August 2008 Archives

Warley Woods, on the border of Birmingham and the Black Country, is a lovely, green open space, a welcome escape from the surrounding urban area.

It is popular with walkers, runners, cyclists and footballers. Dogs love to take their owners for a mad romp around the trees. It is so popular, in fact, that some people never want to leave.

Not even after they have died.

Many local people, especially if they attended Abbey Road School, will have heard of the 'Grey Lady' (who seems to have a ghostly sister at Dudley Castle).

Pupils at the school have scared each other for decades with stories of the Grey Lady of Warley.

Read on, if you dare ...

Poltergeist: A ghost or other supernatural being supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects thrown around.
. -- ORIGIN German, from poltern 'create a disturbance' + Geist 'ghost'.
(Oxford English Dictionary)

The term Poltergeist was first used by German paranormal researchers and simply means 'noisy ghost'. A polt seems to be an angry or mischievous spirit that may be unaware it has passed on from physical existence. It bangs on walls, throws objects and even scratches people in an attempt to get itself noticed. There have been numerous reports of poltergeist activity all over the world and they all seem to behave in a very similar fashion. Interestingly, a poltergeist haunting is often connected to adolescents - girls especially. Researchers believe they can draw on the energies of young people to carry out their sometimes quite disturbing pranks.

In the last Blog we paid a visit to Warwick Castle, so today let's take a look at its more dishevelled cousin in Dudley.

Dudley Castle, built in 1071, has seen more than its fair share of death and destruction, and is a prime location for ghostly happenings.

During its long history, the castle has been owned by many Lords and Ladies, some of whom are still said to be residence - despite being dead for centuries.

One of the most notorious Earls of Dudley was John de Somery, who spent most of his life terrorising the local people. In order to rebuild the castle in the early 1300s, he stole everything he could lay his hands on and thought nothing of killing anybody who got in his way.

When he died in 1321, the good people of Dudley breathed a huge sigh of relief and thought that was the last they would ever see of him.

His stone coffin can be seen in the chapel undercroft of the castle. What is intriguing is that only half of the coffin remains and that only the bottom half of de Somery's ghost can be seen.

Another medieval apparition that people have reported seeing is that of a monk in a black habit.

This could be due to the fact that some of the stone used to build the castle keep has been taken from nearby Dudley Priory, a Benedictine monastery - whose inhabitants apparently wore black habits.

Some paranormal experts believe in the "Stone Tape Theory".

It is thought that stone may have the properties to absorb the emotional energy of a living being and "playback" the image or sound of that person or event.

Is the black monk some kind of medieval video recording?

Warwick Castle, dates back to the year 1068, and was built on the orders of William the Conqueror - the Norman King. The Earldom of Warwick was created in 1088 by William II and was given to Henry de Beaumont, who later changed his name to Newburgh.

The medieval stone fortress is said to have its own resident spectre. The ghost of Sir Fulke Greville, who was murdered by his discontented manservant, allegedly walks around the rooms where he often stayed -known rather aptly as the 'Ghost Tower'.

Sir Fulke was an English poet and courtier - who was granted the castle in 1604 by James I, and owned the castle as the 1st Baron Brooke. Fulke died on the 30th of September 1628 after having received a vicious knife wound inflicted upon him by his manservant, who by all accounts was disappointed and angered at not being named in his master's will. His ghostly footsteps have been heard walking around the bed chamber and through the corridors that lead to other rooms within the tower.