HGB Podcast 26 - Grace Dieu Priory

Moment in Oddity -Nazca Lines

Located in the Nazca Desert of Peru are unique and peculiar designs that have been carved into the reddish earth of the area leaving behind white lines that form the Nazca Lines.  The lines consist of 4 to 6 inch deep trenches and form geoglyphs that resemble animals, trees, flowers and humans, while other lines are geometric shapes or just simple straight lines.  It is believed the Nazca Culture created the geoglyphs between 400 and 650 AD.  Many of the designs are quite complex and they are so large that they can only be seen from high above on either the foothills or in the sky, leading many to wonder how an indigenous people were able to create the lines.  Were these people far more advanced than we think and they were able to fly?  Did UFOs have something to do with their creation?  Others wonder the purpose of the designs.  Some scholars believe that they have religious or spiritual significance.  Were the geoglyphs made for the Nazca People's sky gods?  In 1985, Archeologist Johan Reinhard hypothesized that the Nazca Lines were sacred pathways to places of worship.  Other scientists believe the symbols are reverse constellations.  No one knows for sure the purpose of the lines or how they were made, leading the Nazca Lines to be grouped in with other mysteries of the world.  The Nazca Lines are not only mysterious, but they are rather odd.

This Day in History - Cripple Creek Miner's Strike

On this day, February 7th, in 1894, the Western Federation of Miners begins a strike in the city of Cripple Creek in Colorado.  The price of silver had crashed in 1893 and this launched the Panic of 1893.  But gold

Miner's fort in Cripple Creek. Photo courtesy of Heritage West

still held much value and gold is what they were mining in Cripple Creek.  Miners flooded the area after silver crashed and over 150 mines were opened.  Labor was easy to come by, so mine owners took advantage.  They worked the miner's for long hours and offered no extra pay.  When the miners complained, the greedy mine owners gave them an insulting offer:  they would go back to eight hour work days, but miners would lose $.50 a day.  This would take their pay down to $2.50 a day.  The miners went on strike.  These were the days when strikes consisted of more than walking or standing with signs in front of a place of business.  Strikes got dangerous and deadly.  The mine owners raised a private army and the miners armed themselves in return.  The miners even built a fort.  Attacks were in the form of fires and dynamite explosions.  The state militia entered the conflict in June and took the side of the miners and the situation was tamped down.  This was a major victory for the Labor Movement and the Western Federation of Miners became very powerful.

Grace Dieu Priory

In Leicestershire, England the ruins of a religious settlement can be found that was once the Grace Dieu Priory.  Despite the fact that not much of the stone structure still stands today, people from all around the world come to visit the site for various reasons.  Some are tourists interested in the history.  Other visitors are interested in the esoteric and come to the ruins seeking the spiritual.  They believe the ruins lie on top of ley lines.  Still others come because of their interest in things unseen.  Reportedly, the stones of the priory are not the only vestiges still here.  The spirits of those who have come before seem to remain.  Grace Dieu Priory is haunted.

Grace Dieu Priory was established as an independent monastery of the Augustinian Order.  This order was named for Augustine of Hippo.  The order was split into different factions, one of which followed the Roman Catholic religion and was called the Rule of St. Augustine.  The members were strictly female.  These women formed different communities of Augustinian nuns.  One of these orders came to live at Grace Dieu Priory and they were called the White Nuns of Augustine.  They were the only order that had that name.

The Priory was founded by Rohese de Verdun some time between 1235-1241.  Rohese was born in 1204 in Staffordshire, England.  Her father was Nicholas de Verdun and he owned a large amount of land around Belton.  The land that the Priory would be built upon was originally given to Nicholas by William Wastneis, who was the lord of the manor of Osgathorpe.  Rohese gave the land for the building of Grace Dieu Priory and the Bishop of Lincoln gave the Priory its charter in 1241 and dedicated it to the Holy Spirit and St. Mary.  Rohese died in 1246 and she was buried in the Priory Chapel.  An eternal light was kept at the tomb.  The tomb including Rohese's body was moved to the parish church at Belton during the Dissolution.

The Priory grew to be rather large with sixteen nuns living at the monastery and a hospital was built next to the Priory.  The nuns were forbidden to leave the monastery.  The Priory was never wealthy, but it was undervalued in 1536 by the King's representatives, which put it in danger of being closed.  It was given a reprieve that ended in 1538 and the Grace Dieu Priory was dissolved.

William Wordsworth wrote of the Priory:

“Beneath yon eastern ridge, the craggy bound,
Rugged and high, of Charnwood’s forest ground,
Stand yet, but, Stranger, hidden from thy view
The ivied ruins of forlorn Grace Dieu,
Erst a religious House, which day and night
With hymns resounded and the chanted rite.”

John Beaumont bought the property in 1539 and converted the monastery into a home, which stayed in his family until 1684.  Sir Ambrose Phillips bought the home and within a short time, he had pulled down most of the buildings.  The site passed down through the Philips family and in 1833 a descendant named Ambrose De Lisle built a home 300 yards from the Priory ruins.  Grace Dieu Manor stayed in the family until 1964 when the home became a Catholic school.

In 1996, the Grace Dieu Priory Trust was formed by a group of people who wanted to conserve the ruins of the site.  The Rosmisian Order owns the property and has leased the area to the Trust.  Architects were brought in to solidify the structure and make it safe for visitors.   The site is now open for public touring as well as ghost walks.

Grace Dieu Priory is situated near the Thringstone Fault, named for the nearby village of Thringstone.  The geological fracture in the earth is below the ground.  There is a theory that the crack in the earth somehow interferes with the electromagnetic field and thus EMF detectors are affected and people sometimes get that "weird" feeling.  There are traces nearby of what appears to be a worship area for pagan practices.  In particular, there is a standing stone.  Standing stones are part of the Pagan practice of setting up a type of pillar to worship before.  Archeologists believe that the only remaining standing stone is part of a circle of fourteen that had once existed here.  The Catholic Church liked to build their structures over pagan sites, so is this perhaps why this particular spot was picked for the Priory. 

It is claimed that a ripple of energy lies below the surface as well leading some to claim that the Priory is located above or near ley lines.  A ley line is a point where several historical, spiritual or other structures are located near each other.  For example, Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid supposedly are on ley lines.  Ley lines are mystical and work much in the same way as Feng Shui is suppose to work, guiding energy in certain directions. These lines criss cross the globe and they also have been connected to unexplained or supernatural occurrences.  Ley lines are sometimes described as pathways that have been tread many times like the Oregon Trail in America.  Corpse roads were these lines that wove the same path to the cemetery.  Is it possible that residual hauntings are following these well worn pathways?  And if something is built over that ley line, would that cause a ghost to haunt that place?  All of this is purely speculation, but interesting to consider since Grace Dieu Priory has many tales of haunting experiences.

One such tale originates in the 16th-century.  A nun named Agnes Litherland had become pregnant.  This was quite the feat since nuns were suppose to be celibate and these nuns were restricted from leaving the Priory.  Agnes gave birth to this illegitimate child.  The child was drowned in the nearby pond and Agnes was punished by being walled up in a room in the Priory.  (A side note here is that there has been information that Agnes was given a pension and asked to leave the Priory.)  The ghost of a woman is seen wandering the property, probably looking for her baby.  And remember that these nuns were called the White Nuns, so you probably will not be surprised to hear that this woman is called the "White Lady."  The White Lady has no hands or feet in most of accounts told about her.  Charlie Gough, a former worker on the grounds, tells a story from 1948 of seeing a nun dressed in all white, wearing a wide brimmed hat.  The figure disappeared when Mr. Gough approached.

