The Haunting
In screamin woods and Empty Rooms
or gloomy waults and sunken tombs;
where monks and nuns in dust decay
and shadows dance at close of day.
Where the bat dips on the wing
and specral chiors on breezes sing;
where swords of ancient blattle clash
and shimmering shades of freedom dash.
Where silver webs of spiders weave
and blighted lovers take their leave;
where curses lay the spirits low
and mortal footsteps fear to go.
Where death holds life in grim embrace
its line's etched on the sinners face;
where e'er the march of time is flaunted
Voices cry ~ "this place is harunted."
~Richard Jones~
Proove to me it is not true, them mabey I will belive you...This page is long Aye...but its filled with great information...
Story One Leap Castle of Ireland
Over 400 years ago in what is now known as the "Bloody Chapel" a shocking murder occured. Leap
Castle was then a stronghold of the O'Carroll family, powerful Irish Princes, Chieftains of the area.
In 1532, on the death of the O'Carroll Chieftain, a fierce rivalary for the leadership errupted within the
family. The bitter fight for power turned brother against brother. One of the brothers was a priest.
The O'Carroll priest was holding mass for a group of his family (in what is now called the "Bloody
Chapel"). While chanting the holy rites, his rival brother burst into the chapel plunging his sword
into his brother. Fatally wounding him, the butchered priest fell across the altar and died in front of
his family.
The henious act of brother killing brother and the blasphemy of a sacred mass cut short by such an
evil event sent an echo of misery ringing thoughout the castle.
Another source of evil was found at Leap Castle that may have compounded and nutured the spirt of
the elemental. A hidden ubliet (a dungeon) was found off the bloody chapel. It was a small room with
a drop floor. Those who were forgotten within this room suffered unimaginable pain and misery until
their death. Prisoners would be pushed into the room to fall through the floor and land on a spike
eight feet below. If you were not lucky enough to die quickly on the spike, you died of starvation in a
doorless room while the aroma of food and the sounds of merriment drifted up from the rooms
below. A narrow window would let you watch those who came and went in freedom from the
castle. Around c.1900 workmen who where hired to clean out the ubliet made a hideous discovery,
human skeletons laid piled on top of each other. It took three full cart loads to remove all of the
bones. Among the bones workmen found a pocket watch made in the 1840's. It is not certain if the
dungeon was still in use then.
Because of its extremely bloody history Leap Castle has always had a reputation of being haunted, a
reputation so strong local people avoided it at night. Completely gutted by fire, Leap Castle was
boarded up and it's gates were pad locked for over 70 years. Locals have described seeing the
windows at the top of the castle "light up for a few seconds as if many candles were brought into the
room" late at night. The castle laid in ruin for years.
Shortly after Leap's dungons gruesome discovery, a psychic disturbance may have caused the
emergence of the elemental spirit. In 1659 ownership of Leap Castle passed in marrage from the
O'Carroll family to an English family, the Darbys. The Darby family turned Leap into their family
home, with improvements and additions and landscaped gardens . In the late 19th century
descendants Johanthan and Mildred Darby were looking forward to raising their family here. The
occult was the fashion of the day, and Mildred Darby did some innocent dabbling, despite the
castle's history and reputation for being haunted. Mildred's dabbling with magic awakened the
elemental with ferocious velocity.
In 1909, Mildred Darby wrote an atricle for the Journal Occult Review, describing her terrifying
ordeal. "I was standing in the Gallery looking down at the main floor, when I felt somebody put a
hand on my shoulder. The thing was about the size of a sheep. Thin guanting shadowy..., it's face
was human, to be more accurate inhuman. Its lust in its eyes which seemed half decomposed in
black cavities stared into mine. The horrible smell one hundred times intensified came up into my
face, giving me a deadly nausea. It was the smell of a decomposing corpse.
