bells underwater

Underwater Bells

It's always fascinated me, where there are tales of villages, 

which have been encroached on by the sea,

along the coast. In these places a common tale is

 that the ghostly sound of bells can be heard ringing out at sea.

I didn't know that Sussex had one. 

There are apparently insrances of this at Bulverhythe 

which is a suburb of Hastings.

Bosham again has a similar tale.

This is often credited with being a forewarning of bad weather.

A legend has it that the Vikings were responsible. 

They took the great tenor bell frim the monsstery,

 and hauled it up onto their longboat

during a raid, and the monks rang out  other bells, 

as the longboat put out to sea,

a result of which was that the bell toppled over in the boat,

and rolled off into the water, 

and all of the Viking marauders went under with it.

The legend also has it that the bell below the water replies 

to any ringing on shore.

Any ship dropping anchor over the Bell Hole, 

where it rests,will have its anchor seized, and that 

they would not be able to retrieve it!

The bell being very magnetic, perhaps?

the Devil's Doors

 

Just as an afterthought for the Cuckfield Horde,

you do wonder, don't you, why a spirit or a demon might be fooled by

such tricks as these...surely a demon thinks, doesn't it?

At least if they didn't how could they know how to attack you in ways

which cause fearful reactions? And be noted for their deceitfulness?

It's a bit like saying animals don't think, or have feelings, 

because they aren't people.

Well, being Buddhist, i believe that there is a wheel of life on which 

the soul travels, and from life to life you could 

yourself become an animal, or a demon....dependant on how you behaved

in your previous life.

I was reading about another superstitious tradition,

That of the Devil's doors.

The tradition has it that the North door of a church

Is where the devil enters, or leaves, and

A lot of North doors are - consequently? - blocked up.

The idea is that the pagan elements came in through those doors to

Worship, in the pre-Christian days, when the site was pagan.

A lot of churches of course overstood and took over

Previously pagan sites.

I came across a mention of a case, where during a baby's baptism 

the blocked-up door was opened, to allow the Devil to leave...

Did they believe that the baby might grow up to be possessed by a demon?

Bosham church once had a blocked up door, which was not to be opened 

under any circumstances... 

You see how important doorways are in the superstitious mind.

evil spirits of sussex

Demons in sussex

Well, i've been hunting for evidence of the pagan concept 

lingering in my county of residence.

If people have a long standing fear of demons and witchcraft

which would qualify.

Here's an interesting one that i came across.

The Cuckfield hoard.

During restoration in the attic of a house in Church Street,

old floorboards, which were riddled with woodworm, were pulled up 

and an assortment of items were found.
Clothes, toys and other items dating from Victorian times back to the 1700s.
Experts believe that the idea of placing them there could have been
to trick evil forces, spirits, demons, into believing that
these items, which had been used or worn, were the house's inhabitants.
11 loose shoes, not pairs, decided to date from 1860-1914,
a man's leather hat a child's dress,  a doll's arm,
A set of building bricks, an exercise book,a couple of jars,
 railway timetables, a cigarette packet
In fact several generations worth of material.
And a latchet tie shoe from 1800,

The idea of burying items on thresholds
 to protect doorways is an old one.
Clearly here maybe the threat could come from above....
Or perhaps the inhabitants had heard unexplained noises in their attic?
It has also been suggested that empty jars are used to collect
any spirits, which might drop in, and trap them.

child ghosts

Children ghosts

Child ghosts..... after my friend's  story a couple of days ago,

I found this one. Apparently there are ghosts of children

Seen in Montague Street, Worthing, 

Where children are seen in the Thornton's chocolate shop 

 and neighbouring shops, so maybe it isn't only living 

children, who like chocolates...

The attraction of chocolate is too great, and they return 

here for the goodies.....

Two faces are seen peering out of windows, or so the stories go, 

and there are strange noises at night. 

There isn't a lot of information about this, on-line, so i'll do a bit of research.

Of course, faces in windows have always been common sightings.

