When you talk of the United Kingdom, you talk of the countryside with its old churches, massive manors, massive gardens, quieter graveyards and more. And when the sun sets, accounts emerge of a faint footstep, a shadow moving around the corridor, a cry of anguish or a sinister laugh and these reported haunting make the cultural fabric of United Kingdom all the more interesting. If you are game for some popular legends, then this is what you should not miss.
According to legend, the Brown lady is identified as Lady Dorothy Walpole, the sister of Sir Robert Walpole who is regarded as Britain’s first prime minister. She married Charles Townshend in 1713 but led a deeply unhappy married life. Accounts state that she was almost trapped inside the Hall and wasn’t even allowed to meet her children. She supposedly passed away in the Hall and has been seen as an apparition thereafter. This account has become really famous after a photograph taken in 1936 which shows the silhouette of an apparition. Moreover it is believed that she wears a brown dress in these appearances which likely gave her the title of The Brown Lady.
One of Scotland’s most famous legends except the Lochness Monster is the Grey Man of Ben Macdui or the Am Fear Liath Mor (in Gaelic). Unlike other accounts of shadows, apparitions and sounds, this is more of a sensation-based narrative. Ben Macdui is the second-highest mountain in Britain and people often seem to have a heavy feeling of being followed around. Professor Norman Collie was the first to experience this feeling in 1891 when he was alone near the summit, although he didn’t publicly share the experience till 1925. According to him every few steps he took, he heard a heavy sound behind him as if someone or something was following him. Another account by Dr A. M Kellas mentions that he saw a figure around the area but when he showed it to his brother, there was nothing at all. Strange footsteps panic, figures appearing out of nowhere and sounds are the basic accounts of this haunting. Since no one had actually seen a visible entity hence no identification was done so far.
In South Wales, one has heard of an unidentified person going door to door with a decorated horse skull in his hands. This is typically a winter folk-lore and is said to be a tale discussed through generations of oral storytelling, especially among the Welsh communities.
The Glamis Castle has been the ancestral home of the Lyon family and then the Earls of Strathmore. Today, its towering walls and long corridors are associated with more than one sighting. But the most famous one of them is the Green Lady. According to the most popular beliefs she is identified as Janet Douglas, the wife of John Lyon, the 6th Lord of Glamis. After her husband’s death, she became embroiled in a web of being the single lady accused witchcraft and was burnt at the stake in Edinburg. According to visitor reports, a lady wearing a green dress often appears around the Chapel and the windows and that is why she is referred to as the Green Lady.
According to written reports, on August 4, 1577 a congregation had gathered at St Mary’s church in Bungay when a thunderstorm took over the town. Around the same time, a black dog-like creature was seen strutting around the grounds. It was described as a creature having red gleaming eyes, gigantic body, and a supernatural aura about itself. In fact, as per reports, two people died that night. Interestingly, almost 12 miles farther at Blythburgh, the dog-like creature was seen inside the Holy Trinity church. Hushed whispers and murmurs still ask if it was a dog-like creature or the devil in a creature-form.
For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels.