Tuesday 15th February 2022
As anyone who has followed the W.M.G.C. for any length of time will possibly know, our most productive case to date - one that we've avidly researched for over 15 years now - is the (fairly infamous) story of 'Madam Piggott'... a well-known legend, based around the Newport region of Shropshire. Again, as many will already be aware, our interest in this particular quarter has resulted in numerous press releases, over time; a number of both daylight and night-time excursions to the area by club members, and many, many interviews with witnesses to alleged 'sightings' of the ghost in the general area concerned...
In chatting with another researcher in recent weeks, I had jokingly described this particular legend as 'The ghost that keeps on giving...', the comment concerned generated by the simple fact that - over the space of so many years now - there literally seems no end to the (albeit sporadic) flow of first and second-hand reports and anecdotes pertaining to this alleged haunting...? While many of these reports come to us years - often decades - after the events involved, the supposed haunting is still, very much, an 'ongoing' matter...
For the sake of brevity here, I will dispense with any 'listing of associated lore' in this post and just advise readers to search this blog for previous mentions of our involvement with the case... and also take a look on Google for any entries dedicated to the Madam Piggott mythology (of which there is a fair bit!) Philip Davies' little article on 'Spooky Isles' is a reasonable (if brief) overview of the lore - see HERE - as is the Wikipedia entry for the ghost - HERE.
With regards to the reasons for this fresh mention of the subject, I'm happy to report that I've recently had the pleasure of speaking with a gentleman who has seemingly had not one, but 'two', separate brushes with this enigmatic apparition! The witness concerned no longer lives in the UK, but his encounters occurred at different points in decades past, when he was still very much a young, Shropshire native.
In the first instance - an Autumn evening during the 1980's - the witness was giving a lady-friend a lift home after a night out. He lived a distance from the Newport region, so knew nothing at all about the area or it's folklore.
Having reached the house of the young lady - and paused for a chat - it was around 3.30 a.m. when he finally started his homeward journey. It was a clear night and the moon was bright. Only around 5 minutes after beginning his drive, the lad spotted - standing at the side of the road - the figure of a woman dressed in dark, old fashioned, clothing... Initially - partly because of the long clothing the woman wore - he considered that she may have been a horse rider who had somehow lost her mount, but, as he draws closer, she began to move away from the road.... and walked straight through a nearby wall!
Imagining she had passed through a gate that he just didn't see, he drew to a stop around 20 yards further on and walked back to where he saw the figure. No gate... just a solid, stone wall. He then looked over the wall, but there was no sign of the woman anywhere? Despite the wholly bizarre scenario, he still decided to shout out a tentative 'Hello' and asked if anyone possibly needed help... but no response came!
Around a week later, he returned to the location and, in speaking with the girl he'd taken home, was told that he'd surely had an experience with 'The Lady Of Chetwynd'....
Driving along the same stretch of thoroughfare that contained the wall from his previous encounter, he says he was doing around 60 mph when he spotted a 'shadow' move quickly across the road, around 300 meters in front of him. He looked towards the wall, where the shape had seemingly gone and... suddenly... there she was... situated on the opposite side of the wall to the road. Strangely - as the wall concerned is easily 5 feet high (or possibly more at certain points) - he could see the figure from the waist up, as if she were standing on something behind it? (However, there was nothing there when he checked). As he stared, he also became aware of the fact that she was also 'transparent'... but not a 'ghostly' see-through effect... rather just 'shadowy' in nature?
Reaching a point of close proximity, the woman was clearly looking him straight in the eyes, their mutual stare feeling like it lasted for the longest time! He says that it seemed extremely difficult to take his eyes from her... almost, in some way, as if she didn't want him to stop looking at her?
Despite having slowed down considerably during the encounter, the van suddenly mounted the curb and headed onto the grass beyond... sliding - with the aid of the brakes - to a halt some 2 feet from the wall itself! In stopping, he had immediately exited the vehicle and looked for the woman, but she had - as in the previous encounter - simply vanished!
The witness has never ventured down that particular stretch of road again...