We often try subconsciously to turn a shape into a human 

form, especially a face, if we can.

A lot if the eerie faces photgraphed in windows, may owe

more to what we interpret them to be, than what they are.

People will emotively attribute all sorts of things to child ghosts...

What about this one...?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/

haunted-balloon-floating-through-childrens-9301316

I remember the children's film, about a balloon which was alive...

Do you? That was red, too wasn't it?

heĺingly 2

Hellingly 2

I thought i'd give you a link.

Here there is testimony that paranormal sctivity

continues on the housing estate built on Hellingly ground.

http://www.forbidden-places.net/urban-exploration-hellingly-asylum#1

There are also totally different testimonies, which are critical 

of the paranormality, and of any dark history.

The fact is that different people have different experiences,

and some of the patients may in later years have felt it a warmer place,

and the staff incredulous why any such events might happen, 

But you must remember that, although more modern staff could be caring,

people sent to such places were suffering from mental anguish, 

and in the early days of these big asylums, people were sent there

to hide them away, so others didn't have to see or know 

about their illnesses, in the wider community,

and early treatment could be deplorable.

Certainly over the years people, who had not been able to

find a cure, or relief, died there, and some treatments were....

and still are ....extremely questionable.

I am not sure myself, for instance, about ECT,

which is still used. I have seen it used successfully, 

but also with very dire effects.

as is filling people with medicines, many of which

have long term effects  of their own..

Lithium, for example, which shouldn't be used indefinitely,

but i know cases where it was the only functioning drug

for a certain individual person....

 i only mention this because what may be considered fair treatment

to a practitioner may not be by the person taking it,

And who may have been taking it up until their death.

These are places, which almost scream out to have restless spirits.

a friend's tale

A friend's tale

This is a true story, as told me over coffee by a friend.

This is just a break... i've plenty more to say about Haunted Sussex.

We go back to my birth county for this story....

Warwickshire. And Warwickshire itself

is a haunted county in its own right.

We both lived in my birth town, but her story is from elsewhere, 

up between Coventry and Birmingham 

in a  small village, where a friend of hers ran

 a little supermarket for one of the big firms of the time.

Her friend said to her, one day, that she couldn't keep staff,

and was currently short handed. So she volunteered to help.

She began to suspect something, when chocolate bars kept

flying off *the shelves. She said that there was something unpleasant

as well about the cellar, and didn't like to go down there.

but never saw anything down there to validate the feeling.

However, one day she did see a little girl 

standing at the store door, one minute, after the store had closed,

and then she had gone. One of those occasions, when you

search high and low for an intruder, but can't find one...

That's all there is to the story, but it did become obvious 

why the woman couldn't retain her staff.

I like  to record these little tales.. the blog's a good place....

Lest they be forgotten.

* Edit: she says the chocolate bars didn't fly off, just get moved about.

Hellingly

O.k. back to ghosts

I decided that there's no interest out there in anything but ghosts.

Please readers let me know!...

 

So i'll return to haunted Sussex

Hellingly is amongst those places i visited.

It used to be a big mental health hospital, 

Even apparently had a railway station.

There's a scene in an old British B movie called "Smokescreen,"

Which is good by the way.. look out for it..l

Where the investigator is standing on a cliff road looking 

down over the railway running through the valley,

and there is  a small local station... 

I went to Hellingly out of interest, as i was working not so far away  

in the business.. it closed in 1994.

So a little before my time....

At its prime....

I

At the end...

 

There must be a general feeling of ugliness in the air,

as, after all, patients were treated as subhuman 

and subjected to treatment worse than prisoners.

I know the environment of a mental health hospital

could be almost considered outside of the law.

A patient could have their teeth removed so that they couldn't bite!

Or a woman could be raped by another client, and 

this would be just brushed away, in what was a closed community

exempt from outside law,

So it is small wonder that footsteps can be heard in the dark corridors,

Or a feeling of malaise strike at any moment,

Or strange mists begin to form...

