Ghostly kings, highwaymen and whole villages are included in MJ WAYLAND’s update this week of 101 Great British Hauntings
81. Hampstead Heath was the haunt for many a highwayman. But one haunts it still in the form of a whistling stone at the spot where he was killed.
82. At Cortachy Castle, near Kirriemuir in Scotland, a young drummer was sealed inside his drum and hurled from the battlements after having an affair with the lady of the castle. The sound of his drumming still can be heard.
83. The spirit of George II haunts Kensington Palace in London, where he died.
84. Bettiscombe Manor, near Lyme Regis in Dorset, houses the skull of a West Indian Slave brought back during the 17th Century. The spirit of the dead man would not rest in the nearby churchyard so the skull has been kept at the house to avoid the terrible hauntings following his burial.
85. The village of Pluckley in Kent is home to a least 12 ghosts, including a miller, a schoolmaster, a gypsy and colonel.
86. An eerie whistling can sometimes be heard at Balcomie Castle, near Fife in Scotland, where a servant was starved to death in the 16th Century for playing his tin whistle.
87. Anne Griffith r Awd Nance asked that on her death her head be interred at her home, Burton Agnes Hall in Humberside. The request was ignored and her ghost came back to haunt the house until her wishes were carried out.
88. The spectre of the Black Prince appears at Hall Place in Bexley, Kent, as an omen of death or disaster.
89. The well-travelled ghost of Anne Boleyn returns to Blickling Hall in Norfolk on each May 19th – the anniversary of her execution.
90. Seven ghosts loom large at Ballechin House in Scotland.
We will continue to “count ‘em down” with the final chapter of 101 Great British Hauntings next week!
MJ WAYLAND is an author, researcher and tutor specialising in paranormal and alternative subjects. He has an excellent blog called Walker of the Borderlands of Belief.