Haunted Weymouth by Alex Woodward

Welcome to Weymouth, location for the London 2012 Olympic sailing competitions and home to it’s fair share of ghosts and paranormal activity – which I think should add to the attraction! Alex Woodward has written the latest book in the Haunted series published by The History Press, Haunted Weymouth, which takes us on another spine-chilling journey around the town and local area.

Alex formed the local Ghost Walks of Weymouth in 2008 and is regularly asked by the local media to provide her expert opinion on local hauntings. During her introduction Alex explains that this collection of ghostly happenings and reports are a combination of local legends, documented case histories and actual first hand accounts she has gathered during her research for the Weymouth Ghost Walks. It makes for a good mix of stories, and as usual with this series there is enough to keep you interested and coming back for more.

Alex starts the book with an indepth look at Nothe Fort where she has held many ghost walks. Nothe Fort dates back to the Victorian time and saw action in the Second World War. English Heritage voted it one of the UK’s top ten haunted sites and therefore it does attract a lot of attention for it’s paranormal activity – Alex talks us through four separate accounts from inside the fort including The Whistling Gunner, a tale of an unfortunate soldier (and avid whistler) killed by a heavy cannon who is now one of the fort’s most talked about ghosts.

Other stories from around the town and local area include a ghostly young woman seen walking down Love Lane, unexplained events at The Clipper Pub, spectral voices and apparitions at Portland Castle and the infamous Boot Inn which has the reputation of being Weymouth’s most haunted inn. See if you dare have a drink with it’s various ghosts and poltergeist!

Alex demonstrates throughout this book that you can’t beat local knowledge, even though I’ve been to Weymouth many times there are plenty of accounts in this book which I didn’t know about – and gives me a great excuse to come back and discover more. It certainly shows there is more to this royal seaside resort than sand and ice cream!

Having reviewed a few of this series of books now, it’s reassuring to see that even with different authors there is a consistency and approach to the books that works and is familiar. I still have a gripe with a lack of proper content or index but this seems to be standard across the series, it doesn’t stop Haunted Weymouth from being another good book and a very welcome addition to the collection.

Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: The History Press Ltd (2011)
ISBN-10: 0752460463
ISBN-13: 978-0752460468
RRP: £9.99