There have been sightings of a woman in grey as well.  A police officer saw a women dressed in grey with a hood, cross the road near the Priory.  She then disappeared.  And a worker at the site once felt a woman behind him, but before he could turn around, he was pushed forcefully from behind.  He turned white as a sheet and never returned to work.  As mentioned earlier, Rohese de Verdun was originally buried at the Priory, but her remains were disturbed and moved.  People claim that this female spirit is faceless and on at least two occasions, the specter has ventured across the road to a bus stop where a bus driver has stopped to pick her up only to have her disappear when either of them opened the bus door.  Is it possible that this woman in grey might be Rohese?

The sightings of either of these female looking spirits are numerous.  In 1990, the Lea family drove past the Grace Dieu Priory and saw a bright light coming from the bus shelter.  As they got closer, they saw that it was a woman with no facial features and no hands or feet, hovering above the ground.  In 1961, a police officer was walking his dog near the site and saw a figure dressed in a white hooded robe near the railway.  The dogs hackles were raised and it growled.  Vince Bell was riding his motorcycle to work in 1986 and saw a women dressed in a white robe cross the road near the Priory.

A vision of some sort has been reported featuring a large group of men and women sitting at a table to eat together.  The plates are made of metal.  A young boy plays a flute.  Companies of disembodied soldiers have been seen at the site as well.  And similar to one of the tales that occurred at Australia's Quarantine Station, one group of investigators felt a warm breeze come through their group before the cold night air returned.

People riding the Carnwood Forest Railway claim to have seen ghosts or felt sudden chills when stopping at the Grace Dieu Station.  Orbs and mists have been photographed on many occasions.  Here are some unusual photos that have been captured:

Is this site just another pile of rocks with historical significance?  Are some of those people who once lived here, still hanging around?  Have other spirits from other events or times gathered here?  Is Grace Dieu Priory haunted?  That is for you to decide!

*For more information:  http://gracedieupriory.org.uk/

HGB Podcast 20 - Chillingham Castle

Moment in Oddity - Coral Castle

A whole show could be dedicated to this Moment in Oddity about Coral Castle, except that it is not

haunted.  How it was built by one man is a mystery and an oddity.  Over the course of 28 years, from 1923 to 1951, a little man from Latvia named Edward Leedskalnin carved and moved 1100 tons of coral rock to build Coral Castle that can be seen in Homestead, Florida to this day.  A sign carved in stone by Ed sits atop the entrance reading, "You will be seeing unusual accomplishment."  Not only are there many unusual elements that make up the Castle, but there are amazing carvings in the stone sculpture garden.  There is the nine-ton gate that opens with the touch of a finger, functioning rocking chairs made of stone, a Polaris telescope, outdoor bathtub, stone beds and pillows and a fountain shaped like the moon.  All of these weigh several tons.  As a matter of fact, when the nine-ton gate needed repairs in 1986, it took six men and a fifty-ton crane to move it.  How did this man put these stones in position?  Even more amazing is that initially Ed had built the castle in Florida City, but then moved it to its current location using a tractor and truck.  He did all of his work at night and in secret.  People claimed that they spied on Ed and saw him levitating the stones.  One hypothesis claims that Ed used some kind of anti-gravity or magnetism to move the stones and apparently the site in Homestead is the perfect place for manipulation of gravity based on harmonics.  Still other reasoned minds believe he used a system of pulleys and levers to move the stones.  As for what Ed claimed, he always said he had learned the secrets of the pyramids.  However Ed managed to create his magnificent castle, there is no doubt that it certainly is odd. 

This Day in History - Battle of New Orleans

This day, January 8th, 2015 marks the 200th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, which is the most famous battle in Louisiana history.  It was on this day in 1815, that General Jackson led his troops to victory against the British as they tried to capture New Orleans.  This battle was the final battle of the war.  Two weeks before this, the British had set their sites on New Orleans.  They decided to attack by the ground instead of the water and were initially successful taking the Viillere Plantation.  General Jackson hit them from the water and along the banks of the river and the British held, so Jackson pulled his men back.  After both sides regrouped for two weeks, the final battle ensued.  General Jackson had positioned 4000 men and cannons very well and when the British attacked, they had little success.  Jackson had also placed a reserve group right where the British launched their attack.  The Americans had used their break to fashion a well prepared defense and the British were devastated.  General Pakenham, who was leading the British, was killed and the battle ended.  251 British soldiers had been killed including three generals and eight colonels.  1,259 British were wounded and 484 were missing.  The Americans fared far better with only eleven killed and twenty-three wounded.  The tragedy of this battle is that a peace treaty ending the war had been signed before the battle, but nobody in New Orleans knew that news.

Chillingham Castle

Chillingham Castle is a castle that was built in the 12th century and resides in Northumberland, England in a village named Chillingham from which it takes its name.  It was initially built as a monastery and then was used as a stronghold mostly for defense rather than offense through the many centuries of fighting between England and Scotland.  The Castle sits near the border between Scotland and England and so it was often under attack.  Much of the Castle as it is seen today is the way it was originally built with a few additions.  It is reportedly one of the more haunted locations in Europe.  This haunting energy is not only a result of war, but of the horrific way in which men were imprisoned and killed within the walls of the Castle. 

In our podcast on Edinburgh Castle, the name William Wallace came up since he was a hero for Scotland and a statue in his honor resides at Edinburgh Castle.  William Wallace comes up again with Chillingham Castle as this castle was used during the 1298 attack on William Wallace by King Edward I, Edward Long Shanks.  Wallace had attacked the previous year and burned the women and children to death in the nearby abbey and made a belt for himself out of the skin of a local general.   In 1344, Chillingham Castle became a fully fortified castle with battlements, under Sir Thomas Grey.  Beginning in the 15th century, Chillingham Castle became the seat of the Bennet and Grey families.  By the 17th century, peace had come and the Castle was not needed any longer for defense, so the moat was filled in and new features were added to the Castle that included a banquet hall and a library.  During World War II, the Castle was used as a barracks.  Sir Humphry Wakefield now owns the Castle with his wife The Honorable Lady Wakefield.  His family has lived in this area for over 400 years, which is not nearly as long as the Greys who had been here for 800 years.

As mentioned earlier, the Castle has remained mainly the same, but there have been a few additions through the years.  The Castle is a complex of many rooms and buildings.  There is the Armoury, where weapons were stored and many are on display there to this day.  There is the Edward I Room, which was named for the King who first stayed here as he plotted his revenge against William Wallace and it is the most ancient room in the Castle.  It was used as a hideout for other royal families as well and secret documents were found in a compartment near the window relating to the Spanish Armada.  Family heraldic hangings are found in the room named for King James I who had stayed here and received guests in this room.  The Plaque Room was once a bedroom for the king and now hosts pictures of the many guests to the Castle and has a 16th century plasterwork armorial plaque that is dedicated to the Grey family.  The New Dining Room was once a chamber for the king as well and now features two white lion statues and massive guns on the wall.  The Great Hall was built for King James VI of Scotland and contains part of the original gigantic chimney and has stone flagged flooring and tapestries.  Weapons and trophies decorate this room as well as the heads of some of the ancient wild cattle that still live in Chillingham as the only wild cattle in all the world.  The Medieval Courtyard was the scene of many executions.  There is a museum and a chapel that was once the library.

The Great Hall courtesy of Chillingham Castle Website

Three of the more interesting areas of Chillingham Castle are the Still Room, the Dungeon and the Torture Chamber.  The Still Room was once a main entrance to the Castle and contains relics from bygone eras including the big pot used to feed the garrison and kettles that were filled with hot oil to dump over the walls of the castle on enemies trying to climb the walls.  The Still Room is apparently host to a witch who curses anyone stealing from the Castle.  People ignore the warnings and take things only to find out that the curse is true and they write letters of apology that can be found in the room.  Very similar to Robert the Doll down in Key West, Florida who curses people for taking his picture without permission.

The Dungeon was not only a prison, but a hiding place as well.  It is a small room with scratch marks on the walls as prisoners counted off the days until their executions.  There is a Oubliette in this dungeon.  An Oubliette is a dungeon that has a very small circular opening and is basically a pit.  Prisoners at Chillingham were thrown down into this pit, which was a twenty foot drop, and many suffered broken bones due to this fall.  Some of those broken bones were the result of the torture a prisoner endured before being thrown down.  They were left there to die and some resorted to eating the bodies of the dead already done there in an attempt to prolong their lives.

