" and hyrst meaning "wooded hill," so this is a wooded hill on stony ground. That ground wasn't suitable to agriculture. This became a royal manor starting in medieval times and was held by the Walsingham family, which included in its members Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster, Francis Walsingham. Francis attended Cambridge University and became a lawyer, eventually working his way up to overseeing foreign, domestic and religious policy during the Elizabethan era. He began his life in espionage around 1580 and as a Protestant, did much of his work against Catholics, torturing priests. He managed to find out about a conspiracy among the Catholic powers to invade England and place Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne. He was behind the beheading of Mary. Walsingham had intercepted a letter that indicated that Mary was encouraging in a plot to kill Elizabeth. Walsingham was at her trial and she broke down and said, "All of this is the work of Monsieur de Walsingham for my destruction", to which he replied, "God is my witness that as a private person I have done nothing unworthy of an honest man, and as Secretary of State, nothing unbefitting my duty." Walsingham pressured Queen Elizabeth to sign the warrant of execution, but she hesitated for awhile, but eventually signed it.

Londoners liked Chistlehurst because it was out of the city and they would buy property out in the country here. In 1870, the exiled Emperor Napoleon came to Camden Place here. The Victorian era would bring its greatest development and many of the homes here still date to this time. 

No one is sure when the caves were first mined for chalk and flint, but the earliest record dates to a 9th-century Saxon charter. The next mention came in 1232 AD. Mining continued in the caves until the 1840s and the production of lime took place between 1830 and the 1860s. Lime was used in brick making and flint was for firing guns and lighting tinder boxes. While the British Archaeological Association's Vice President in 1903, William Nichols, claimed that the caves were first dug out by Druids, Romans and Saxons, there is no verification for that claim. Tours of the caves claim that there are Druid altars and some Roman elements. These claims are hard to validate because the Druids were a very secretive order. They trained for up to 20 years and shared their knowledge exclusively through oral, memorized verses to keep their lore hidden. They only shared their secrets within the group. But it makes the lore here juicy, so we would be willing to believe it. The general public started visiting the caves starting in 1900.

After World War I started, Britain saw value in keeping their ammunition in the caves. Before this, mushroom cultivation was begun. Mushrooms need darkness and a constant humidity and temperature in order to thrive. Underground urban farms are perfect for this. An old parking garage in Paris has become a mushroom farm. And the Chistelhurst Caves were also perfect. The cultivation here started in 1900 and lasted until the 1950s.

As we learned with out haunted Air Force Bases a few weeks ago, aerial fighting started to get its feet during World War I, but during World War II, it would really come into its own. Major cities in Europe faced bombardment. The aerial bombardment of London began in September 1940 and the caves made the perfect spot for an air-raid shelter. As the war continued on, an underground city was built in the caves and it hosted up to 15,000 people. They each paid a penny to enter. To make this a city, it needed utilities and so the tunnels were fitted with electric lighting and running water for toilets and showers. There was even a hospital and a chapel. And a cross from that chapel still exists today and even though most of the things made from wood that date to that time no longer exist or have fallen apart, the cross appears to be almost new and untouched by time. 

A little fun fact, there was one baby born in the shelter during the war and she was baptised in the chapel. At that christening, she was given the name Cavena Wakeman. When she hit 18, she decided she didn't care for that and so she changed her name legally to Rosa. She did keep Cavena as her middle name. 

The shelter was closed shortly after VE Day and pretty much focused on the mushrooms until the 1950s. And then music came to the space and some really big names played concerts here. This became a popular skiffle and rock music venue. British rockers Lonnie Donegan, Adam Faith, and Marty Wilde all played there in the 1960s. American rockers Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran also played here during the early 1960s. And there were many bigger names like The Animals, The Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie played in the caves twice. 

Apparently in regards to Led Zeppelin, they threw a party on Halloween in 1974 to celebrate the launching of their own label called Swan Song Records. Stories claim that Groucho Marx attended the party at the age of 86 and that there was a huge food fight and entertainment by stripping nuns. 

Radio Caroline, a British pirate radio station, broadcast performances on Saturday nights with DJs. Young people would come to the caves for concerts and dancing. Performances in the caves continued into the 2000s and there are still some even today. There had once been a challenge at the caves. Anyone who could spend the entire night, alone, next to the pool, would win five pounds as a prize. No one ever won the prize. And that's because these caves are rumored to be incredibly haunted. Supernatural activity in the caves has been reported for decades and paranormal investigators have been coming for years. Everything from Romans to Victorians to Shamans have been seen and chalk has been thrown at people. Stories claim that the mischievous spirits throwing things belong to children who were killed during a partial cave collapse in 1939. Many people have said they have seen the ghost of a young girl. A tour guide once saw the apparition of a man in full cavalier uniform standing in the caves. There is a White Lady here and the story behind here is that her husband murdered her. The bones of a woman were found in the 1940s. Her ghost rises from a pool and floats down the tunnels.TV shows and movies have been filmed in the caves. One of these movies was Insemenoid from 1981 that starred Robert Pugh, Victoria Tennant,  Stephanie Beacham and Judy Geeson. Yeah, it's exactly what you think it is based on the title. A really bad Science Fiction movie about a member of an Interplanetary archaeologist crew getting impregnated by an alien creature in a cave. She turns homicidal. What we are interested in is that actress Judy Geeson claimed that she saw an apparition by the Roman Well when filming in the caves. The show Most Haunted featured the caves in a two episode series during Season 10 in 2008. 

A tour guide was once taking a group through and came to the former hospital area. He was using his flashlight to point out certain points of interest and all of a sudden someone in his group asked, "Who is that man." The guide managed to get his beam on this man who was bald, wearing a sweater and what appeared to be jeans. He assumed that this is someone who wandered off from a previous tour group, so he started walking over to him to "invite" him to join his tour so he could get him out of the caves. He looked down for a moment to watch his step and heard his tour group gasp. He soon figured out that they had gasped because the man had disappeared. Around 15 people had all witnessed this. Workers believe this was a man who built the brick walls were he was seen. He has been seen since by other tour groups.

AlmostButNotQuote wrote on Reddit, "I want to talk about what happened to me and literally no one else noticed. We walked through a few rooms and I walked through the threshold into the next one and it was like a sheath of mist went across the top of my face/eyes just for a split second like I walked through a smoke machine that just puffed. That’s what I thought it was so I reacted and waved my hands in front of my face but no one else had any reaction and I looked into the electric lights above and there was no mist/smoke in the air. Yes, it could have been a reaction to a drop in air temperature or change in humidity but I’m just interested as no one else seemed to experience this, even my partner who was literally holding my hand as we walked through the archway. Despite that we had an amazing time £7 an adult, the tour guide Darren was amazing and informative, it was the right mix of spooky and interesting and if you’re nearby I HIGHLY recommend you go!"

