Sunday 21 September 2014

September 21st 2014

It's incredible when you can just 'go somewhere' at times and find yourself 'falling on' a cracking ghost story and a chance to help with research!! Two members of the W.M.G.C. were out surveying some land (for metal detecting purposes) yesterday near the Shropshire / Staffordshire border.....  They were standing on the bridge shown in the photograph - just assessing which fields were going to be open to them - when a couple of passing dog walkers engaged them in general conversation.....  

They were intrigued to hear the male walker mention the subject of 'strange goings-on' in the region, which - of course - instantly aroused their interest!!  Cutting a long story short - they were told that the couple in question...... and a number of other locals, seemingly..... had actually experience an array of ghostly activity on the bridge in question!!!  New to the region, the group members didn't really know the first thing about the area, but were advised to speak to the owner of a 17th Century farmhouse some 70 yards from the Southern side of the bridge in question.....!!!!

The resident farmer involved has, for many years now, been utterly perplexed by the array of spooky stories and reported encounters associated with the bridge and his own beautiful farmhouse. For the sake of research, etc, we can only reveal that the experiences associated with the bridge itself concern two separate apparitions - those of a long-dead squire who was found murdered on the bridge in 1789 (he lived on the nearby farm) and his spirit has been seen there many times since. The second ghost associated with the structure is that of a coach driver who was killed (in the mid-Victorian period) after being thrown into the river when his team of four horses mysteriously bolted one evening and his wheels struck the bridge parapet, sending him tumbling to his death into the river below!! Local legend has it that it was the ghost of the squire who caused the horses to 'spook', leading to the demise of the unfortunate driver!?!? Whatever the cause, the apparition of the latter has been seen on the bridge a number of times since.......!!!

While the farmer declined an offer for us to investigate - he's unsure about 'disturbing' the ghosts too much - we did say that we'd be happy to appeal for data on the case for him..... While we'd never heard of the matter previously, the case is evidently fairly famous in the general locality and there is a wealth of historical data to back up the tragedies involved...... In the hope of generating some genuine feedback on the matter, the farmer has kindly allowed us to include his email address here, so that anyone who might know anything on the case can get in touch with him: gareth.lydon@hotmail.com

No comments: