Cold Christmas
Mysterious Britain has been asked to try and find some information regarding a village in Hertfordshire called Cold Christmas. Does anybody know of any tales, legends, hauntings etc, either in or surrounding this village?
Mysterious Britain has been asked to try and find some information regarding a village in Hertfordshire called Cold Christmas. Does anybody know of any tales, legends, hauntings etc, either in or surrounding this village?
Cold Christmas
A quick Google reveals that most of the rumours and legends revolve around not the Cold Christmas village itself but, rather Thunderidge Church, in the the valley adjacent to the village.
See this link and this link.
According to the first link, most of the graves in Thunderidge Church graveyard are occupied by children who died around Christmas time.
Thunderidge
Thanks Neil, it looks like the Thunderidge Church could be the source of the stories connected to Cold Christmas.
Cold Christmas
I’ve been there a few times, the first time was purely an attempt to skip traffic but the moment you enter the village it feels weird.
I decided to return and show a few mates one night as we were in the area i didn’t think it would be to bad a little detour to a rather amusingly named village it was december so the idea of some pictures of us with the sign to stick on the web seemed like a funny idea. The road into the village (its only a few houses so i don’t know if you can really call it a village) is pretty thin you can cross another car but it involves slowing down and having a wheel on the verge. the road is pretty long and about half way down the trees seem to lean over the road forming a tunel. at the time i didn’t think much of this and eventualy we arrived.
We passed through the town and just outside there was a little pumping station or sewage works i’m not sure which but we turned around in the entrace and drove through again looking for somewhere to pull over to grab a picture. as we passed through the town this time i noticed something a bit odd, it was about 9pm (give or take a bit) and all the lights had gone off, when we first went through the houses looked normal, the odd upstairs light on the downstairs lit up nothing special, but on the second time EVERY house light was off, The light was on in the phone box (i’m not sure if there was a powercut at the time i found it pretty freaky)
I suddenly was aware of how dark it was, how the trees were pretty scary and i felt a bit intimidated and decided it was prob not a good idea to stop. as we were leaving the town i nearly hit some big 4×4 it was driving up the road with no lights on, i remember the car pretty well it was dark in colour and had a personalised number plate that was only 4 characters long. anyway i did the kind thing and sounded my horn and gave him the finger and flashed the lights.
I turned a few corners and there was the same car coming up the road infront of me, no lights same plate etc, this was pretty scary because there was just no way he could have got infront of me. I still can’t think of an explanation, the car kindly pulled over to the side of the road and we just rolled passed, As we passed i remember seeing the drivers door was open and there were 2 children in the back pressing their faces against the window to watch us pass.
At this point i was pretty scared so i just drove home pretty quick and jumped on the internet to find out about this place and put my mind to rest. I couldn’t find to much info but i stumbled upon a few local forums where people where talking about it. I found out about the church and other stories i was still pretty skeptical yet still pretty scared at the same time. I decided to pack a couple of torches and a camera, get some friends and head back out to cold christmas, of the 4 guys with me at first one was willing to go back.
we got to cold christmas at about midnight and tried to find the church, we found somewhere to park the car (i was secretly keeping the car somewhere i knew i could get to it within a short sprint) we walked up and down the main road looking through openings in the plants etc not finding anything, we walked up a few tracks.
there was a point when i was feeling the cold, i’d relaxed a bit, feeling a bit silly because i’d come on this huge mission to find nothing, i was at the bottom of this track and i waved the tourch from the right to the left and back again having a quick scan and then BRICKS, yep i was standing within a foot of the church and i still to this day swear that i had stood on that spot done a full 360 scan of the area with the torch and nothing was there.
I’m starting to waffle a bit but we ended up going there everynight for a couple of weeks and there was some pretty weird stuff i just can’t explain. and i’ve spoken to a few people who have storys but i can’t vouch for where they are on the truth or fiction scale but if you want to know more about what i’ve seen/heard let me know and i’ll e-mail you a full account (if i can find them i’ll scan in some old pictures i took)
Cold Christmas
Thanks Dyvid and welcome to the forum. I’ve seen topics on Cold Christmas appear in other forums but I’ve found no published accounts of experiences there. I’d love to hear more and see any photographs you might find.
I think I might have to have a wander down there myself one day too.
Cheers for the welcome, i’ve
Cheers for the welcome, i’ve been on and off looking into the history of Cold Christmas and google happened to throw up this discussion and i couldn’t resist joining.