Vansan871 shared on Reddit, "There was a radio show that dared two listeners to spend the night in a cave, I don't know if it was this particular cave. It was supposed to be haunted. When it became time to bed down they had to sleep in different areas. One slept a bit closer to the pool. Later that night the other man was awakened by his friend screaming. He ran towards the pool and found his friend laying on the ground, unconscious with injuries about his head and face and a dislocated arm. After regaining consciousness in hospital he could not remember anything about his attack." 

ktowl wrote on Reddit, "My family and I visited Chislehurst Caves, maybe about 10 years ago or so. Me (15y/o at the time) and my younger brother (10y/o at the time) were very creeped out by the caves, especially as the guides had warned us not to stray from the party as people had got lost in there before due to how dark it is. My parents are really into the paranormal, (but not so much that they’ll believe anything, they’re pretty reasonable and realistic when it comes to paranormal activity) and decided to hang right at the back of the tour party, which again, was starting to freak my brother and I out. We keep looking behind us towards my parents, asking them to hurry it up, and then my parents just stop dead in their tracks and look each other. My mum looks at my dad and says “Did you hear that?” Dad replies “that whistle?” Something had literally whistled in between my mum and dad. Not loud enough for my brother and I to hear, and we were probably about 6 feet away from them when it happened. Understandably, my parents waited until after we left the caves to tell us about the whistle seeing as they didn’t want to freak my brother and I out any more than we already were." 

Someone who did a lot of research for many years on the caves and gathered paranormal experiences was James Wilkinson. He wrote "Ghosts of Chistlehurst Caves" in 2011. James touched on a couple of unusuals things about two areas of the caves. In all areas of the caves, there is an echo, but in the chapel area and where the haunted pool is located, there is no acoustical echo.

Derek Hopkins was a manager at the caves for years and he only stopped working there in 1987 because he died. He told people he didn't think the caves were haunted, but he himself had heard some strange things he couldn't explain and saw some stuff that he was resistant to sharing. He loved a good cup of tea and always drank from a mug that never seemed to be cleaned. James shared the following in his book, "Bob Baxter told us that Derek had a theory that his tea always tasted better in his cup if it wasn't washed. 'We joked that he had an inch of tanning around the edge with a hole in the middle for his tea. Just after he died, his mug turned up several times on tours just sitting in the middle of a passageway.' The guides would casually pick it up and return it to its place in the hut with the rest of Derek's gear, but it would reappear shortly after on another guide's tour. This has happened about four times." 

Michelle Baxter was an employee who also saw the spirit of a man dressed as a cavalier. She told James, "Late in 1990, along the cavalier’s passageway, I saw a man standing with his arms folded watching the party leave the area. It was probably the clearest thing I have seen in the caves and again I thought I was imagining it. After looking away and looking back twice I knew I was not. I must have been twenty feet away from the apparition and I could see it clearly standing there for about 1 minute. It was not a rock formation. I always feel a little worried when I walk away from the cavalier’s passageway as I get the feeling somebody is following me." 

Dave Duker was a guide in the caves during the 1970s and he told James about an experience he had while guiding a group fo schoolchildren one day, "During the weekdays the caves were used by a lot of school parties usually from the age of seven and upwards, and the party sizes ranged from ten to twenty. I was taking a party of about eleven eight-year old schoolchildren and their teacher around the caves and we were approaching the 'Roman Well' area, I was walking backwards as we approached the well so that I could talk to them. As I spoke, I saw one of them run off from the back of the party. I did not think for one minute that anything untoward was happening as the figure was most definitely solid, not blurred or an outline, it was a definite solid shape. I know it was not a shadow caused by the lanterns, absolutely not. I felt a bit annoyed with the teacher for letting the child run off and asked her not to let the kids run about in the caves as it was dangerous, and remember feeling a bit annoyed that one of them had run off not just because there was an eight-year old child alone in the caves but because whoever it was, had walked off while I was talking. I went around the corner to retrieve the child and return him/her to the rest of the pupils but found that the child had run into a dead-end area and that their was no-one there. There was nowhere for anyone to hide and it dawned on me that what I had seen was not human. The teacher looked worried when I returned alone and after counting the children and finding they were all there she looked even more worried, I finished that tour a lot quicker than I would normally have done." 

Desmond Tyler told James, "The last thing we do at night, when the last guide is doing the four-oclock tour, you wait until about four thirty and then you go down there and you put all the lanterns out so that you are opposite the map room and you line them up with the filler caps forward so the first guide in the morning can come along and fill them easily. It had been a quiet day and there hadn’t been a four-o-clock tour and I had just gone down there to sort the lamps out about and I saw somebody come out of the church and I said “Oh Hello” and they went into the map room. So I followed them, I must have only been five seconds behind them and I walked into the map room and there was no-one there and the gate at the back of the room was shut which was weird. Apart from the fact that I know it was a man, it happened so quickly I didn’t really take in any other details and when I went upstairs Chris was in the office and Paul was out the front having a cigarette. They were the only other two people there at the time. “That was the first time I realized there was something unusual about the caves.”  The next time, I was coming round past the fan near the end of a tour and near the modern church where you feel you should turn left but the path is to the right, I was standing there and as I moved my torch around in the dark I saw a man crouching down against the wall. He had very ragged hair and his hand up like he was protecting himself he looked very scared. I only saw him for a second and by the time my torch passed over that spot again to look, he’d gone. This was all in a second. It was very weird. This happened to me about three times over a period of two or three months I saw the same person. It was by the isolation ward. I know the story of the priest now, but the first time I saw him, I was completely unaware, nobody had told me that story." Other guides have also seen this and the claim is that some priest came down here to do penance back in the 1950s and was scared to death. Some stories claim that he had clothes on, while others say he was naked. His nails were ragged like he had tried to dig himself out by hand. 

Several of the employees shared stories of hearing what sounded like a woman speaking and the voices of several children with her. One person detailed that it sounded like a child was reciting something and getting correction from a woman. Could this be something going back to the war and it got locked into the stone of this space? Or had something happened to a woman and children here? We didn't find any stories to corroborate that. 

Pete Lovett had what seemed to be a residual experience. He was working with another employee to replace the locks on a door. He told James, "We were on one side of the rock wall that had been put up about five or six years ago. I was standing about ten feet away from this wall when a figure just walked out in front of me. It was a man. There was nothing unusual or mystical about him at all because he was wearing a black pair of trousers and a shirt. He walked straight in front of us about ten feet away and my first reaction was 'What the hell's a tourist doing down here on a Monday morning?' The trouble was that he walked through a brick wall going towards the cinema. Then I remember thinking 'Why would a tourist do that?' These thoughts were going through my head in a millisecond and then I just collapsed. I was a total mess as my brain tried to come to terms with what I had just seen. It really screwed me up. He literally crossed our passageway. Originally, you would have been able to walk through the passageway the way he had gone, but like I said, the passage was bricked up five or six years ago and it is impossible to get to the cinema that way now. The apparition looked middle aged and wore clothes that could have been worn anytime from the 1940s to today." 

During the war, a group of gypsies moved in and they were pushed back into a more isolated part of the caves that dated back to the Roman times and they nicknamed the area the pug-end area. Nobody knows why they gave their space that nickname, but pug means small demon or imp. Did they see something there? 

Chistlehurst Caves have served multiple uses, the most important being a place of protection. But even with that history of protection, this location has proven to be a very creepy place. There seems to be several spirits here. Is Chistlehurst Caves haunted? That is for you to decide! 