Or voices be heard yelling, crying screaming for help in empty wards.

It's gone now, and a housing estate built i believe..

I wonder if the dwellers experience former inmates'

 restless spirits

in their bedrooms?

chase vault 1

Chase vault. 1

This tale first appeared in print in 

James Edward Alexander's "Transatlantic sketches"

(1833) which, last time i looked, could be found on-line...

It happened in Barbados, and the family vault of the Chases,

according to him,  was opened for one Mrs Goddard, in 1807

Anna Maria in 1808, and Dorcas in 1812.

Later that same year it was opened for the burial of Thomas Chase,

and the coffins of the female Chases were 

supposed to have been found in disarray.

When an infant was next  taken down to be interred

 the coffins were very disturbed. 

This was reported on subsequent interments, 

and each time order had been restored 

before the vault had been locked up again.

Like many of these stories the details vary from book to book

as time progreses. Andrew Lang, researching through 

old newspapers and burial records, said

that he could find nothing to substantiate it in public records.

It was apparently an anecdote told by Thomas Orderson, 

rector of Christchurchduring the 1800s.

 The first written account was in an 

unpublished account written by a Nathan Lucas, in 1820. 

He claimed to have been present when it happened.

Then the Robert Dale Owen book came along. 

He was son of the socialist  reformer, Robert Owen, a famous man,

 who was largely responsible for the eight hour working day,

 and the co operative movement. He also had an interest 

in spiritualism, which his son Robert Dale continued.

I have both of  these early published books to compare details.

What we have to remember is that Lang, despite being a folklorist,

was a sceptic, and he was researching the incident 100 years

later, around 1907. He didn't have the benefit of on-line

Historical resources,

but of course Barbados isn't a large place..

Oh, one other thing, this vault disturbance event was not an isolated

occurrence apparently.............

 

new themes

New themes, old themes

Well, there doesn't seem to be a lot of hauntings

On Southern railways,

If i do find any more, I'll add to the list.

Damp  riddled this morning. I found boxes of dvds 

wet with damp off the walls of the back room. 

I'm sitting in the cafe in town going off my head.

Hopefully the dvds aren't damaged just the cardboard 

of the boxes. I moved my wardrobe from that side 

so my clothes didn't get smothered in mold...

It's like living in a crypt, in this country, 

the way this society allows landlords and their agents do 

nothing at all for the rent that they don't earn. 

This damp pervades everything, 

including perhaps the mind...

I  recall thinking often enough that the quietest 

and most natural corners of ourenvironment

in towns are the graveyards, crypts and cemetery precincts. 

It's these places where society puts most effort into looking after you

Or not. 

 i feel morbid about my living conditions, so i'll talk about 

Some crypt(o)-paranormal things, 

How about the moving coffin story in the Barbados crypt,

which had Sir Arthur Conan Doyle going?

The Chase Vault

I have an original book source for the supernatural stories Robert  Dale Owen's 

"Footfalls on the Boundary of another World"

 

More to follow...

 

railspirits

Railway spirits

The search is on for haunted tracks along the Sussex coast.

One that i do know about is Mouslecoomb, near Brighton.

It's a station i never had a reason to get off on,

 always passed through, en route for Lewes or Brighton.

Mouslecoomb has a Hell Hound!!!

The story is about 30 years old...as

a growling snarling spirit has been heard

panting and stalking anyone on the ststion after dark.

Apparently right up against their faces. 

It has never been seen.

This seems to date back to a reference

 in a book by Peter Underwood.

He says thst it was accomoanied by a frightening atmosphere.

Students at the university also wrote to him

 that they had head the arrival of a steam train, but seen nothing.

(Underwood "Where the Ghosrs Walk")

I have no reason to doubt Underwood's credibility, but 

he is just reporting stories which came to his ears, 

as president of the ghost club.

 How far he went in checking the veracity, 

I don't know, and how far can you go anyway.

I have read his accounts of following up on certain reports.