I have managed to confirm that the church was a private church built for some local family, which then became a public church, the church was slowly becoming disused and eventualy closed and replaced by one in the main town in either the 1800’s or early 1900’s. Occultism had kicked in at the site, i’ve heard it was because the church was build the wrong way around or something. As a result the church was demolished (appart from the tower, i don’t know why the tower remains but if you have any idea i’d love to know, i’m assuming its some religious thing)
The tower was open to look in when i first went i’ve droped back a few times recently and unfortunately they have bricked it up so you can’t get inside, there are gaps you can slip a light in through to have a look.
The town name comes from three girls who died around christmas, I’ve heard that they were murdered by the lady the parents had hired to look after them but i can’t prove that, it could just be a stretch on the story of a spooky place. i can confirm the girls did in fact die one girl on christmas one year aged 7 the other 2 girls died 2 years later aged 5 and 7.
there are a collection of gravestones in the church most have the names and details scratched off but i do belive the girls graves are still intact, i have some pictures of them. the scratchings seemed quite fresh at the time i was there so i can’t tell you if its vandalism or something else, have you come accross this before?
I’ve seen a lot there and i do get quite freaked out about it but i’m still skeptical, I’ve heard some over the top storys about people seeing ghosts and so on but i haven’t seen anything like that, I do remember turning up at the church one night and the graves were covered in candles, I took a few pictures but when i got them developed there were no candles, i still can’t explain that one. (this was just before digital cameras made the big entrance)
If you ever decide to make the trip down this way let me know, i’d gladly take you around and let you see my research and let you take copies.
Is there anything you really want to know about the place?
Cold Christmas
Thanks Dyvid,
I had heard about some children dying around christmas and being buried in the churchyard but I didn’t know the story around their deaths. I imagine it is a rather atmospheric location given what I have heard about the churchyard and no doubt a lot of strories have probably grown through telling about what has actually been experienced there. What do you know about the haunting or associated ghost stories?
Thanks Dyvid, and welcome.
Thanks Dyvid, and welcome. Information on Cold Christmas and Thundridge Church seems to be quite thin on the ground.. I did find a video of nearby Thundridge Church on Youtube though:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9GcPnqy10vc
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Sac1wnQdhcA
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hr0Usj6v8kE&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9GcPnqy10vc&feature=related
The video links above aren’t to my own videos but they let you get a pretty good look at what the place looks like.
I’m not to sure if the story about the deaths is true or just a fabrication to make it sound "better" but i can say that the deaths are 100% fact.
I spent about 7 nights in a row visiting the place and a few days in that period as well because it really caught my attention. I personaly had a few weird experiences, i was sitting in the church yard taking some photos when i felt really uneasy as i looked around my camera and tripod fell over, this may sound mundane but the tripod had spikes on the legs to anchor it into the ground.
One day was pretty uneventful but i got into my car and discovered my coat hood was full of small stones.
I took pictures of the candles i saw, the photos came out but the candles weren’t in them.
one night i could hear a sound as if someone was blowing over the top of a milk bottle inside the bricked up church now this scared me to the point that i haven’t been back during the night since, i clearly remember the journey back because as i got in the car a thick fog decended over the whole place and the moment i hit the old A10 it cleared.
The atmosphere feels really heavy there, before i even knew of the storys and background i could feel something wasn’t right about the place. I’m not to hot at weather and geography but the whole place feels a lot colder than 5mins drive down the road.
i’ve heard some people say that they have seen an old woman who seems to fade into the air when they get near, it sounds pretty far fetched but i’ve heard the story from a few people so i belive there is an element of truth in it, one peson said they saw her decompose and crumble but this sounds like a slight exageration if not complete fiction.
there was one guy i know who was convinced he picked up some sort of spirit, he didn’t leave his house for weeks, he was so convinced that she was talking to him and telling him she knew where he lived and was on the way. He’s fine now but at the time you could tell he had a genuine fear about himself. if you come down i’ll try and arrange for you to meet him.
all in all i do belive something is going on in cold christmas but i am going to remain open minded to a natural explanation as well as a supernatural one.
hey cheers neil you must
hey cheers neil you must have posted moments after i started writing.
i’ve collected a bunch of info over the last few years, mostly screen shots from websites of varying credibility, accounts from people i have met and first hand experiences.
but you are right info is pretty thin on the ground. its hard to say whats what. i’ve been puttin stuff together looking from matching or closely related storys from different people who i belive don’t know each other
hey
i went today with a few friends and if you walk around the back of the church theres a whole in the concrete that you can get through, as you get in on the right there is a small hole in the wall that if you crawl through there is a flight of stairs. We climbed the stairs and they lead to nothing, when you get to the top look up and theres another set of stairs that start even higher up but are impossible to get to. When you climb the stairs count them!!! i counted 36 on the way up but 40 on the way down!!!! whether thats just me not being able to count remains to be seen but its quite strange.