HGB Ep. 504 - Legends of Dartmoor

Moment in Oddity - Longaberger Basket Building (Suggested by Karen Miller)

There is a corporate building located in Newark, Ohio along State Route 16 that may give out-of-towners pause. Those who are familiar with the name will immediately associate it with the well made, somewhat pricey woven baskets that were all the craze in the 1980s and 90s reaching their highest grossing year in 2000 reaching $1 billion in sales. In 1997, the Longaberger company was doing so well that the founder, Dave Longaberger decided that he wanted to create a corporate headquarter building of an unusual sort. His desire was that the building be made to look like his company's medium sized market basket which was Dave's personal favorite of all the woven baskets his company created. By the end of 1997, the new building was completed and 500 employees moved into their new $30 million headquarters. It was an exact replica, even including the basket handles. Dave Longaberger passed away in 1999, after retiring in 1998 at the age of 65. By 2015, sales of the well known baskets had severely declined and it was that year that the company put its 'market basket' corporate building on the market. It was finally purchased in December, 2017, by a developer for $800,000 which was much lower than the original $7.5 million asking price. Although it has been marketed by the developer as an ideal location for a variety of different businesses, the pandemic halted that. At this time it has been pulled from the market, however the developer who purchased the basket building told 'Columbus Business First' that he is weighing other options for his building. The developer recently received the Heritage Ohio's Preservation Hero Award, so we can hope that this usual building will continue to stand proudly. Regardless of what the building houses in the future, a seven story building resembling an iconic basket, certainly is odd.

This Month in History - Barney Flaherty the First Newsie

‌In the month of September, on the 4th, in 1833, Barney Flaherty was hired by the publisher of the New York Sun to become the first Newsboy. Barney was a mere ten years old when Benjamin Day, the newspaper publisher offered him the position. Flaherty was an Irish immigrant who answered an advertisement posted in the New York Sun. His test to secure the position was simply throwing newspapers into some bushes. Newsboys were actually entrepreneurs as they were not employees of the papers, but instead, purchased the papers at a reduced rate and then sold them to the public for a mark-up. Unfortunately if newsboys did not sell all of their papers, the New York Sun would not buy them back. For many Irish American children, having the position of a newsie was their only means of monetary support. Many of the newspaper boys would sleep on the streets even if they still had parents due to overcrowding or abuse at home. By 1870, living situations had somewhat improved with the establishment of Newsboy's Lodging Houses which gave the boys a place to live as well as meals for a set price. Barney Flaherty was a pioneer in the newspaper business bringing the daily paper to the common man.

Legends of Dartmoor

Dartmoor is located in an upland area of southern Devon, England. Much of the area is protected by a National Park and it has the largest concentration of Bronze Age ruins in the United Kingdom. This land has been an inspiration to many writers. The landscape is full of standing stones, tombs, legends and spirits. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of Dartmoor!

Dartmoor started as a wooded landscape that has transformed through the years into a rugged moorland with open fields. The ruins of several Bronze Age settlements can be found here as well as kistvaens, which are Neolithic stone box-like tombs. People have lived here for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the Medieval Period that more settlers came and they used the natural granite to build their homes. Many of these were longhouses and a few have managed to survive up until today. Tin mining became a major industry. Over half of the National Park land is actually privately owned by the Duke of Cornwall. The northern moors play host to military exercises. This is a land of myth and legend with stories of pixies, black shucks, headless horsemen and ghosts. And for those of you who are keen Harry Potter fans, this is the location of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup final between Ireland and Bulgaria in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Buckland Abbey

Buckland Abbey started off as a Cisterian abbey that was founded in 1278. The monks there managed several farmsteads. A Tithe Barn was added to the abbey in the 15th century. Starting in 1536, King Henry VIII started the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the abbey was shut down. Sir Richard Grenville bought the abbey in 1541 and converted it into a residence that he called Buckland Grenville. His family owned it for 40 years and then Sir Francis Drake bought it. He lived here for fifteen years and it was passed down through his descendants until 1946. Captain Arthur Rodd bought it then and presented it to the National Trust in 1947. It was restored and opened as a museum. Rumors claim that undiscovered tunnels run from the abbey to the village. There are stories of ghosts being sighted in and around the Abbey with the most prominent spirit belonging to Sir Francis Drake. Legends claim he was in league with the Devil. Now he is seen riding in a black coach that is drawn by headless horses and usually being pursued by hounds.

Calling Stones

The River Dart rises high on Dartmoor and flows to the sea at Dartmouth where the Dartmouth Harbour is located with a long history of maritime usage. The former home of Agatha Christie, Greenway Estate, has views of the river. The River Dart is much feared, not only because it can rise without notice after a heavy rainfall on the moors, but because it is said to take one life a year. Legends claim there are calling stones along the river and they call out a victim's name, luring them to the river where they fall in and drown.

Scorhill Circle 

This stone circle is the largest in Dartmoor and stands near the confluence of the North Teign River and the Wallabrook. Women who were "sinful" could come to the stones and pray for forgiveness at the foot of a stone. If God didn't forgive them, a stone would fall on them. There are twenty-three stones still standing with eleven fallen, so there could be eleven very unlucky women under them.

Shaugh Bridge (shaw)

This is the home of a Pixie. He stands 17 inches and wears red and blue clothing. When spotted, he quickly vanishes. Legends also claim that the area near the bridge is where the Devil and his hellhounds hunt.

Tunhill Kistvaen (kistvin)

It is said that on this spot in October of 1631, a man named Jan Reynolds was approached by a cloaked stranger. This cloaked stranger told Jan that he would give him seven years of good luck in exchange for his soul. Jan agreed and seven years later, the Stranger appeared again, showing himself to be the Devil and he collected Jan's soul while he was sitting in Widecombe Church. So much for sanctuary in a sanctuary.

Bowerman's Nose

Bowerman's Nose is a stack of granite stones that stands over 21 feet high. A legend claims that Bowerman was a hunter and one day while he was hunting a rabbit, he happened upon a coven of witches who were conducting a ritual. He ran right through the middle of it and made them very angry. So the next time Bowerman went out hunting, one of the witches turned herself into a rabbit and she lead him all over Dartmoor until he was exhausted and the coven turned him into the pile of rocks. His dogs became the rocks at Hound Tor.

Branscombe's Loaf and Cheese

Walter Branscombe was the bishop of Exeter in the 13th century. He and his servant were traveling across the Corn Ridge when they were stopped by a stranger. This man offered them bread and cheese and Walter took some of the food, but before he could eat any of it, his servant knocked it from his hands. He them pointed at the stranger and said, "This is the Devil! Look at his cloven hoof!" The bread and cheese tumbled through the air until they landed on top of the Corn Ridge. The Devil disappeared. This is now a tor, or outcrop of rocks, that can be visited.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles​

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was the creator of Sherlock Holmes and one of the most popular stories featuring Holmes was The Hound of the Baskervilles. Doyle stayed at the Duchy Hotel in Princetown and heard the stories about Dartmoor and he was inspired by them. The story he latched onto was about Squire Richard Cabell who was said to be Devon's most notorious squire. Richard Cabell was the squire at Buckfastleigh on the edge of Dartmoor, in the 17th century. Rumors about the squire claimed he had murdered his wife and that he would hunt after the young maidens in the village. When he died, the townspeople had to figure out a safe way to bury him because they believed he had sold his soul to the Devil. They decided to bury his body in the graveyard at Holy Trinity Church in an altar tomb outside the south door of the church. This is today known as the sepulchre and looks like a jail with a wide iron grill and a strong wooden door with a locked keyhole. Black Shucks have become connected to him. One bit of lore claimed that Cabell was chased across the moor by some black dogs that accompanied the Wild Hunt. He eventually dropped dead. Another story claims that as he lay dying, the black hounds bayed outside, which was a death warning that has become ingrained with black shucks. There were stories that the black dogs would visit his burial regularly and howl. There are people who claimed that a red light was seen behind the bars in the sepulchre. Young men used to challenge each other at the tomb. They had to walk clockwise around the building thirteen times and then stick a finger into the keyhole and see if the squire gnawed on their fingertips like some weird version of Bloody Mary or Black Aggie. People watch for demons when they visit as it is thought they still have yet to claim the soul of the Squire.

