Saturday, 31st October 2020

Despite this year being highly restrictive for most of us, here's hoping that all of our visitors still manage to have an enjoyable and safe Halloween!!  Our very best wishes to everyone, everywhere!!

 

Saturday, 31st October 2020

Despite all of my travels throughout this region (and beyond) over the decades, I'd somehow managed to miss visiting the relatively close-by hamlet of Kings Norton, situated just a few miles away, on the opposite side of Birmingham City.  I'd been aware of the ghostly heritage of the related location, St. Nicholas' Place, for many years - and had always planned to go - but just never seemed to get round to it, for whatever reason...?

However:  In more recent times, one of our social media friends (and an acquaintance of mine for many years), Pat Taylor, had made a number of references to the area on the W.M.G.C. Facebook page (LINK), concerning it's associated ghost stories.  As well as long being fascinated by paranormal matters, Pat also happens to have been an active volunteer at the historic property known as 'The Tudor Merchants House' - formerly, commonly, known as 'The Saracens Head' - located in St. Nicholas' Place. (Above image).  As readers may well imagine, this property - the oldest parts of which date from the very late 15th Cent. - has played many roles over it's long history.  The 'Saracens Head' title comes from the fact that part of the overall building had been turned into a public house, of that name, by 1700...... 

And it is here that one of the key ghost stories associated with the area appears.  It is recorded that, during the English Civil War period, Queen Henrietta Maria stayed at the property, as she passed through the region with a force of some five and a half thousand men.  As frequently happened, such armies were at the constant mercy of a variety of devastating illnesses and, at this point, the contingent of royal followers were visited by an outbreak of influenza.  For safety reasons, Queen Henrietta was housed in the Saracens Head, while her troops camped nearby.  In order to pass messages between the two parties, an unnamed maidservant of the queen was used as a 'runner'.  Typically, with the virulent nature of such conditions back then, it wasn't long until the unfortunate girl was also afflicted with the virus....... 

When the army chose to move on, the servant was still very ill and, therefore, was left behind.  Sadly, instead of improving, the girl passed away... and it is her ghost that is said to haunt the location to this day.  While it is often said that her apparition has been experienced, walking the upper floors of the property, looking for her long-gone Queen, it has to be noted that she appears to be very much a 'legendary' ghost and, while she is alleged to be there, actual 'first-hand experiences with' her sad spectre are either strangely unrecorded or perhaps just a matter of popular myth?

 

Situated on the opposite side of the churchyard to The Saracens Head is the beautiful 'Old Grammar School'.  Possibly built, originally, as the priests house to St. Nicholas' Church, this lovely, little property also has an associated ghost story.....

Some years ago, I was contacted by a lady who - as a girl - had attended a function in the area with a friend.  In exploring around the church, they had spotted the Grammar School and - 'as you do' - had, inquisitively, gone over to peep in at the windows......  As they squinted through the grimy glass, they became aware of a group of what appeared to be 'school children', dressed in period style, apparently staring right back at them!!  Whatever the girls had see, they were not interested in exploring any more and... safe to say.... they quickly exited the scene!! 

Once again, I am greatly indebted to my good friend, John Chance - of Ghostcallers UK - for allowing me to accompany him on his recent visit to this fascinating and historic area!!  Many thanks matey!!

Friday 16th October 2020

Strangely, I'd only recently asked members of the W.M.G.C. Facebook page if anyone had anything of interest planned for Halloween this year....?  Well.... if you have no plans as yet - and live within a reasonable distance of North West Shropshire - the absolutely beautiful Whittington Castle is staging an amazing event that will surely appeal to 'ghost enthusiasts' of ALL ages!!

Tuesday 13th October 2020

Once more, we find that we're greatly indebted to our good friend John Chance - of Ghostcallers UK - for kindly taking us into the wilds of Shropshire, on one of his recce visits to a handful of allegedly haunted sites!  On this excursion, we visited the lovely, little town of Madeley, situated just outside Ironbridge.....

The main focus of this recent visit was to take a look at the ruin of an old windmill, situated in woodland, just to the rear of the popular (and supposedly haunted) Madeley Court Hotel.  Possibly erected as early as the beginning of the 18th Cent., this is an intriguing spot with a fair amount of 'strange history' associated with it.  In his late-80's booklet, 'The Ironbridge District Ghost Book', Ascott-Davies tells the story of a young man, who was walking through the area on the way back home from visiting his girlfriend.  On passing the mill, he suddenly became aware of a groaning noise and the unfamiliar sight of 'sails' moving around on the derelict structure, where no sails existed any longer!?  Even more bizarre, however, was the presence of two, Satyr-like figures seemingly in the process of 'knocking the sails around'!?!  Now, it's clearly all-too-easy to scoff about a story like this, but - if the sighting were indeed true - then what could possibly cause a vision like this to be experienced......?