Also when me and a couple of others were inside, a couple of others were outside and said that they saw an old woman in the field walking a dog, i didnt think anything of it until i read about the story of people seeing an old woman and realised that nobody noticed where she went but maybe just a coincidence.
And the final thing that again was maybe just another coincidence on the way home one of my friends driving crashed his car!!! possibly a curse again only time will tell
if you could get back in touch and maybe send some pictures that would be brilliant
cold christmas
i have been to cold christmas 4 times. 3 times at night and once during the day.
During the day it is calm. There are 3 graves together of children. Two are related with having the same surname of Gutteridge.One child died in November 1802 and the other in December 1802.
At night it is a relly weird spooky place and is without a doubt haunted.
We held a seance in there and one of us in our group got scratched on the neck. We have heard wispering and growling noises and also had stones or heavy objects thrown at us.
The last time we visited was on Friday 27th March 2009 and the weirdest thing was that we all smelt a very strong smell of burning. Not sure if ther was ever a fire there but we all smelt it and after that we left quickly.A very scary place.
Cold Christmas Church
As it happens I was there last night, I went there for the first time and it is spooky. Basically the story goes that one year back in the 18 century or so the village experienced a unusually cold winter and over the Christmas period a load of Children died and they are buried at Cold Chrisrmas Church.
The village was renamed cold Christmas after the events i don’t know what it was called before. The church which is only a tower now is nearly 900 years old appraently and was built 12th century. The church is actualy in Thundridge which is next to Cold Christmas village but everyone calls it Cold Christmas church anyway.
A few years back it was a gathering for witches but now it hosts a different type of activity, satainists go there sometimes to worship and on halloween the police have to block it off. The church itself is old and has been vandalised, weird writtings and graffitis are on the walls as you enter the door. The headstones outside the church seem to all have the same name and dates of death on them (the childrens deaths of the cold winter).
A common report is of a ghostly grumbling growl that echoes out from the tower. Reports of the noise became so frequent that in January 2009 the local East Herts Herald sent a camera crew and journalist to investigate.
Another famous tale dates back to 1978 when a terrified local woman reported an entire ghost army marching out of the church. Reports say the ghost army let out a blood-curdling roar and marched straight through the poor woman.
Other reports speak of a figure in a black robe that is sometimes seen in burial ground.
Go there and see for yourself.
Jack Lawrence
Thanks Jack. Welcome to
Thanks Jack. Welcome to the website. I certainly think I’ll have to get to Cold Christmas :).
Halloween @ Cold Christmas
I thought you might be interested in some info regarding Cold Christmas.
A 17 yr old local lad hung himself in the chapel back in the early nineties.This was documented by the Mercury newspaper I believe.
I personally have experienced two strange things at Cold Christmas in my teens:
The first experience I had was with a local friend who we will call dickie for this case.
I had been friends with him for many years but had only hung out with him for 6 months or so.
I knew he and some of his friends had got into the whole ouijia scene and they had been to the chapel to see who they might speak with.
Anyhoo, we went for a drive in his recently purchased car down to the chapel. The gate was open so we drove right on up the lane.
When we got there there was already a car parked there. This was a dark 4 x 4 with smoked windows.
We assumed the people were out walking somewhere and sat there for a while looking at the graveyard and the chapel and he was telling me about those ouijia sessions. As we sat smoking in the car we heard the jeep start up its engine. They just sat there with the engine running and this made us feel uneasy so we calmly started the car and proceeded to drive back out of the gate. As we did so the jeep backed up and followed us up the lane.
We accelerated down the duel carriageway and they stayed with us for 6 miles before we turned off for home.
The second:
I being a ‘lad’ in my teens thought it would be a good spooky place to hang out on Halloween with my chums. We all jumped into my mates mini and drove down there.