Coffin Stone

There was another evil man who had died and was being carried in a coffin for burial at the Widecombe Churchyard. The pallbearers became tired and set the coffin down for a moment to rest. It was at this moment that God sent a lightning bolt down as a sign of His displeasure that the man was going to be buried in a churchyard. The coffin was split in two, as was the stone it sat upon. This stone can still be seen today near Yar Tor on Dartmeet Hill.

Crazywell Pool

On a gloomy day. Crazywell Pool can look every bit the bottomless and malevolent swimming hole it is reputed to be in lore. The pool sits high up on the moors of Dartmoor and was more than likely formed by miners who were excavating for tin. In 1998, a sixteen-year-old recruit in the Royal Marines named Nathaniel Burton, drowned in the pond. The pool is about sixteen feet deep, but legend claims that it is bottomless. A story goes that if a person gazes into the waters on Midsummer’s Eve they will see a likeness of the next person who is going to die. The pool is said to call out the name of that person to attract them to drown. The Witch of Sheepstor is said to haunt the pool. Men would come to her for advice, but it generally was bad advice. She told Piers Gaveston, who owned the Forest of Dartmoor from 1308, that he should come out of hiding and return to the king's court with his head held high even though he had been banished. So he did just that and ended up beheaded with his head on a pike up on high battlements. And in more recent times, a couple of young men went up to the pool on a dare at midnight and ended up crashing their motorcycle. Were they called to the pool as the next to die?

Kitty Jay's Grave

Years ago, people who committed suicide weren't allowed to be buried in consecrated ground. This meant that many times, these people were buried at crossroads so their spirits would be confused and unable to find their way back to town to haunt the living. At Dartmoor National Park there is a grave called Kitty Jay's Grave. A legend claims that Kitty Jay was a 19th century farm worker who became pregnant and then was rejected by the father of the child. She hanged herself in despair and was buried at a crossroads. A man named James Bryan dug up the body and re-interred it and set up the stones that now mark the spot. But something weird happened after that. Fresh flowers began appearing on the grave every morning. No one knows who was leaving the flowers. Some people thought perhaps pixies were doing it. Novelist John Galsworthy wrote the novel "The Apple Tree," which is based on Kitty Jay’s tale.

The Dewerstone

The Dewerstone is a large granite outcrop over 328 feet high that is named for "Old Dewer," which was an ancient Celtic term for the Devil. This is the site of an Iron Age hill fort. Apparently, the cloven-hooved one liked to come out here riding on a large black horse with his black shucks running nearby and drive poor travelers to their deaths off the top of the Dewerstone.

Ghostly Legions Hunters Tor​

Hunters Tor plays host to a ghostly regiment of Roman legionnaires on nights of the full moon. This is above Lustleigh Cleave where they probably died. Another story claims that a ghostly Tudor hunting party has been seen in this area too.

Cutty Dyer

An evil sprite who lives at King’s Bridge in Ashburton is named Cutty Dyer. There was a story told to children as a warning to not go out after dark. Cutty Dyer was said to kill drunks that came by him on the road by slitting their throats, drinking their blood and throwing the bodies into the river. The following account was published in the “Devonshire Association of Science, Literature, and Art" in 1879, "Old Townspeople of Ashburton recollect well the dread of their lives when children, was a mysterious being supposed to inhabit the river Yeo, with whose displeasure and its undefined consequences they were threatened by parents and nurses as a punishment for disobedience and childish frolics. To the generation before, namely, to our great grandparents, 'Cutty Dyer' was the dread of their more matured years, and was supposed to inflict summary punishment on topers as they reeled with difficulty by night through the dark streets to their houses. He was described by persons who saw him as being very tall, standing in the water to his waist, with red eyes as large as saucers, endeavoring to pull them into the water. When the stream was bridged he remained only a scare to children, and on the streets being lighted disappeared altogether."

Fitz's Well

Dartmoor has a couple of holy wells and Fitz’s Well can be found near both Okehampton and Princetown and a similar tale is told about both. There is a very worn cross, surrounded by a ring of stones that stands nearly three feet tall next to a well surrounded by concrete and capped by a metal lid. This is called Fitz's Well and was named for Sir John Fitz who was a lawyer at Tavistock in the 16th century. Supposedly, he and his wife were led into the moors by a pixie and they became hopelessly lost. They stumbled across this well and were able to get a drink and this broke the spell they were under and the fog dissipated. They were able to find their way home. Fitz then erected the cross near the well so others could find it. The Okehampton well is known for its eye cures and for many years was visited on Easter morning by young people.

Okehampton Castle

And speaking of Okehampton, there is a castle there. This is a motte and bailey castle built between 1068 and 1086 that guarded a crossing point across the West Okement River. The castle eventually became a hunting lodge. It fell into decay and the ruins were renovated in the 20th century and today runs as a tourist attraction. The castle is said to be haunted by Lady Howard who was quite the character. There are claims that she murdered three of her husbands and two of her children in the 17th century. She rides in a coach made of the bones of her victims and is cursed with the job of collecting blades of grass found in the castle ruins until the end of time. A one-eyed hound occasionally joins her.

Childe's Tomb

Childe’s Tomb is another stone cross on the moor, which is a reconstruction of the original. The original was destroyed when someone carried the granite stones off to build a house. This cross marks the site of a legendary tragedy. Childe was a wealthy hunter and Lord of the Manor of Plymstock and his real name was probably Ordulf. Childe was derived from a term that was more like a title. He was caught in a blizzard on Dartmoor and hopelessly lost. He decided the only way to save himself would be to kill his horse and climb inside the animal's body for warmth. Childe froze to death anyway. He wrote his will on a nearby granite stone before he died. It said that whoever found his body and buried him would inherit his estate. The monks of Tavistock Abbey recovered his body and claimed the land. This tomb lies on the line of several cairns that had once marked the Monk's Path between Tavistock Abbey and Buckfast Abbey.

Spinster's Rock

Spinster's Rock is a Neolithic Dolmen or burial chamber and the only one left in Devon. There are three upright stones, with one large capstone. When found, there were several stone circles nearby, leading archaeologists to believe this was a bigger burial complex. A story claims that it was erected by three maidens, or spinsters, one morning before breakfast. That is where the name comes from. (Spinsters spun wool.) Another story claims that a man and his two sons were turned to stone while raising the capstone. The reason this happened is because it was the Sabbath when they weren't supposed to be working.

Newhouse Inn

East Dartmoor has an area called Foale's Arrishes. Foale was a Dartmoor resident and an arrish is a stubble field. The fields once fed his horses, but eventually a public house was built here called the Newhouse Inn. It unfortunately burned down in 1876, but there still are some ruins left. Perhaps someone died in the fire because the ruins are rumored to be haunted by a figure wearing a grey greatcoat riding a horse.

