Buzz
The paranormal has always been a part of Great Britain's rich history. From eerie folklore to inexplicable events, there is no shortage of supernatural tales that persist even in modern times.
In the 17th century, supernatural occurrences seemed to be everywhere across the British Isles. Notable figures like demonologist Richard Bovet and philosopher Henry More compiled these strange accounts to challenge the rise of atheism. Though many of these 'true' stories now appear absurd, they stand out for their peculiar nature and imaginative flair.
10. The Specter of Dunty Porteous
In the late 1600s, a miller named Dunty Porteous found himself locked away by Sir Alexander Jardine in a tower in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Accused of arson, Porteous was abandoned in his cell when Jardine had to rush to Edinburgh. By the time he returned, Porteous had perished from starvation.
After Porteous's body was discovered, his restless spirit began to haunt the tower, relentlessly running and screaming about his hunger. To end the torment, Jardine sought the help of an exorcism. The ritual succeeded in trapping Porteous’s ghost within the dungeon, but the containment spell required a particular Bible to remain in the tower.
As time passed, the Bible began to decay and was sent to Edinburgh for restoration. However, once the Bible was removed, Porteous’s ghost managed to escape the tower and wreak havoc on the Jardine family in their new home. It wasn't until the Bible was returned to its rightful place that peace was restored.
9. The Coffin of Robert Baty
Robert Baty, a young man from England, had always insisted that he be buried in the family vault in the church of Arthuret. Tragically, at the age of 23, he drowned on August 12, 1680. Despite his wishes, he was buried in the churchyard instead of the vault.
The night after his funeral, Robert appeared to his sister Mary in a dream, expressing his displeasure at being buried in the wrong place. He vowed to haunt those responsible until his body was moved to the family vault. The following morning, Robert's coffin was found dug up outside his grave, but miraculously, his body was untouched, and the coffin remained perfectly intact.
Robert’s coffin was reburied, only to be found outside its grave two more times. After the third occurrence, Mary shared her dream with her family. Finally, Robert’s body was placed in the family vault, where it remained undisturbed.
8. The Powers of Dr. John Lambe
Dr. John Lambe, infamously known as 'the Duke’s Devil,' was a shady magician who provided magical and medical advice to George Villiers, the first duke of Buckingham. Villiers, a highly unpopular politician, met his tragic end in 1628, while Lambe’s notoriety for unsavory actions led to his violent death at the hands of a mob, mere months before Villiers.
Beyond his dreadful character, Lambe was reputed for his supposed remarkable powers. On one occasion, he invited two men, Barbor and Sands, to his home for drinks. During their conversation on magic, Lambe decided to give them a demonstration. A tree materialized in the room, and three small men appeared, wielding axes to chop it down.
After the dwarfs felled the tree and carried it away, Barbor secretly took a piece of wood that had fallen onto his coat. That night, while in bed with his wife, the doors and windows of his house began to open and shut on their own. After confessing to his wife about the wood, she insisted he throw it away. Once he did, they were able to sleep peacefully without further disturbance.
7. The Ghost of Dorothy Durant
In 1665, a bright 16-year-old schoolboy named Bligh began to show signs of deep depression and withdrawal. His friends couldn't understand what was troubling him, but Bligh confided in his brother, revealing that he was haunted by the ghost of his late neighbor, Dorothy Durant. Twice a day, while walking to and from school through a field in Launceston, England, the apparition of Durant would silently follow him.
Bligh's family dismissed his story as fantasy, but his headmaster, Mr. Ruddle, took him seriously. The following morning, Mr. Ruddle walked with Bligh through the field, and to his astonishment, he saw Durant's ghost pass them by. After this, Mr. Ruddle encountered her spirit several more times.
On a summer morning in late July, Mr. Ruddle had another encounter with the ghost and attempted to engage her in conversation. At first, her voice was faint and her words unclear, but after a 15-minute exchange, Mr. Ruddle communicated with her. That evening, Durant's ghost appeared to the headmaster once more. This would be their final interaction; the brief conversation ended, and she vanished for good.
6. The Merideth Children
In January of 1675, all four children of the Merideth family in Bristol, England, began suffering from violent fits. Initially, they complained of pain in their heads and sides, but soon their limbs started to convulse, and they would all laugh or cry uncontrollably for up to an hour at a time.
The children would crawl on the floor like cats, and one witness even claimed they could cling to the ceiling and walls like spiders. One of the daughters also insisted she could predict the future, while another inexplicably began throwing up pins. Strangely, these fits only occurred during the day; at night, the children slept peacefully without issue.
None of the doctors in the city could explain the strange condition. The fits persisted for months, with ministers praying over the children every day. Then, in May, the fits suddenly stopped, and the children were completely restored to health.