The elemental is thought to be a premative ghost that attaches itself to a particular place. It is often
malevolent, terrifying and unpredictable. After Mrs. Darby's experiments in the black arts, Leap
Castle has never been the same. Hauntings plague Leap leaving a sinister air throughout the castle.
The Darbys remained at Leap until 1922. Being the home of an English family, it became the target of
the Irish struggle for independence. Destroyed by bombs, completely looted, nothing but a burned
out shell remained. The Darby's were driven out.
In the 1970's Leap Castle was purchased by an Australian, who had a white witch brought in from
Mexico to exorcise the castle. She spent many hours in the bloody chapel, when she emerged she
explained that the spirits at Leap Castle were no longer malevolent, but they wished to remain.
In the 1990's the castle was sold to the current owners. They were aware of the castle's troubled
history. Shortly after moving in they began restoration of the castle. During which time a "freak
accident" left the owner with a broken kneecap delaying restoration work on the castle for nearly a
year. One year after his "accident" the owner was back at work restoring his castle when the ladder
he was standing on suddenly tilted backwards away from the wall causing him to jump several
stories resulting in a broken ankle. Both were strange accidents.
The owners say they would be happy to share the castle with the spirits as long as there are no more
"occurrences".
In 1991, in Leap Castle's Bloody Chapel was the christening of the owner's baby daughter. For the
first time in centuries the "Bloody Chapel" was filled with music, dancing, laughter, and most of all
love. The day had been a "happy, pleasant, wonderful day". If the troubled spirits of Leap Castle did
not leave, maybe they have finally found some peace.
Story Two The Tower of London in England
FOR OVER 400 YEARS, PRISONERS WHO WERE SENTENCED TO DEATH, WERE, BEHEADED,
BURNED ALIVE, DRAWN AND QUARTERED OR HUNG AT THE TOWER OF LONDON.
Dignitaries beheaded:
Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey (17 yrs old)
Those who lost their lives in public execution included:
"2 Archbishops, 6 Dukes, 10 Earls, 1 Marquis, 1 Viscount, 15 Barons, 33 Knights, 1 Bishop and 1 Prior."
Public executions attracted large crowds, they were a barbaric spectacle, the last was in 1780. The site of the
scaffold in Trinity Square Gardens is clearly marked.
TOWER HILL:
In 1388, according to records, Sir Simon Burley is the first man to be executed on Tower Hill. The first
permanent scaffold was built during Edward IV’s reign in 1465. Prisoners held in the Tower who were
condemned to death and were executed here were royalty. The executions were not opened to the public.
Commoners were executed at Tyburn.
"Some of those executed on Tower Hill were:"
John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1553
His grandson Lord Guilford Dudley, 1554
Sir Thomas More, 1535
John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, 1535
Henry, Earl of Surrey (son of the Duke of Norfolk), 1547
Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, 1552
Thomas Seymour, Lord Seymour of Sudeley, (Lord Admiral, 4th husband to Queen Dowager Katherine Parr,
Edward Seymour’s younger brother), 1549
Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, 1540
TOWER GREEN:
On the spot where the scaffold once stood is a commemorative plaque. On the plaque are the names of those
who were executed here:
William, Lord Hastings, by order of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in June 1483
Queen Ann Boleyn, 2nd wife of Henry VIII, May 19, 1536
Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the last of the Plantagenet family, May 27, 1541
Queen Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII, February 13, 1542
Jane, Viscountess Rochford, February 13, 1542
Lady Jane Grey, wife of Lord Guilford Dudley, February 12, 1554
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, February 25, 1601
Buried in the Chapel of St Peter as Vincula (St. Peter in Chains) are:
Queen Anne
Queen Catherine
The Duke of Somerset
The Duke of Northumberland
Lady Jane Grey
Lord Guilford Dudley
*The Duke of Monmouth
*The Lord of Kilmarnock
*The Lord of Balmerino
*The Lord of Lovat, *"They along with the duke were executed for participating in the rebellion of 1745."
Charles Wyndham, Keeper of the Regalia, was the last to be buried in the Chapel in 1872.