There are tales of spectral dogs all around the country.

(I may update this page as i can check sources...)

Sussex off the rails

Sussex ghost trains

On the rails 

I thought to commemorate being able to get a train

again without the stupidity of last year, anywhere in Sussex,

I would hit the tracks and skid around through

The railways of haunted Sussex.

There's a fair bit of haunting around the county.

How about the haunted tunnels?

Did you know that Balcombe Tunnel is haunted?

I love Balcombe trains, as it's exhilarating to go over the rail

Viaduct at Balcombe, and i always thought so, 

living in Eastbourne, Worthing and Littlehampton.

Apparently the railway murderer Percy Lefroy Mapleton 

Left a victim's body in the tunnel further on in 1881,

And three soldiers were killed by a train, during WW1, 

Whilst sheltering there, during a bombing raid.

It's reported that two other soldiers were also hit by a train

In there during WW2.

Clayton tunnel

It isn't the only Sussex tunnel haunted by spirits.

Clayton tunnel near Brighton has been haunted apparently

since 1862. A train crash then resulted

 in the persistence of screaming noises

and the sound of crunching metal.

The cottage on top this Gothic edifice

is reputedly also haunted. it was built in 1841 by

A Victorian architect called David Mocatta..

Which is interesting in itself, 

as Mocatta was the name of Charles Grey's ipsissimus 

In The Devil Rides Out...

The tunnel itself appears in the pretty horrible story 

by Dickens called "the Signalman"

Not by any means my favourite......

But, by the looks of the tunnel it's a fitting face for a journey into hell!

 so you get the idea of its personality...

Arundel 4

Arundel

In one of my ghost books i also found reference to St Nicholas's church, 

in Arundel. Apparently there is a record of a ghostly priest here,

this one photographic.

I have a healthy disrespect for alleged ghosts on photographs.

The photograph of a ghost in period costume seen at a door in Hampton Court

did not match what was known of period costume,

I believe. The famous Rainham photograph

has been almost certainly proved to have been

 faked by the photographer

And i analysed the one of a monk allegedly 

taken at a banquet in Coventry in an earlier blog,

and i'm certain that is an optical illusion.

This photograph was taken by a solicitor,

Snapping photographs of architectural features.

It was taken in 1940.The church  was empty.

It purports to show a priest in the vestments for taking Mass.

The photographer did not see anything.

There's a story that a priest was killed here by a local squire.

There's also supposed to be a brown lady, who cleans 

as she maybe did in life....

But what do you make of this photograph?

Does this "clearly" show a priest praying?

I reserve judgement, but i'm far from convinced by this one...

However it's a bit cleverer than some i've seen, as it is ambiguous. 

However it looks more like a lens flare to me?

Perhaps?

arundel 3

The Arundel jailhouse

This is apparently haunted by a violent prisoner called James

A grey lady a man who stabbed himself to avoid being hung,

The place has ghost tours centred around it.

Tarrant Street

The Kings arms up Tarrant Street has a  young girl haunting it and 

other local shops wearing a white Victorian dress.

The street has other ghosts, but it may be the same 

ghost just haunts the town, and is making 

Herself at home everywhere,

Maybe showing herself at different periods in her life.

Why does a ghost have to show itself as 

one age specifically, if it had a long life?

I wonder if it has to be specifically

 associated with the final tragic incident

In its life, if it loved the place?

Short today, as rushed...and software updates 

also slowed me down. more time tomorrow..

arundel 2

Arundel 2

For more information on the castle, here's a blogspot, which i found.

Uhttp://portsmouthpoint.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/

the-ghosts-of-arundel-castle.html

The author also mentions the white spirit of a bird fluttering against 

a window. The idea being that this is the spirit 

Seen as a forewarning of a death. 

There are different harbingers, of course, seen traditionally

in ancient families, or heard sometimes, 

like the banshee.

I recall Marvel's Satana stories:

Daughter of the Devil,

 and she coukd draw out the life of a person 

perhaps with a kiss, 

It would fly out as a butterfly.