Interestingly, a lot of Madam Piggott related folklore claims that she is something of a misandrist - because of the ghosts 'creation story', of course - and has been accused of purposefully trying to harm numerous males, traveling through the region. (A trait shared by many folkloric character the world over, of course). While our witness in the aforementioned instances says that he felt no fear during his encounters, some could probably construe his latter experience as potentially malevolent in nature, perhaps? (Well, the chap did almost 'crash into a wall' because of the power of the woman's fixed stare, etc!?) Furthermore, car crashes on the stretch of road in question are absolutely rife - some being fatal - and it's often been queried whether Madam Piggott herself might have something to do with the accidents? (*Personally, from experience of the area, I put such things down to the fact that all and sundry seem to treat the road like a Formula One race track!)
However, in mentioning the above, I have previously spoken with 2 other people who claim to have had bizarre, driving-related, experiences in the general region... but ones that definitely seemed to be of a protective nature? Both motorists were passing through the area when they became aware of someone sitting in the rear of their vehicles... one getting a glimpse of someone briefly, while the other sensed someone seated there. The first estimated that their 'passenger' was possibly male, because of the size of the shape they saw, while the second had a feeling their interloper had long, dark, hair. One 'heard a voice' in their head, giving a warning to beware, while the other felt a 'strong feeling of caution' being received. In both instances, this 'caution' is said to have helped them both immediately avoid road accidents and, potentially, saved them from great harm or even death!?
Coincidentally, around the same time that the aforementioned interview was being conducted, word of a second 'female apparition' was also being related to the W.M.G.C. As with the Newport case, our interest in this other haunting is rather considerable... in fact, news of this particular matter first caught my eye over 25 years ago now, upon it then being mentioned in an article published in the local press...
It is quite well-known in the region that the site is allegedly haunted, though, unlike 'Madam Piggott', this particular ghost appears to be remarkably 'shy' in comparison. While most Short Heath residents will have heard of 'The White Lady', actual, first-hand, 'witnesses' - despite the fairly widespread, timeworn, legend thereabouts - can be easily counted on the fingers of one hand, it seems...?
Thankfully, once in a blue moon, the occasional sighting is reported, however, and we've had the good fortune of being able to interview two, separate, witnesses 'on location' (in the wood) in recent years... the second meet-up taking place only a couple of weeks ago, in fact!
While no longer living in the immediate area, our confidante told us that he grew up in Short Heath and visited Rough Wood practically every day during his childhood / youth. On the evening in question, he and a friend were making their way home, around 9 pm, when they experienced an abrupt drop in temperature and spied the figure of a woman, a few yards away. It was an old woman that they saw, who appeared 'white' from head to foot; pale, old-fashioned clothing and white hair... seemingly oblivious to their presence, looking away from them, towards the nearby canal.
What really made the pair uneasy, however, was the fact that - in knowing the woods SO well - they knew that the woman was somehow situated in a most peculiar spot indeed... The point at which she was standing was - they'd instantly realised - the middle of a small pool of swampy water, some 6" deep!
What is most compelling about this brief encounter is the fact that the witness and his friend knew all about the 'White Lady Ghost' that allegedly haunted the area, but, despite literally living in the woods at times - all times of the day and night - this was the first (and only) time they had encountered anything like this?
The only other peculiar incident that our witness could relate about Rough Wood concerned a 'bravery test' that, as young lads, all members of his group of friends had to go through. This was a simple enough task and involved walking from one entrance - through the wood, in pitch darkness - to another. When it came to his turn, he had reached a particular point when he was aware of someone, or some thing, jumping out of the nearby trees and plopping down onto the path he was following!? As it was absolutely pitch black, however, he saw nothing... but took to his heels and did his best to flee the area, without breaking his neck!
What struck me as particularly interesting about the 'white lady' sighting above was the fact that the witness stressed that they knew that the apparition haunting the woods was supposed to be dressed in a long, white, flowing dress. Local folklore has long dictated this and still does to this day, whenever the story is mentioned. However - the figure that the lads saw that evening clearly wasn't dressed this way!? In describing the type of clothing seen, he said that it was something he'd imagine his own grandmother to wear - 1930's, 40's or 50's style skirt and separate top - and definitely not the long white dress local children knew the resident ghost wore....? Similarly, with Madam Piggott, she is an apparition that is often classified as a 'white lady ghost', but, in looking through a list of actual sightings, the varied - often entirely contradictory - descriptions given seem to intimate that she probably has a reasonable wardrobe at her command? Yes, she is, seemingly, most often described as wearing some kind of long, white garment... but, as with the sightings reported above, she is also seen wearing dark, greyish - perhaps even black - attire too!?
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