THE GHOSTS OF THE TOWER OF LONDON:
December 1995, an American tourist was taking photos of her vacation to England and the Tower of London.
She took a picture of Traitor’s Gate. After returning home the film was developed and in the shot you can clearly
see a hand in the foreground, wearing a 16th century Yeoman Warder Uniform.
Thomas A. Becket is "the first reported sighting of a ghost at the Tower of London."
During the construction on the Inner Curtain Wall, Thomas appeared apparently unhappy about the construction,
and it is said he reduced the wall to rubble with a strike of his cross. Henry III’s grandfather was responsible for
the death of Thomas Becket, so Henry III wasted no time building a chapel in the Tower, naming it for the
archbishop. This must have pleased Thomas’ ghost because there were no further interruptions during the
construction of the wall.
The story of the little princes is still to this day a heartbreaking story that brings tears to ones eyes. They are
"among the most poignant ghosts" in the Tower. Their disappearance in 1883 is very suspicious of wrong
doing ,but by whom? The ghost of the twelve year old, King Edward V, and his nine year old brother, Richard,
Duke of York, can been seen in the Bloody Tower, they are still wearing the white night shirts they had on the
night they disappeared. They stand silently, hand in hand, before fading back into the stones of the Bloody
Tower.
The most persistent ghost in the Tower of London is the ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn, and rightly so. After the
heartache of learning the baby she carried for nine months was indeed a boy, the heir the King so desperately
wanted, was still born would be more than a any mother could bear, for this reason and accused of infidelity,
she was beheaded. Witnesses describe a female figure identified only by her dress. Queen Anne appears near
the Queen’s House, close to the site where her execution was carried out. She can be seen leading a ghostly
procession of Lords and Ladies down the aisle of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula. She floats down the
aisle to her final resting place. Queen Anne is buried under the Chapel’s altar. Her headless body has also
been seen walking the corridors of the Tower.
Sir Walter Raleigh lived quite comfortable compared to others who were imprisoned in the Tower. His "rooms"
are still furnished as they were in the 16th century, and can be seen when visiting the Tower today. He was
executed by James I, and has been seen looking exactly as he does in his portrait hanging in the Bloody Tower.
The most grisly execution and thus haunting is that of the 70 year old Countess of Salisbury, the last of the
Plantagenets. King Henry VIII had her executed for political reasons. The feisty Countess refused to put her
head on the block like a common traitor. When her executioner came after her she ran, but was pursued by him,
with his axe in hand hacking at her until he had hewn the Countess to death. Her ghost has been seen reliving
this truly gruesome act. Also the shadow of a great axe has been seen falling across the scene of her murder.
At one time the Tower of London was home to the Royal Menagerie. Lions, leopards, bears, birds, monkeys
and an elephant, that was a gift from the King of France, were kept on exhibit. On the stroke of midnight in
January of 1815 a sentry saw a bear from this menagerie emerge from a doorway. He lunged at it with his
bayonet, it passed right through the apparition. The Sentry was later found unconscious, it is said he died of
fright within two months of this encounter.
Something unseen and very frightening is in the Salt Tower. This is one of the most haunted areas of the Tower
of London complex. This is a very old section, dogs will not enter this ancient building, and ever since one of the
Yeoman Warders was nearly throttled by a force unseen, they will not go in the area after nightfall.
In 1864, a soldier whose post was to guard the the Queen’s House, saw a apparition so real, that after ignoring
the soldiers three challenges, he charged with all his might at the intruder with his bayonet, only to go straight
through the figure. He was found unconscious at his post and was court martialed for neglecting his duty. Luckily
there were two witnesses who corroborated his story. The soldier was eventually acquitted.