Beetor Cross 

Beetor Cross sits high on the wall of what is called the "Watching Place." It is named for a nearby farm. A newspaper article in the Western Morning News on August 28, 1900 describes it thus, "An interesting relic from the past has been rescued from oblivion and restored to its original position. This is the cross which formerly stood at ‘Watching Place,’ in the parish of North Bovey, at the point of junction of the lane leading from that village with the Moretonhamstead and Princetown road. It is known as Beetor Cross, and tradition says it marked the spot where a battle was fought between the Christian British of the Moor and the Pagan Saxon invaders. Be that as it may, the generally accepted opinion now is that this and many other wayside crosses were erected to serve as landmarks to guide travelers and were fashioned in the form of the symbol of Christianity to save them from mutilation or destruction in an age when such symbols were religiously respected." There is said to be a highwayman who came to his end here and that his spirit still remains. He appears as a full-bodied apparition that watches the road and if one looks close enough, they will see that he has empty eye sockets.

Hairy Hands Bridge​

There is a bridge on the B3212 between Postbridge and Two Bridges that has a weird haunting. When people try to cross the bridge, either on a bike or by car, these gross hairy hands appear on the steering wheel or handlebars and try to drive the vehicle or bike off the road. The patch of road is notorious for wrecks, many of them fatal. In 1921, a medical officer from Dartmoor Prison died after his motorbike went out of control. Many people try to avoid this area.

Dartmoor Prison

And speaking of Dartmoor Prison, that is our last location and the inspiration behind this episode. We love our jails! Construction began in March of 1806 on land that was owned by the Prince of Wales in Dartmoor. The Napoleonic Wars were in full swing having started in 1793 and there was a need for more space to put prisoners of war. Estimates are that there were 100,000 prisoners, mainly naval, during this war. The prison was designed by Daniel Asher Alexander and took three years to complete. This was a large prison with several buildings, built in a circular layout. There was a cooking house where prisoners would receive their allowance. There was a bath and a hospital with the Matron’s house and dispensary facing it. There was a separate building known as the Petty-officers’ prison. The prison yard had five cell blocks radiating around it. The aqueduct fed a pond and drainage ditches ran along the privies, making for unsanitary conditions and one can only imagine the smell. There were also a North and South Guard room.

Despite being fairly new, when the prisoners were here during the War of 1812, the roofs leaked. Food was bad and conditions were very poor. They did try to maintain some hygiene by having the bedding exposed to the air every morning and rooms were ventilated. However, there were outbreaks of smallpox, pneumonia and typhoid. Prisoners wore yellow uniforms with blue stripes. Prisoners were allowed to make things from wood and such and sell them to the public for money. They could then buy additional food or other things considered "luxuries" in the prison. About 6500 American prisoners stayed here between 1813 and 1815. Not many officers were among the prisoners as they were thought to have honor and given immediately parole and they were sent to parole towns in the area. Escape was nearly impossible as the prison was surrounded by the high stone wall and there were many guards here. There was also an ingenious alarm system that was basically a rope that ringed the walls that had lots of bells on it, so if someone tried to get out, the bells would sound. If a prisoner did get out, he found that the prison was quite isolated in the moors. He would have to traverse a difficult land for at least 10 miles and even then, townspeople were happy to bring them back to the prison because they were rewarded with a guinea.

As we mentioned on our previous episode, Captain James Fairfield of Kennebunkport, Maine spent time here during the War of 1812 because of privateering. While he was here, the Dartmoor Massacre occurred. The Treaty of Ghent had been signed between the Americans and British in December of 1814, so American prisoners like James Fairfield assumed they would be released immediately. However, the British government waited until the treaty was ratified by the Senate on February 17, 1815. And then they still waited to release prisoners because transport ships took awhile to get together, so there was finally a riot on April 16, 1815. The final straw was actually the kitchen trying to serve old tack rather than fresh bread. The riot wasn't really what we would call violent as only a few prisoners threw some rocks. No fire order was given, but after an initial volley fired over the prisoners' heads, the guards then fired directly into the prisoners. Sixty prisoners were injured and seven killed. The families of those killed and survivors were later granted pensions. 

The last Frenchman left the prison in early 1816. The jail was unused until 1850. It reopened to civilian convicts the following year after renovations. Conscientious objectors were kept here during World War I. Starting in 1920, some of the worst of the worst in Britain were housed here. The Mad Axeman, Frank Mitchell, was one such criminal. A mutiny broke out in 1932 due to poor conditions. The property was heavily damaged and a prisoner was shot, but none of the staff was hurt. Well armed guards were brought in after two hours of the prisoners terrorizing the staff and the rebellion was put down. The prison remains open today and holds mainly non-violent and white-collar criminals. Much of the original part of the prison was demolished to add modern cell blocks, but the original main entrance, the line of the wall and circular shape, Barrack Road and aqueduct outlet all remain. The entrance gate still reads "Spare the vanquished." Conditions have improved in recent years, but for most of its existence, the prison hasn't done the best job.

Part of the prison maintains a museum. The prison is said to be haunted. One of the spirits here is thought to belong to David Davies who tended the prison sheep from 1869 to 1929. Shortly after being released, he passed away. His spirit returned to the jail and has been seen walking the prison grounds on misty nights. French POWs are also said to haunt the prison after being brought here and dying during the Napoleonic Wars. Inmates believed that jackdaws that flew around the prison were souls of dead staff. Jackdaws are a type of black bird.

Dartmoor is clearly a land of mysticism and legend. Walking along the moors reveals many remnants of the past that were erected as reflections of some of the superstitions from years ago. There seems to spirits wandering in various places as well. Are these legends true and is Dartmoor haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 418 - Epping Forest

Moment in Oddity - Roman Dodecahedron

Brian Campbell was digging around in his yard in Romford, East London in 1987 when his shovel hit something metal. He quickly uncovered the clay-caked object and discovered an interesting artifact. He wasn't sure what to make of it and assumed it was some kind of measuring tool because it had multiple sized holes in the round object with 12 sides that was smaller than a tennis ball. He kept it on the windowsill and didn't think much of it until he saw a similar object decades later in a museum in Germany. It was then he discovered it was a Roman dodecahedron. The first was discovered 300 years ago and archaeologists have been baffled by them ever since. The artifacts are finely crafted from metal. More than 100 have been found in total and they are of varying sizes. There is no written documentation in any historical sources to shed light on their use. Were they used in trade like coins? Were they for ornamentation? Were they used in magical practices? Or were they a measuring tool as Campbell suspected? Nobody knows and that makes the Roman dodecahedron, very odd!

This Month in History - Georgia Becomes a State

In the month of January, on the 2nd, in 1788, Georgia becomes a state. Georgia was named after King George II and Europeans first settled it in 1733. That first settlement was Savannah. Georgia was one of the most prosperous British colonies, but that didn't stop the patriots in Georgia from sending delegates to the Second Continental Congress. The colony remained deeply divided during the Revolutionary War and Savannah was a stronghold for the British. In 1787, two Georgians named Abraham Baldwin and William Few Jr., signed the new U.S. Constitution at the Constitutional Convention. When the Constitution was ratified by Georgia on that day in January, it became the fourth state to enter the Union.

Epping Forest

There is nothing quite so epic when it comes to ghost stories as a haunted wood. About an hour outside of London is Epping Forest. This is an ancient woodland with more aged trees than any other site in the United Kingdom. One can only imagine how many elementals and fae people must call this place home. There is history and some legends and, of course, ghosts. Join us as we set off on an adventure through Epping Forest!