5. Ann Jefferies and Her Fairies
In 1645, while working as a servant for the Pitt family in Cornwall, England, 19-year-old Ann Jefferies claimed to have seen six fairies in her master's garden. The sight of these little people in green frightened her so much that she collapsed. For months afterward, she suffered from debilitating fits and weakness that left her unable to stand.
After her mysterious experience, Jefferies developed extraordinary healing abilities, eventually becoming renowned throughout England for her magical touch. She claimed that fairies, visible only to her, were constantly by her side, and that they provided her with special fairy food.
In a time when the supernatural was taken seriously, Jefferies’s rising fame inevitably caught the attention of local magistrates and ministers. The clergymen, believing the fairies to be the work of the Devil, had Jefferies imprisoned for a period. Eventually, she was freed, married, and lived a long life.
4. The Poltergeist of Isabel Heriot
Isabel Heriot worked as a servant for a minister in Ormiston, Scotland, for several years. She was a diligent worker, but was dismissed due to her lack of religious interest. In the winter of 1680, she became ill and passed away. Soon after her death, her ghost was seen near the minister’s residence.
A few nights following this sighting, the minister’s home was struck by stones that seemingly appeared from nowhere. For the next eight or nine weeks, these strange assaults continued, with some of the stones even hitting the minister’s servants. In addition to the stone attacks, objects inside the house were mysteriously displaced, and odd noises were frequently heard.
Once the poltergeist activity ceased, Heriot's ghost was spotted for a final time. The witness, the same woman who had seen the apparition previously, found Heriot in the minister's yard, collecting stones. Before fleeing in fear, the witness heard Heriot speak of the Devil's command for her to destroy her former master.
3. The Ghost of Anne Walker
William Walker, a wealthy widower residing in Lumley, England, employed his relative, Anne, to manage his household. Over time, William and Anne grew close, and when Anne became pregnant, the villagers quickly speculated on who the father might be.
In March of 1632, to avoid the resulting scandal, William decided to send Anne away. Initially, he placed her with an aunt, but later allegedly moved her to Durham. After two weeks without any word, Anne suddenly reappeared, drenched and covered in blood, at the home of a miller named James Graham in Lumley.
Anne confided in Graham that she was dead. William had not sent her to Durham as he had claimed; instead, he had hired a man named Mark Sharp to kill her. Sharp murdered Anne with a pickax and discarded her body in a water-filled coal mine. Before vanishing without a trace, Anne requested that Graham inform the authorities of her fate.
Graham initially hesitated to report the murder, but after Anne appeared once more, vowing to haunt him forever, he eventually relented. The authorities scoured the coal mine and discovered Anne’s body exactly where her ghost had predicted. With the apparition’s account proving accurate, both Sharp and Walker were apprehended. Sharp quickly confessed to the crime, and both he and his accomplice were hanged in November.
2. The Demon of Spreyton
In November of 1682, a servant named Francis Fey encountered the ghost of his master’s deceased father in a field in Spreyton, England. The ghost instructed Fey to settle some unfinished business regarding his will. Fey followed the instructions, completed the task, and then set off for home the following day.
On his return journey to Spreyton, Fey encountered another apparition: the ghost of his master’s late stepmother. This spirit, later dubbed 'The Demon of Spreyton,' greeted Fey by tossing him from his horse. For reasons unknown, the demon was bent on tormenting Fey in the most bizarre ways.
The demon’s pranks escalated to odd extremes. She would strangle Fey using his own handkerchiefs, tear apart his wigs, and even fling him into the air on occasion. At other times, she made his shoelaces come alive. In one particularly strange encounter, a bird attacked Fey, holding a stone in its beak and attempting to smash his head with it.
1. The Doppelganger of Mary Goffe
On June 3, 1691, Mary Goffe lay on her deathbed at her father's home in West Malling, England. That evening, Goffe asked her husband to fetch a horse. Her children, who were 14 kilometers (9 miles) away in Rochester, were her final wish as she wished to be with them when she passed. Though too weak to leave her bed, she insisted that a horse be brought for her journey, but none was summoned.
At 1:00 AM, Goffe's breathing ceased, and although she appeared lifeless, she seemed to be in a deep trance. Meanwhile, in Rochester, the children's nurse was astonished to see a figure that appeared to be Goffe leaving her elder daughter's room. For the next 15 minutes, this figure silently stood by the nurse's bedside, where the younger daughter also lay.
As the clock struck two, the figure in Rochester vanished, and Goffe awoke from her trance in West Malling. Before she passed away later that day, Goffe told her mother that she had visited her children in her sleep. The nurse later shared the story with some neighbors, who confirmed the details of the strange event.