Ascott-Davies also mentions the story of a girl who was out walking her dog one day, near to the mill, when she suddenly became 'deaf'!  She could see other people close by - cars passing in the distance and so on - but she found that she couldn't hear the slightest noise!?  Putting her hands to her ears, she was instantly aware of a deep, black, hole situated just in front of her!!  Apparently, this turned out to be the very real air shaft to an old mine.... and the girls hearing returned on the same instant that she spotted the pit!  Whatever caused the inexplicable silence, the girl believed this strange incident saved her life that day........?

John also mentioned that he had recently been speaking to another ghost enthusiast, who says that they have investigated the area around the old windmill on a number of occasions in the past.  They apparently report having heard inexplicable screaming sounds from the surrounding woodland......?

Only a matter of 300 or so yards from the aforementioned mill stands the beautiful and historic Madeley Court Hotel.  In 2006, the once very popular (but now defunct) 'Beacon Radio' recorded a 'Halloween Special' show at the site and kindly asked if members of the West Midlands Ghost Club could possibly attend and add an objective, 'investigative angle' to the proceedings?  Needless to say, we were only too happy to oblige!

Interestingly, most of the ghost stories historically associated with the site seem to involve the area surrounding the property!?  Ghosts seen, over the years, supposedly include former residents of a series of cottages that once existed close by.... including the apparition of an old lady who is said to smile sweetly, before disappearing into the entrance of one of these (now long gone) properties!?

One of the more 'popular' sightings for the region are the figures of 'monks', a number of which have supposedly been spotted, over time, walking the grounds of the smart hotel.

Inside the building itself, different forms of activity have been reported in numerous areas... including poltergeist-like happenings in the cellar and the sound of children laughing and talking in a certain function room (that is actually a fairly 'new' addition to the overall hotel complex).  A small access door has also been seen slamming, seemingly of it's own accord, in this same area.

According to visitors - at the time of our 2006 visit - 'Room 11' is the most haunted portion of Madeley Court.  Although lovely, it must certainly also rank as one of the tiniest rooms in the property too?

Here, it is said, the figure of a man has been seen on a number of occasions, seemingly standing mid-way 'through a bed'!?!  He is generally positioned around the centre of the bed, with his legs invisible to onlookers, being situated 'inside' the item of furniture itself!!  The face of a woman has also been seen 'peering in' at the window to the room, despite the fact that it is high-up on the second floor.....  It was while situated in this chamber - myself seated at the window, because my companions from the radio station were too scared to sit there!  (Laugh!) - that we discover a recording device inexplicably failed to work and a fully charged DV cam no longer held any charge in it......

In the adjacent, associated mill building (above), the ghost of a young girl has been seen in the kitchen area and the figure of a man near one of the downstairs bars.  The staff member who experienced the apparition of the little girl said that the child appeared to be 'playing hide and seek with her'.  As they had been situated at a work surface, they had clearly seen the girl 'bobbing up and down' - in and out of sight - at the end of the same kitchen unit.  This was experienced from their peripheral vision, but, whenever they turned to look straight at the child, there was nothing to be seen!  Apparently, this is a ghost that a number of people have reported over time.  She is around 5 years of age and wears the clothing of a late / post Medieval period.  In a separate kitchen in the same building, the little girl was also once blamed for tugging at the clothing of another staff member.

At this point - pertinent to our recent visit - it should be mentioned that, while Madeley Court Hotel seem fine with daytime visitors to the site, we would very much like to warn anyone wishing to take a look at the location of the approach to the hotel itself.  The complex is accessed via a winding drive that is utterly shot with sizeable pot-holes... many of an horrifically worrying depth!  Suffice it to say, some of these pot-holes are clearly capable of causing 'flat tyres', if not navigated very carefully!!

Our final location of the day was the picturesque St. Michael's Churchyard, situated at the heart of Madeley Village itself.

As well as containing some absolutely fascinating graves - including a number of 'cast iron' tombs - the cemetery is said to be haunted by a female apparition.  One early December morning, a gentleman was passing through the graveyard when he suddenly spied a female figure in the process of laying flowers on one of the grave plots....  As it was terribly early, and barely light, he decided to walk down towards the woman for a closer look.  As he progressed, he suddenly stumbled and - momentarily distracted - looked back up to find no sign of the lady anywhere....!?

Once again, a massive 'Thank You' goes out to John Chance for kindly inviting us to tag along with him on his recent visit!  Cheers matey!