Waltham Forest is an outer borough of London, bordered by Essex, that was established in 1965. It's name is taken from an ancient woodland called Waltham Forest. The Waltham name was probably derived from Walthamtow. Roman and Saxon settlements cut down much of the original woodland and remnants of their settlements are still found in the borough to this day. What is left of that former woods is Epping Forest, which lies on a ridge between two rivers, Lea and Roding and covers 5,900 acres. This is more commonly known as the "People's Forest." Epping Forest is also its own government district in Essex that was formed in 1974. The town is referred to as a market town and is known to draw visitors to its steam engine tours, antique shops and historical re-enactments.

No one is sure just how ancient Epping Forest is, but it first was recorded in writing in the 17th century. Ruins dating to the Iron-Age were found, so the forest clearly dates back to that time. Benjamin Harris Cowper discovered an Iron-Age camp in 1872 and it was excavated by General Augustus Pitt-Rivers in 1881. The site was dated to 500 BC and is today marked off as several hill forts that sit in a line. They are named: Loughton Camp, Ambresbury Banks, Wallbury Camp, Little Hadham, Barkway and Littlebury. Loughton Camp covers 10 acres and is located at one of the highest points in Epping Forest. This camp more than likely had a single high rampart and there is a stone Iron Age grain millstone nearby. Ambresbury Banks is spread over 11 acres with a six foot high bank encircling it, hence where the Banks part of its name comes from. Puddingstone blocks were used in its construction.

(Rabbit hole) Puddingstone is a conglomeration of round pebbles that have been cemented to each other. The fact that the pebbels have colors that contrast with whatever cements them together is what gives them the name puddingstone because it looks like a Christmas pudding. Puddingstone is usually named after the paerticular area that it originates so there is Roxbury puddingstone, Hertfordshire puddingstone, Schunemunk puddingstone, St. Joseph Island puddingstone and so on. This is all naturally forming and the material that cements the pebbles varies from sand to silica to sandstone.

Not much is known about the other hill camps. Boudica is a British folk hero who was the queen of the British Iceni tribe. This was a group that rose up against the Roman Empire in 61 BC. There is a local legend that claims that Boudica used the camps for their last stand, but there has never been evidence of that found. The battle that legend claims took place on Ambresbury Banks was similar to the Battle of Bull Run. Families came out to watch that first battle of the Civil War in their wagons and the same was true for the Iceni. They far outnumbered the Romans and thought this would be a quick battle, just as Bull Run was predicted to be. Boudica's charge was faltered because they had to go uphill and the Romans fired a hail of javelins. The Iceni tried to retreat, but the wagons blocked them and trapped them and the Romans had a huge victory. Boudica and her daughters suicided on poison before the battle concluded. But again, in the dozens of times archaeologists have excav ated here, they found no evidence for this battle. Historians believe that it more than likely took place near Mancetter in Warwickshire. But the interesting thing is that the spirit of Boudica has been seen wandering around Ambresbury Banks and Loughton Camp. The sounds of drums and marching soldiers have also been heard.

The Anglo-Saxons cut down much of the forest in the area of the hill forts. The trees in this area were clearly a reforestation after the forts were abandoned because they are mostly wild service trees. There are many varieties of trees found in the forest including the beech-birch and oak-hornbeam trees. There are still around 55,000 ancient trees here including ancient Pollarding Trees. The Epping Forest also has around 100 ponds, grasslands, streams, a bog and a heath. Some of the ponds are man made since cattle were allowed to roam here. Other ponds formed from bomb impacts. Timber from the trees was used in the shipbuilding industry for the Royal Navy.

Much like the forest near St Briavels Castle, Epping Forest was a royal forest, first gaining that legal status during the 12th century under Henry II. Royalty would hunt here and villagers were allowed to let their cattle graze and they could gather firewood. The use of it as a hunting ground continued up through Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I. Henry VIII had a building known as the Great Standing built in 1543 to be used as a lodge. The building is still there and open to the public under the name Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge. It offers a great view of Chingford. Deer were the most popular game sought in the forest. There were populations of both red deer and black deer. Today, red deer or Roe deer are no longer found in the forest. There had been an ancient tradition known as the Easter Monday Stag Hunt, which officially ended in 1807. There were still some hunters who engaged in it after that time until a riot brought it to an end in 1882.

There were several lords who had manors in the forest and they erected many enclosures, which caused strife for years. The commoners would break down the fences on occasion, so their cattle could graze freely. By 1878, Epping Forest was under the jurisdiction of the City of London Corporation and no longer a royal forest. The city purchased the nineteen manors. Many things changed after this, starting with no more hunting for the Crown. People had more ability to let their cattle graze in the forest and they could collect firewood. One person was hired as the primary caretaker of the forest and this was the Superintendent. Twelve Forest Keepers were also appointed. On Whit Monday in 1880 they recorded 400,000 people in the forest. Queen Victoria visited in 1882 and reiterated that the wood was the People's Forest. The forest would reach the modern era when a road was planned out through the center of it and is today known as the Epping New Road that is part of the A104.

The Butler's Retreat is another building that remains from Victorian times and is adjacent to the Queen's Hunting Lodge. It is named for John Butler who once owned the property. The building was refurbished and reopened in 2012 as a cafe. Along with the lodge and the retreat, there is a coach house and stables that have been opened as an interpretation center. These four buildings make up the Epping Forest Gateway. Today, Epping Forest is made up of a Lower Forest, which is just north of the town of Epping; Bell Common that has a cricket pitch; Epping Thicks where the Ambresbury Banks Iron Age fort is located; Genesis Slade; Great Monk Wood; High Beech; Bury Wood and Chingford Plain, which has a golf course; Knighton Wood and Lords Bushes; Hatch Forest and Highams Park; Woodford Green, which also has a cricket pitch; Walthamstow Forest and Gilbert's Slade; Leyton Flats; Bush Wood and Wanstead Flats and Wanstead Park. And there are three visitor centers.

There are many legends connected to the forest and a few ghost stories. One legend features the highwayman Dirk Turpin who has turned up in a couple of our episodes. Turpin was born in Essex and took after his father as a butcher. In the 1730s, he joined an Essex gang of deer thieves. They were known as the Gregory Gang and they were notoriously violent. He eventually left them and became the legendary highwayman we all know him as. Loughton Camp in Epping Forest was a place of refuge for him and also his hunting ground. He worked with Thomas Rowden and eventually there was a bounty on their heads. A servant of one of the Forest Keepers named Thomas Morris saw Turpin in his hideaway in Epping Forest and decided to try to apprehend him. Turpin shot and killed him.

Eventually, Turpin was arrested and hanged in York in Knavesmire (York) on April 7, 1739. Turpin was buried in St. George's Churchyard in York, but his body didn't stay there long. He was exhumed by a man who sold him to a doctor that wanted to dissect Turpin's body. An angry mob showed up before that could happen and the doctor and body thief were arrested. Turpin was reburied, but he would not have a headstone for 200 years. Perhaps it was this little episode that has caused Turpin to be at unrest. His spirit is said to walk through Epping Forest and likes to hang out at his former haunt (hideout) near Loughton Camp. 