The Torture Chamber is a regular feature of most Castles.  Chillingham's contained and still contains to this day executioner blocks, an Iron Maiden and a Scold's Bridle, all in working order.  There were eye gougers, boiling pots and a cage device that was tied to a prisoner's stomach and contained a hungry rat who would eat his way out of the cage.  The floor is sloped, so that blood could run down and drain away to one side.  This chamber began use during the time of Edward Long Shanks under his castle torturer John Sage, who had been a loyal Lieutenant in King Edward's army.  Sage was brutal and enjoyed taking out his hatred of the Scots on Scottish prisoners.  Towards the end of the war, Sage took the prisoners out into the courtyard and burned them alive in a bonfire.  Small children were taken to the King Edward Room where they were hacked to death with an axe.  Sage himself was eventually hung by Long Shanks after Sage murdered his girlfriend who belonged to a powerful tribe that threatened to join the Scots against King Edward if he did not execute Sage.  While Sage hung dying, people cut souvenirs from his body like toes and fingers and well...other dangling objects.

Such emotionally charged events as imprisonment, war, torture and death lead to the possibility of supernatural and unexplainable events and Chillingham Castle reports hundreds of occurrences throughout the centuries.  Beneath the floor of the Chapel, human remains were found.  Cameras refuse to work in this room and batteries are quickly drained.  Cold spots are felt as well, although it should be pointed out that ghostwriter Lady Tankerville who lived here in the 1920s and wrote of her experiences was never able to find spirits in the Chapel.

The Blue Boy is the most well known spirit in the Castle.  He is usually seen in the Pink Room, which is part of the Wakefields' private residence, and is wearing blue, hence why he is called the "Blue Boy."  The legend of the Blue Boy goes something like this:  the clock chimed midnight and a child's cries were heard at the same time that a blue light began to eminate from the wall and the light approached the bed.  The witness who saw this sight then saw that there was a young boy in the middle of the light wearing clothes from the time of King Charles II.  He disappeared, but then many years later, during the 1920s, restoration work was being done on the room where the Blue Boy had been seen.  Inside one of the walls, the bones of a young child were found along with scraps of blue material.  The bones were given a Christian burial, but flashes of blue are sometimes still seen in the Castle.

Lord Grey of Wark once lived in Chillingham Castle with his wife Lady Mary Berkeley.  He decided that he was no longer in love with Mary, but rather her sister and left Lady Mary and their child and ran off with the sister.  Lady Mary died heartbroken and is said to still roam the halls of the Castle looking for her unfaithful husband.  The swishing of a dress is sometimes heard.

There is a ghost who hides among the paintings.  This ghost has been seen on several occasions stepping out of a painting.  The Tankervilles' children were the first to see this spirit along with their nurse.  The ghost followed them around for several minutes.  In present times, this spirit is sometimes seen as a full body apparition in period clothing and people mistake her for a guide.

John Sage has never left the building.  He is spotted on occasion and sometimes he is heard with his boots banging against the ground and something being dragged can be heard.  The Dungeon's Oubliette is said to hold the spirit of a little girl.  People sometimes see her down in the pit when they glance down there.  The Edward Room where all the children were slaughtered is quite active with the chandelier swinging from side to side on its own and the room carried a foul smell at times.  Disembodied voices are heard in the library.

A lake on the property became the mass burial ground for the thousands of Scots killed by the English.  The bodies were loaded onto carts and then dumped in the lake.  Rumor has it that the lake is cursed and that if you put your hand in the water, you will be pulled into the water.

Is this area cursed?  Do the undead walk among the living at Chillingham Castle?  That is for you to decide.

*Special note - Chillingham Castle hosts ghost tours!  For more information:  http://www.chillingham-castle.com/Ghosts.asp?S=3&V=1&P=3