It’s Halloween. The time of year when we dress up as Donald Trump and use carved squashes and threats to terrify people into giving us sweets. But there’s more to Halloween than just fun sized Mars bars, there are ghost stories and tales of terror to be shared in the dark!
Photo by: captblack76/Fotolia
So welcome to our haunted post of the scariest Halloween ghost stories.
Lady Howard & the headless horseman
One of the most famous Dartmoor ghost stories tells the tale of Lady Howard. The daughter of a cruel and insane murderer, she was sold by King James I to the Earl of Northumberland who forced her to marry his brother Sir Alan Percy for her wealth when she was 12. The widow of 4 husbands, she died exactly 1 month after her son alone and heartbroken. Over time, legend has turned her into the monster instead of the victim and every night you’ll see her carrying out her punishment.
Head to Fitzford House near Tavistock and come the hour, the gates will creak open to allow a black dog with glowing red eyes and a large horse-drawn carriage made of the bones of dead husbands pass through. On each of the four corners of the carriage is a skull belonging to each of the four husbands. A headless horseman encourages his charges with a long, bloodstained whip, and as the coach passes you’ll see the ghostly white figure of Lady Howard in the back. Sometimes she’s been known to look at passers-by with eyeless sockets sunk deep into a colourless, scowling face as she heads to Oakhampton Castle.
At the castle, a single blade of grass is picked and returned to Fitzford House where it is laid on a granite slab before the ghosts disappear.
When the castle mound is finally free of grass, Lady Howard will be allowed to rest in peace.
The Ghost of Anne Boleyn
Come to Blickling Hall in Norfolk on the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s death and you’re in for a shock.
Photo by: simonwhitehurst/Fotolia
A ghostly carriage pulled by headless horses and driven by a headless horseman appears in the lanes close by. The figure of Anne Boleyn sits in the back dressed in white, her severed head held securely in her lap. The ghastly sight then turns up the drive to Blickling and upon arrival at the main entrance, the coach and driver vanish leaving the headless Queen to make her way into her former home where she paces the corridors until daybreak.
On the same night it is said, the headless body of her brother Lord Rochford, can also be seen as he is dragged through the surrounding countryside by four headless horses.
The Ourang Medan
February 1948, Indonesia. Distress calls from the Dutch freighter SS Ourang Medan are picked up by nearby ships. Amongst the messages received were, “All officers including captain are dead lying in the chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead.” This was followed by indecipherable Morse code before the final message “I die.”
The first rescue ship on scene tried to hail the Ourang Medan without success. A boarding party was sent on board where they found the bodies of the crew and officers of the Ourang Medan. Their eyes were open, arms outstretched and pointing, and a look of terror on their faces. A salvage mission was devised but before they could get underway, a fire started below decks. Smoke began pouring out and the rescue crew abandoned ship moments before the Ourang Medan exploded and sank.
To this day, the fate of the Ourang Medan and her crew remain a mystery. Theories include pirates, whilst others maintain she was transporting a cargo of chemicals such as potassium cyanide or nitro-glycerine which both become unstable when combined with sea water. A more logical solution is carbon monoxide poisoning from a malfunction in the boilers. This would also have contributed to the fire erupting suddenly. Or it was a ghostly attack…
The Trianon Ghosts, Versailles
In 1901, two English women, Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain visited the Palace of Versailles during a break from their work as Principle and Vice-Principle of St Hughes College, Oxford.
Photo by: aterrom/Fotolia
During the afternoon, they set off to explore the Petit Trianon, a smaller house in the grounds of the palace about 1 mile away. Although they used a map, they soon became lost but soon came across two men dressed in long green coats with small three-cornered hats who directed the women down a path directly in front of them and across a bridge.
They came across another man who stated they were going the wrong way and gave them further directions. Eventually they arrived at the rear of the Petit Trianon, where Miss Moberly saw a woman seated on a chair sketching and wearing an old fashioned light summer dress and white hat.
Photo by: aterrom/Fotolia
They toured the house and afterwards had tea at a local hotel before returning to Paris.
Months later back in England, Miss Moberly mentioned the sketching woman to Miss Jourdain who said she hadn’t seen her. As they spoke, it emerged that the women had seen different people and couldn’t recollect people the other had noticed. It also transpired that the bridge they crossed didn’t exist in 1901 but had been there in the 18th century. Further investigation revealed the two women visited the palace on the anniversary of the sacking of Versailles in 1792 during the French Revolution.
On October 5th 1789, Marie Antoinette had supposedly been sitting at the Petit Trianon when she first learned that a mob from Paris was heading to Versailles. Both she and Louis XVI were captured at the Palace and imprisoned before being executed in 1793.
Had the two tourists seen the ghost of Marie Antoinette? Did they slip back in time? Or was it all a hoax?
Boo!
If they’re not enough to send a shiver down your spine, I don’t know what is. Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter below and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest travel news and tips.
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