Monday 15 February 2016


February 15th 2016

Our 2nd, book-related mention of 2016, is a reminder that copies of Fran Nortons excellent book 'The Mystery Of Madam Pigott' are still available to buy and can be purchased directly from the author via email at:  fvnorton@gmail.com

As regular visitors to this blog will already know, the W.M.G.C. have - over the last decade or so - taken considerable interest in this particular, Shropshire 'apparition'.....  However - despite numerous, first-hand sightings over the space of many, many decades - the tales concerned have always been an item of controversy and conjecture, given that the actual identity of this quite 'infamous' spectre is not actually known!?!  

Thoroughly intrigued by the ghostly legends involved, local author, Fran, made it her mission to track down the history of the Pigott family, who had - for some five centuries or so - made the area concerned their home......  She notes that, despite their presence and standing in the region for such a period of time, the family seems to have left very little impression on the locality..... with - unusually - no pubs, landmarks or other topography reflecting their local occupation!?  If anything, one of the few lasting influences the line had on the region manifests in the form of the 'ghost' herself....... something than Fran endeavours to address in her superb booklet on that enigmatic family and legend........!!       

January 15th 2016

While not directly 'ghost-related', the subject itself has given rise to a number of spooky legends associated with the Midlands region, including tales from Wednesbury and the Bradley region of Bilston......

In his brand new book, 'The Midlands Zeppelin Outrage', local author (and good friend of the W.M.G.C.), Ian Bott, has painstakingly covered all aspects of the brutal and devastating assault on the English Midlands by a fleet of German zeppelins in 1916..... an attack which led to the deaths of at least 70 men, women and children across the region involved!

As mentioned, this unexpected raid has led to a small number of 'spooky', potentially-related, stories cropping up from time to time, including a local factory that is said to house the spirit of one, unfortunate child - killed in the raid - and, in nearby Bradley, Bilston, a place where a young, courting couple were hit by bomb fragments...... the spot in question subsequently being noted as a site where no grass or flora will grow!?

For anyone wishing to purchase Ians excellent book, copies are currently available from the 'Leather Museum' in Walsall town centre.....