This wasn't the only crime going on in the forest. The Epping Forest is a good place to make things disappear and to dump a body or two. More than a dozen murder victims have been found in the forest since the 1960s. The most recent was in 2015. One of the more bizarre murders was of Patricia Parsons in 1990. She ran a local massage parlor. She apparently had a little black book of clients and was going to sell the details to a newspaper. So clearly more than massage was going on here. It is believed a contract was placed on her head and she was found dead in her car with a bolt from a cross-bow through her head. The murder remains unsolved. And there was a hit man style execution of an accountant named Terence Gooderham and his girlfriend Maxine Arnold in the forest in 1989. Gooderham was believed to have worked for the Clerkenwell crime syndicate laundering money and he extorted 250,000 pounds for himself. Nobody has ever been convicted of the murders, but a man described as "Britain's most notorious hitman", James Moody, was believed to be the trigger man.

A paper clipping from March of 1878 tells the story of an apparent suicide at Knocker's Pond, which is at Lindsey Street. It reads, "Early on Wednesday morning a hat and coat were seen by Mr. Bates' milk boy lying by the side of Knocker's Pond in Lindsey Street, Epping. The pond is a large one, within sight of a number of cottages, which get the greater part of their water supply from it. Under the coat was found the following letter: 'My dear brother - when you receive this my body will be lying in the pond at the lane near Epping. My brain is gone mad through that cursed horse racing and betting. I have spent my last penny in the town for bread, but I am driven mad through Croydon races. Please break the news to my unhappy wife and children. Tell her I have found her last words came true. Keep this from poor father, as it break his heart. Goodbye, my brother Walter; if it possible, never remember me no more. From your unhappy brother.'" The letter was addressed to a Thomas Morris and the paper says the pond was searched and dragged and no body was ever found.

So that's the real story, but the pond does have an amazing legend. The story morphed into a milkman and milk cart that managed to crash into the pond after he fell asleep while driving. Now people claim to see a cart and horses being driven by a headless man emerging from the depths of the pond on occasion. There are even some who claim it is carrying a body to the Angel in the Epping Cemetery in Bury Lane. Another story about this pond dates to the 1960s when visitors to the forest claimed to see two ghostly figures emerge from the pond and they were on horseback. They then rode in the direction of town. And speaking of ponds and suicide, there is another legend that claims another pond deep in the forest draws people to it to commit suicide in the water. This pond was said to be the scene of a tragic murder-suicide of two lovers around 300 years ago. The water is dark and murky and no birds sing here. The pond has been nicknamed Suicide Pond. No one knows the exact location and there was even a contest held one year for people to find it, but no pond seemed to match the description.

And speaking of headless spirits, the Wake Arms roundabout is home to a headless male spirit that is believed to be a biker who died here in an accident. He needs to watch out for the ghostly horse-drawn coach that comes through here as well. Perhaps the one from the pond in the forest? The Kings Oak Pub is a Victorian building that was built in 1887. The restored gastro pub has timber beams, antique crystal chandeliers and log fires where one can enjoy traditional pub food. There is also a headless horseman ghost that likes to haunt the area near the pub. And a little girl who drowned near the pub likes to pop up every so often.

We don't know for sure that anyone was hanged in the forest, but with its centuries of history there may have been an execution or two. One place with this reputation is Hangman Hill. The spirit of a hangman walks around this area according to local legend. And what he does sounds very familiar to our Spook Hills here in America. He likes to drag cars uphill. Just as with our hills, people put their cars in neutral on the hill and the car slowly drags up the hill. Perhaps just as the hangman dragged people to the noose. The high-pitched screams nearby though cause one to think this is more than just an optical illusion.

People love to spend an afternoon picniking in "The People’s Forest." The ancient trees make for a creepy and fun setting. There is much to do here from mountain biking to fishing to hiking to horseback riding, but be careful because many people claim to have been touched by things unseen, to hear phantom sounds and to feel as though they are being watched. Is Epping Forest haunted? That is for you to decide!

HGB Ep. 416 - St Briavels Castle

Moment in Oddity - Great Escaped Snake Scare of 1953 (Suggested by: Tammie Burroughs)

In August of 1953, a homeowner discovered a cobra in their yard in Springfield, Missouri. We can imagine they were pretty shocked because cobras are not naturally found in Missouri. The homeowner used a garden hoe to kill the creature. This wouldn't be too alarming if it was a one-time thing, but the following week, another cobra was found in a yard across the street. This time the police were called and they visited a local pet store to see if they were missing snakes. They said no. But someone was letting snakes go because week after week, snakes showed up in yards. There were at least 11 of them that were killed or captured between August and October. For years, people believed that the pet shop owner was responsible, but he maintained his innocence until the day he died. Then in 1988, a man named Carl Barnett confessed to the Springfield News-Leader: “I’m the one that done it.” He had stolen a crate of snakes from the pet shop when he was fourteen and released them. He said of the incident, “I realized what I’d done, and I was scared to death. Every time someone mentioned the cobras, I just wilted.” The great escaped snake scare of 1953, certainly was odd!

This Month in History - National Hockey League Opens First Season

In the month of December, on the 19th, in 1917, the National Hockey League opened its first season. There had been the National Hockey Association before that time, which started in 1909. Major disputes had forced the association to shut down operations. Hockey was relaunched as the NHL with four teams, all from Canada. Those teams were the Montreal Canadiens, the Montreal Wanderers, the original Ottawa Senators, and the Toronto Arenas. The Wanderers and Arenas played the very first game under the NHL with the Wanderers winning 10-9. Fifteen minutes later, the Senators and Canadiens began their game with the Canadiens winning 7-4. So the Montreal teams won the first two NHL games played. Only three teams made it all the way to the end of the season. The fourth had their arena burn down. There was another league called Pacific Coast Hockey Association at this time and the champions of each league played in the Stanley Cup finals. This makes the NHL over 100 years old.

St Briavels Castle

St Briavels Castle dates back to 1075 and is located in Gloucestershire, England. This isn't one of those grand and beautiful castles that Britain is known for, but it has an important place in history, serving as a hunting lodge for King John and a debtors' prison. Today, it is a Youth Hostel. And this castle is believed to be one of the most haunted castles in Britain. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of St Briavels Castle!

The Forest of Dean is a geographic and cultural region in western Gloucestershire bounded by the rivers Wye and Severn. This is one of the few surviving woodlands in Britain. Origin of the name is unknown with some historians claiming that it is Welsh and others that is represents a term meaning "land of the Danes" after Vikings came into the area. It was on the western edge of the Forest of Dean that St Briavels Castle was built. There was already a small village here before the castle was erected. It was a strategic position above the River Wye. Local limestone and red sandstone were used in the construction, which began in 1075. The castle was completed in 1129 and is a typical moated Norman castle that was fed water from a spring underneath the moat.

The castle keep was a square Norman design erected on a motte of stone and clay and was originally wood. As listeners know by now, this design was for defense putting a castle above the area where people would live. The bailey area was surrounded by a stone curtain wall. Many early elements no longer exist, but historians believe that there was a forge building, a gateway on a south wall and a small round tower on the south-east corner. The original hall and solar two-story building still stands as does a chapel built in the 14th century. The gatehouse is massive, flanked by two D-shaped towers and protected by three sets of portcullises, which are basically sliding gates. Those gates are usually latticed grille made of wood and/or metal. There was a drawbridge at this gate as well.