The author mentions others, and it's worth paying a visit.

The Norfolk Hotel in the High Street, built in 1783 reportedly had paranormal 

Activity in the 1980s, objects being moved, poltergeist activity,

and a  shadowy figure is occasionally seen,

Stripped to the waist, and gazing in through a window...

A ghostly exhibitionist?

Is the presence of a ghost tour in town trying to build up 

the town as one of the most haunted in England, do you think?

Or is it just a strange and atmospheric old place....

More to come.....

The best landmark in Arundel, outside of the castle..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Black Rabbit.

You ask anyone!

highwaymen 3. and Arundel Castle

Ghosts of highwaymen

Well, Spring-heeled Jack, what about other ghostly highwaymen about?

I understand  that there may be one in Hastings, 

at the Stag Inn. It's even credited with being Dick Turpin.

Long way from York, isn't he?

However another website claims that the inn

 is haunted by a ship's captain. 

Maybe it's a question of identifying the trade of the man 

from the hat, which he's wearing.

There is also a young girl's presence upstairs, 

a mummified cat found in the chimney,

 and an angry male spirit in the back bedroom.

I did want to mention any other highwayman ghost in my area,

 which i knew of before i moved on.

To Arundel again.

Haven't got to it this week. Was going, but then the weather turned cold.

I'll start at Arundel Castle.. another building which is greedy for ghosts.

There is a blue man, who floats around the library,

and is often seen browsing the books,

A phantom scullion in the kitchen..

A kitchen menial, that is to say..a boy who was beaten to death.

A lady in white, who is said to have thrown herself off one of the towers,

And that may not be all, as ghostly figures are frequently reported.

It's quite a prominent local landmark,

So you would hope it would be haunted.....

highwaymen 2

Highwaymen 2

The way that these hangings were conducted seems to have 

been staggeringly evil.

It's amazing when you think of it how short a time ago 

It actually was really. 

Not that many generations.

I mean to hang him as a punishment was bad enough

But to then suspend the body in a cage until it rotted away

For locals to see... what were people in thise days?

He was hung in Horsham.The gallows were

likely in Horsham square, where the bandstand is now.

Around which now there is a regular food market!!!!!!

His cage would be made by the local blacksmith, he would be dipped in tar,

And left for two years, before being taken down and buried.

He was supposed to have been finally buried in the woods.

 

If you'd like to read up at length on dear Highwayman Jack,

Here's his internet epitaph.

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/

west-sussex/hauntings/jack-uppertons-gibbet.html

I'll carry on around Arundel tomorrow. 

May even post a blog from over there.

highwaymen

Arundel

I was thinking of going to Arundel this morning,

 but thought better of it as there was a chill fog,

 and my camera needed charging

So let's look at Arundel. 

I have a friend, who told me she saw a monk 

One day as she was walking along the riverside, and that he 

Darted away quickly and disappeared into the hedgerows.

Here are some more local ghostly tales of the area

Arundel castle

 Near Arundel in Blakehurst there is apparently a gibbet

where the highwayman Jack Upperton was hung. He was hung there

in a cage, after being tried in 1771 at East Grinstead Assizes.

Apparently the road from Steyning to Portsmouth via Findon,

 was his stamping ground.(so probably passing Cissbury Ring)

He was hung on the edge of Angmering Park Estate.

The site only has a small marker and is hard to find.

It is apparently the gibbet site, which is haunted,

At least according to paranormal investigators, 

And it is possible there to hear the sound of a gibbet creaking in the wind!

I think i'll carry on with this ghostly highwayman ...

It'll help me get over the toothache i'm suffering from.....

bramber castle

Steyning

Bramber castle. 

I hope to be able to get up to Steyning anon.

Don't believe that i've been there in my time in haunted Sussex.

I believe the nearby Bramber Castle is haunted.

This is allegedly the spirits of children, in rags, 

begging for food.

