Monday July 27th 2020

It's been great to be able to actually make a handful of blog posts in relatively quick succession of late and this latest, albeit brief, update comes as an extra-pleasure to make.... as it concerns a book freshly published by an old friend of ours!

We first met Lisa Ashby when she kindly invited the W.M.G.C. to investigate a property in the Brownhills area of Walsall, back in 2001.  The building was a centre for the local disabled community, which had a history of peculiar and potentially paranormal happenings.  Over the following couple of years or so, members of the group made numerous daytime and overnight visits to the property, not only looking into the strange history of the site itself, but also getting to know a little of the lovely community that the place housed..... 

It was during the latter that we learned that Lisa and her family were already no strangers to the paranormal, as, for some 7 or so years, when she was still a young girl, they had lived in what would typically be regarded as a 'haunted house'...... 

And it is here that Lisa's book begins; the place upon which - and the happenings therein - her story is built.......  While being presented as a work of fiction, '33, Baggott's Circle' is genuinely 'based on true events'..... not only giving the reader an entertaining, spooky tale to follow, but also offering the keen, added realisation that: this really happened!!

Please check out the associated Amazon page HERE and purchase a copy!!

Thursday 9th July 2020

We've had the good fortune to be able to see some rather interesting photographs of late and such things are made all-the-better when they happens to incorporate one of our more favourite sites.  In the instance shown here, this particular image was taken at the lovely, hill-top, ruin of Stafford Castle, some five or so years ago.....

The picture was taken during an afternoon visit to the famous landmark, by the partner of the Gentleman shown in the foreground of the shot.... We were told that nothing 'untoward' was noticed at the time that the image was obtained, and it was only when the photographs were being viewed, some hours later, that the strange, silhouetted figure was noticed standing at the end of the corridor.....!?

Intrigued, they zoomed in on the form and believe that they have caught some form of 'military' style figure, wearing a helmet and possibly long, chain mail, armour or smock?  We are told that they subsequently informed staff at the castle of their photograph, but the staff in question apparently took no interest in this most intriguing image!?  

Having first visited this appealing spot a number of times over the last 30 or so years, we're a little sad to say that it has seemingly never 'held much of a ghostlore', save for a mere couple of incidents.  On my first visit, I happened to speak to a staff member about potential hauntings - as you do! - and was told that the only thing that they could call to mind was a strange, rhythmic 'clanging' sound they had heard, early one morning, when opening the site up for the day?  As visitors will know, it's a reasonably 'out of the way' spot and the man concerned had got the impression it was the sound of a 'blacksmith', hammering away in his forge..... at some distant point in time, maybe? 

The second - and only 'other' - reference to the castle appeared in one of the books written by my old friend, Rugeley based author, Carol Arnall, some years ago.  A  man had written in to Carol to say that he had once stayed at Stafford Castle - at some point in the 1930's, I believe it was? - when the structure was still actually inhabited...!  He had been a 'traveling rep' at the time and, when passing through the region during the course of his work, had found lodgings with the people who lived in the castle. 

One evening, he had stepped outside the structure, for a breath of fresh air, and had clearly heard the sound of a horse galloping along nearby......  Despite the fact that he could see for quite some distance - and the sound of the galloping hooves were obviously passing close by - he could see absolutely nothing at all to account for the noise he was currently experiencing!?

Sadly, while the above, two instances are the only 'spooky' stories we'd ever come across concerning the spot, this hasn't stopped the site becoming relatively popular with the 'ghost hunting fraternity' over the past couple of decades or so!?  Having said that of course, I guess 'an absence of evidence doesn't necessarily equate evidence of absence' and the close area does have a somewhat chequered history to it.... which a great many would argue is possibly conducive to some form of 'presence' perhaps?  The nearby church has an associated 'plague pit', it seems, enclosed in a patch of trees on the border of the graveyard and castle grounds.  Also, only a few decades ago, the 'twin towers' of the castle - see image above - were supposedly 'demolished', when a local schoolboy climbed one of them and, unfortunately, fell to his death.  As a result of the latter - and, we're guessing, because of the general state of the already crumbling building at that time - 'demolition' was chosen over costlier renovation and better security, creating the infinitely 'shorter' structure that we're left with today.......

As always, our thanks go out to Mr. D. Rowbotham for most kindly allowing us to share his photograph on the blog!!