Lady Jane Grey is another tragic story of a young life cut short, due to the actions of others the most despicable
of whom was her own father. She was the granddaughter of Mary (Henry VIII younger sister) and Louis XII of
France. The Duke of Northumberland would lose everything if Henry VIII’s son were to die and Mary who was
Catholic, would become queen. He and her father arranged her marriage to his son and persuaded her cousin
Edward VI to name her his successor in case of his death instead of his two half-sisters. When Edward VI died
she was crowned Queen of England, but the supporters of Mary overthrew her. Her own father got scared and in
hopes to save his own skin, left the Tower and went to Tower Hill to proclaim Mary I, as the Queen of England,
Lady Jane never left the tower, she and her husband were immediately imprisoned and sentenced to death.
Queen Mary carried out the execution of Lady Jane’s father-in-law but set both Jane and her husband free. Her
father was involved in a rebellion against Mary I, Lady Jane and her husband were again placed in the tower.
Lady Jane watched as her husband was taken to Tower Hill where he was beheaded. She saw his body being
carried back to the chapel, after which she was taken to Tower Green where she was beheaded. She was only
17 years old. Lady Jane Grey’s ghost was last seen by two Guardsmen on February 12, 1957, the 403rd
anniversary of her execution. She was described as a "white shape forming itself on the battlements". Her
husband, Guildford Dudley, has been seen in Beauchamp Tower weeping.
Catherine Howard escaped from her room in the Tower. "She ran down the hallway screaming for help and
mercy. She was caught and returned to her room." The next day she was beheaded. Her ghost has been seen
sill running down the hallway screaming for help.
"Phantom funeral carriages are seen on the grounds."
"A lovely veiled lady that, upon closer look proves to have a black void where her face should be."
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE AN ENCOUNTER WITH ONE OF THESE GHOSTS? JOIN US ON ONE OF
OUR HAUNTED CASTLES TOURS. WHO KNOWS, YOU COULD VERY WELL ENCOUNTER ONE!
THE QUEENS HOUSE:
Built in 1530 it replaced a Medieval constable’s house. "In the north wing is a small room where Anne Boleyn
spent the last days of her life. On the west is the rampart known as Elizabeth’s walk. Next to it stood the house
where Lady Jane Grey lived as a prisoner. It was from the windows of that house she saw her husband escorted
from the adjoining Beauchamp Tower to his execution on Tower Hill. She then witnessed his headless body
being brought back for burial in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula.
*THE PRISON:
"It was the Tudors who made the Tower of London notorious as a state Prison, especially Henry VIII."
"Some of the many who suffered the deadly loss of the King’s favor include two of his wives, Thomas Cromwell
(his chief minister for a decade), and the Duke of Norfolk who served him for over thirty years."
Heretics were burned alive at Smith Field, outside the Tower walls.
Being imprisoned in the Tower and executed on Tower Hill were a recognition of rank.
The medieval towers and gate houses provided the Tower the space to hold prisoners in solitary confinement.
"Prisoners were expected to pay the costs of their upkeep if they had the funds. If they didn’t, they still might be
provided for or they might have to depend upon the charity of family and friends on the outside".
Once you were convicted of treason all of your property would be confiscated by the Crown, and you would be
maintained out of the proceeds. You would be "entitled to an allowance for food, fuel, and light according to a
fixed scale which varied according to" your "rank in the peerage or the clergy."
Prisoners of rank were allowed to have their servants with them.
The Lieutenant of the Tower received allowances for each prisoner. If you were denied the food and fuel that
was due to you chances are that money went directly into his pocket.
If you were lucky you would be one of the prisoners who had the "liberty of the Tower", meaning you could move
freely within the Tower walls during daylight hours only.
If you were one of the unlucky "Close Prisoners" you would be restricted to your cell without visitors, you are not
allowed to write or receive letters, and are constantly watched by your warder. You would be let out for exercise
under guard only if your health was a concern.
If you were one of the many extremely unlucky prisoners you would be tortured. Prisoners were even brought
from other prisons just to be tortured. Chances are you would be put on one or both of the two most notorious
torture instruments, the rack or the "scavenger’s daughter" were only at the Tower.