The royal custodians or bailiffs of the Forest of Dean were in possession of the land and they started the castle after a royal mandate to build one was issued. The Sheriff of Gloucester and his sons were overseers of the castle and used it for administrative purposes rather than defense. The civil war of the Anarchy started in 1138 and it was at this time that Miles de Gloucester, the son of the Sheriff was formally granted St Briavels Castle by Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry I, and she confirmed him as the Earl of Hereford. Miles' son Roger Fitzmiles held the castle until the reign of Henry II and then the King took the castle and rebuilt parts of it, in particular, the wooden keep was rebuilt from stone.

One of the reasons the King wanted this castle was because of its location to the forest. This would give him access to an incredible hunting ground. But it was more than that. The forest provided charcoal and iron and this made the castle a metalworking center. King Henry II alone acquired 1,000 picks, 100 axes, 60,000 nails and 2,000 shovels from the work done at the castle. King John used the castle extensively as his headquarters for hunting. He had several buildings erected inside the bailey to be used as a lodge. It would also be at this time in the 1200s that the castle would start serving as a prison. Peasants who poached wildlife or did illegal wood-cutting would be hit with stiff fines and when they couldn't pay, it was off to the prison with them.

After King John's death, the castle became known for another specialty. So we finally have started binging The Walking Dead and we learned something about crossbows that we didn't know before. We thought you just called the projectiles arrows because that's what they are called with bows. Daryl points out that his crossbow shoots bolts. These bolts are also known as quarrel and the castle became a manufacturing hub for quarrel because the crossbow had just become really popular. We're sure when Richard I made this the favored weapon of the land, he had no idea how important the crossbow would become for killing zombies.

Hugh Despenser the Younger was placed in charge of the castle in the 1300s. The Despensers brought a harsh rule with them, but Edward II backed them. This would be his downfall because his wife, Isabella of France, deposed him and the Despensers. Isabella was known as the She-Wolf of France and she hated Hugh Despenser. Some believe she arranged to have Edward II murdered. She took the castle and held it until her son, Edward III overthrew her in 1330. The castle would spend the 1400s bouncing between ownership by the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Warwick, William Herbert, Earl of Warwick, the 16th Countess of Warwick and finally Thomas Baynham. Then the castle went into decline.

Through the 18th and 19th century, there were many changes made with several buildings being knocked down. The keep fell apart. The castle was used after that point as mostly a court and prison. Most of those kept here were debtors until the Debtors' Act of 1869. The prison was not a place anyone wanted to be with no fresh water or firewood or exercise. Most people were here due to very small debts. They only got food if family or friends brought it to them and the constable charged prisoners a shilling a week for a bed. People used to say of the castle that it was "patched and cobbled like a worn-out shoe." The prison closed in 1842 and a school was run at the castle for a time.

In 1906, the buildings were renovated so that the castle could be used for habitation. In 1948, St Briavels Castle became a Youth Hostel and it remains so still with 9 rooms, two of which are dormitories. The moat was filled and turned into a garden. The Solar was named King John’s Bedroom in his honor. Inside is a huge fireplace that features notches in the stone. It is said those were made every time someone was sentenced to death because the room had been a courtroom at one time. A fun tradition is carried on at the castle every Whit Sunday. That is Pentecost for Christians. On that day, locals dress in medieval costumes for St Briavels Bread and Cheese Dole. A Dole Claimer would pay a penny to the Earl of Hereford so they could gather firewood from the Hudnalls Wood in the past. Today, bread and cheese is blessed by the vicar and then tossed from the wall for the Dole Claimers to collect. The villagers believe these pieces are imbued with magical properties and good luck. Upturned umbrellas are often used to make the catching easier.

And then there's the ghosts. We did say that this is thought to be one of the most haunted castles in Britain. Many of the rooms have apparitions and strange things hanging around. There have been many times that people have not stayed for the whole night. The castle keep no longer stands, but the area where it once was has a resident spirit. This ghost wears a full suit of armor and usually appears at night. Once people see it, the spirit disappears. The top corridor has a lady in grey that is often seen gliding up there. 

The Constables Room leaves guests feeling lightheaded. Perhaps it is the phantom smell in here that gets them. Some guests have had the pleasure of smelling a strong putrid odor that comes on very suddenly. Sound sleep is difficult because the beds will sometimes vibrate. And the door swung open by itself once so violently, that it tore off its hinges. Maybe we should call this the Exorcist Room? The Chaplains Room isn't much better. There are unexplained flashes of light and big orbs that appear in the room. Several dark figures hang out in the room and often block the doorway. The beds sometimes move and people see indentations on them occasionally as though a spirit is sitting on them. People have also been touched in this room.

The Old Debtors Prison Room has disembodied whispering. There is also a dog growling that is heard and that is probably from a big black dog that manifests and roams about this part of the castle. A poltergeist in the room moves the furniture around and something likes to grab people roughly by the arm. Perhaps an old prison guard trying to lead them somewhere? The Porters Lodge is behind the kitchen and has had the odd occurrence of a misty form that hangs around the front of the fireplace. Guests also claim to hear dragging noises. The State Apartment is in the oldest part of the castle and features disembodied footsteps and a shadow entity that walks across the room. Someone also saw the apparition of a little girl dressed in white standing in here. The sounds of loud banging and scratching have also been reported, as well as violin music.

The most haunted area is King John's Bedroom. Many people who are staying in this room complain about hearing an unseen baby crying. The source of the sound was found one day when a worker was cleaning a chimney. The remains of an infant were found wrapped and tucked away in a niche in the chimney. The baby was thought to be have died centuries ago. The remains were given a proper burial. This was related to a bizarre custom we had not heard of before. Apparently, there were some who believed that evil spirits could get into homes through chimneys. If a baby passed away, the corpse would be put in a special niche of the chimney because it was thought the purity of a baby would keep the evil spirits out. Supposedly the recess was made specifically for this purpose.

There is a room called the Hanging Room. This is where those who were sentenced to die were left to await that fate. People often feel as though their throats are closing up in here. This even comes across like a gripping sensation around the throat. The scariest thing in this room is a large black mass. It likes to block people from leaving the room. People who try to get past the mass are usually given a sudden, violent shove. And remember that haunted college we talked about on an episode where they heard the sound of marbles dropping above them in two different locations? Well, this room features something that sounds like dropping and rolling marbles. Muttering, humming and crashing sounds also manifest.

The Guard Room is one of the dormitories. It is in here that people see the Praying Woman. She is dressed in peasant's robes that are dirty and tattered. She's called the Praying Woman because she walks from the doorway to the middle of the room facing the back window and kneels down as though in prayer and then she gets up after a few moments and walks straight out of the window. Prisoners were hanged out of that window in front of the crowds.

Like most castles, this one had an oubliette. Some captives were thrown down here and left to die. The room above this dungeon is called the Oubliette Room and a rug conceals the wooden trap door leading to the oubliette. People in this room have felt things tugging at their clothes. And several guests have been awakened when their blankets are yanked off them and thrown across the room. One man reported being pinned to his bed by something he couldn't see.

Chris Andrews, a manager at the castle, told Spooky Isles that he was doing his final checks one night around five in the evening. It was dark outside already. He could see the curtains swaying dramatically as though a strong wind was blowing. But there was no open door or window and no breeze coming from anywhere. When he went near the curtains, he felt something brush by his arm. He also heard the latch on a door rattle five times in a row when no one else was in the castle.

Castles always have a creepy vibe to them. St Briavels Castle has more than just a vibe to it. There seems to be a lot of activity going on here. One night in this hostel may be all a guest can take. Is St Briavels Castle haunted? That is for you to decide!