Bramber is a Norman motte and Bailey castle,

All that remains now is the gatehouse tower and a piece of wall.

It is said that in the time of King John, the then Lord of Bramber

upset the king, and his children were imprisoned

in Windsor, where they starved to death.

So, it took a while for them to return home...

There are a lot of tales of children locked up in towers 

and starved to death in folklore.

There's the story, for instance of the prophet child,

Robert Nixon, the Cheshire prophet,

Who foresaw Richard's death at Bosworth Field,

and his own death of starvation by Henry, afterwards,

being taken to make prophecies for Henry,

locked up in a tower room and forgotten.

It's also strangely reminiscent of the Princes in the Tower.

Anyway, i digress.. here's a picture of Bramber.

I

I may tell the story of Robert Nixon, it's almost as much fun as 

that of Old Mother Shipton

devil's dyke 2

Devil's Dyke

The gulleys were, scientists tell us, formed during the ice age.

Apparently, by the action of glaciers.

But we know better, don't we? The devil, the great horned beast,

Developed a plan to flood the churches in the valley of the Weald,

by cutting gouges down which water would overflow .

He was the patron saint of landscape architects, obviously.

He cut out a lot of earth and rock, which had to go somewhere,

so he deposited it around the countryside. 

Where he threw the stones, there are now stone circles.

 The biggest lump of earth landed in the channel, and 

Of course created the Isle of Wight.

If you get caught in the mist on Devil's Dyke it would

undoubtedly be eerie, and probably dangerous.

There is apparently a hoof print, there, which he left behind.

This legend would put it clearly into the Devil category,

rather than the Demonic.

 That's what i would expect 

from a prehistoric landscape: reference to the worship 

of the horned beast, associated with landscape features, which

would have been around before the arrival of Christianity.

So what pagan god would it have been, who was 

the Celtic version of the horned beast?

Or are we talking about a horned god brought over 

by the Romans, when they landed in Sussex, 

perhaps soldiers from the Middle East, or the Caucasus? 

Thry could have tacked their cult of Mithras? or

Maybe an Egyptian deity? onto a local horned god?

Who would be the best contender? 

Along come the Christians, and muddle the story further

by connecting Satan to the deity, which they

would consider an idolatrous object of worship.

 

Devil's Dyke

Devil's Dyke

Sorry i couldn't get time to blog yesterday.

I finally got hot water after months... winter months without...

Yesterday, when the boiler was fixed.

I promised to have a look at Devil's Dyke.

The Horned Beast has been very active in Sussex, 

And Devil's Dyke seems to be his piece de resistance. 

He scoured out the earth, and all those stones, 

 which he dug up, he scattered around

Sussex. There are so many tales about his activities here

that you can't help but wonder where his worship 

really centred in our prehistory.

 When i was last up the Dyke, the wind was good

 for hang gliding... lovely blue skies.

This was where the Devil dug in his claws and gouged out a

long swathe of the countryside.

to be continued......

sussex pagan

Sussex Pagan

Well, Sussex is a pagan place, and i found a website which claims there are 

80% more fairies and a third more ghosts down here

than elsewhere in England.

There are signs of it everywhere... let's look at the stones..

Do you know the Goldstone? 

It's what gave its name to Goldstone Bottom, 

and Goldstone Villas in Hove, the complimentary town to Brighton.

I have a family history connection to that little avenue next to 

Hove Station, so Hove has another attraction for me.

I like Hove Park anyway, especially its summer carnival.

Anyway it was moved to its present site in 1906,

 but it moved around prior to that.

The stones previously stood on open downland.

On one side it's supposed to be possible to see a human face.

I believe stones were meant to be seen as anthropomorphic 

in an artistic way.

 

It's alleged that when the devil was building Devil's Dyke...

which i'll visit soon... he threw odd stones around, and one 

landed in Goldstone Bottom.

Maybe his face is in the stone because he's still laughing at 

us, and the fun he had at Devil's Dyke?