Since there was no permanent torture chamber, you would be taken to the basement of the White Tower. You
could also be tortured in your own cell.
"The use of torture was never indiscriminate, It was never used against a prisoner of rank in this status
conscious age. Generally torture was not used without a warrants from the Privy Council."
During Elizabeth I’s reign, "the government published a careful justification of the torture inflected on Catholic
missionary priests and Jesuits, It claimed torture was administered as 'charitably’ as possible. It was only used
when the prisoner was almost certainly guilty or had vital information. It was applied slowly with the prisoner
continuously being urged to answer the questions."
"There is no doubt that torture was used without a warrant and the manner of its use might go well beyond what
official policy stated."
"Only a minority of prisoners were executed. Of the rest, some were freed, some were released on surety from
family or friends, some were sent away to live under surveillance, some were banished, some were transferred
to other prisons, and some died in the Tower of natural causes. Some even escaped."
"A prisoner could be held indefinitely simply at the monarch’s pleasure."
"Executions took place only following condemnation by the legal process, usually after a trial or act of
parliament. But although the proper procedure were always followed, the outcome could be a foregone
conclusion."
"THE FULL PENALTIES FOR TREASON WERE HANGING, DRAWING AND QUARTERING, usually at Tyburn
(where the present day Marble Arch is). FOR MEN OF RANK DEATH WAS BY BEHEADING WITH AN AXE,
ALMOST ALWAYS ON TOWER HILL."
"A FEW PRISONERS, MOSTLY WOMEN, DIED WITHIN THE TOWER ON THE GREEN TO SPARE THEM
AND THE GOVERNMENT THE EMBARRASSMENT OF A PUBLIC EXECUTION."
Story Three Dover Castle of England
At Dover castle you can see or hear strange sounds. The most important is a ghost of a woman dressed in a
red dress taking the stairs that lead to the keep of the castle.
A sound made by a badly oiled door that opens and closes where there used to be a door , but does not exist
anymore.
Story Four Windsor Castle of England
It is the home of the present Queen of England, several of her royal ancestors, and "non-royal" spirits, one of
whom, according to legend was an ancient Saxon hunter named Herne, who was renowned thought out the
area for his outstanding hunting abilities. One story tells of Herne, as one of the Royal keepers for King Richard
II (1367-1400), who was hated by the other keepers for his exceptional skills. One day the King was in danger
of being trampled by an enraged stag while hunting and how Herne putting himself between the King and the
stag was mortally wounded. Other legends tell of witchcraft and suicide, and a demonic horned being upon
whose appearance brings illness and misfortune to all who see him, especially the Royal family. He can be
seen in the castle’s gardens with "his trademark stag’s head."
King Henry VIII has been seen walking the hallways of the castle. His footsteps, along with agonizing moans,
have been heard by many guests of the castle.
One of his wives, Anne Boleyn, has been seen standing at the window in the Dean’s Cloister, as well as, Queen
Elizabeth I. Queen Elizabeth I has also been seen in the Royal Library. She has been seen walking from one
room to another. She is always dressed in a black gown with a black lace shawl draped over her shoulders.
King Charles I, has been seen many times in the library and the Canon’s house, and although he was beheaded
during the English Revolution, his ghost is seen as a whole. It is said he looks exactly like his portraits.
King George III had many bouts with mental deterioration. During these times he was kept out of the public’s
eye. He can be seen looking out the windows located below the Royal Library where he was confined during the
recurrence of his illness.
The first Duke of Buckingham, Sir George Villiers, is said to haunt one of the bedrooms of the castle. And many
spirits haunt the Long Walk, one of whom is a young solider who shot himself after, while on his guard watch, he
saw marble statues moving "of their own accord." He ghost was seen by another solider on guard duty
afterwards.
That is all for the stories last a poem...nothing more...
Remeber
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turn to stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A Vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
~Christian Rossetti~