As we arrived we noticed a mini bus full of very excited people. These turned out to be from Birmingham and had heard of the place and came down to see for themselves.
They told us that they had driven down the lane but had been driven back by missile weilding locals.
My mates and I thought they must have been on a wind up and decided to go for a look.
We got within 10 ft of the gate leading up to the chapel when we were hit from the trees, fields and road with rockets and bottles, it was pretty terrifying.
As we drove out of the lane at some speed we were greeted by the local law enforcement who warned us not to return.
We told them what had happened to us and interestingly they refused to drive up and take a look. They just barriered off the road and sent us on our way.
It is a very strange place even by daylight.
Worth checking out đŸ™‚ Wilty
Hi WiltyWelcome to the
Hi Wilty
Welcome to the Forum.
I would have to say as a generalisation that it might be better to avoid this area, while it might be worthy of further investigation it sound like the place has become a focus for large numbers of people visiting in the same way as Pluckley, and perhaps the locals have a right to be annoyed. If the Police are involved I would probably be inclined to take their advice.
 An interesting point i
An interesting point i thought of is that Thundridge is on wikipedias list of lost hertfordshire settlements. Villages can be on this list if they have relocated, so i’m guessing that maybe Thundridge was nearer the church, hence it being known as both Thundridge and cold christmas church.
Hi Steelapathy, welcome to
Hi Steelapathy, welcome to the website and forum.
Cold Christmas
I have been to Cold Christmas twice now and the first time i went was with some friends just going there to have some fun and see if the stories we had heard about Cold Christmas were true. The first time nothing unusual occured but returned again on the 20th of June with my girlfriend. When we arrived at the front of the church we met people who were experienced in paranormal activity. After an hour we walked around the back of the church when teh air became cold and made me feel unwanted. My girlfriend said she felt a brushing across her left knee; on feeling it the one which she thought something had bushed past was freezing cold whereas the otherone was still warm. The two men we had met told her to stand still and they took a picture of her and the background behind her. On looking at the picture an orb was resting just behindher shoulder. Zooming it on the picture it was clear to see that the orb had a face of a yyoung boy in the inner core. This was not apparent in the picture until the camera zoomed closely in towards the orb. It was frightening but now very curious we are returning tonight to see if any other spiritual activity takes place. If anyone wishes to join us they are more than welcome; leave me a message if you are going. Dale
cold christmas
hi ,we are researching the town of cold christmas and are looking for any paranormal information about this area.hope you can help.
Re: Cold Christmas
8/11/2011 had been told by a couple of friends about Cold Christmas ,believing that I was quite sensitive they wanted me to visit the place and after dinner that evening myself and my daughter along with three others visited the area. I had never been to the area before ,nor knew nothing of its history.
Indeed on the march to the church yard I was expected to feel warmer as the walk went on (all wrapped up very well) however it got colder as we got nearer and I was able to locate the church yard moments prior to arriving due to an overwelming sense of sadness and cold . Without wanting to turn the evening into high jinx I didnt want to scare anyone but we had been escorted down the path by a very concerned sprit ,worried about our intentions as it made me aware that "the resting place for our innocent had been subjected to many bad things", there was a sense of outrage and anger that the resting place had been neglected and misused as "this was not part of the promise /agreement " ( I dont know what was meant by that) ,it was to be a "quiet and beautiful place to rest the children" and was now being visited by people who did nothing but "disturb and frighten". I was also shown an ajoining field and told that there were many more resting there but it no longer appears as part of the graveyard and a sense of being seriously pissed over this and the "un Godly things" that have happened and the reck and ruin of the area ! Two of the people with us had very heavy legs finding it difficult to walk needing a sit down, but both reported they didnt feel fear or under threat .
Perhaps other vistors to the area that have experienced stones being thrown at them need to take that as a warning , they appear to know what your intentions are and do not wish to be disturbed in that manner as it brings anxiety and distress to them calling up other things they didnt ever want there.
After putting a broken tombstone back to its rightful place suddendly felt an surge of outrage again and was being told to either put it all right or just go. The sadness was picked up by all of us and there was a lot of chatter about how disgusting it was that a resting place could be left like this ….thoughts of others not influenced by me (age gaps and all very different people and Im sure at least one wanting to get a scare). Two went into the tower ,I didnt bother as I felt by this time that what ever was escorting us was almost expecting us to exploit the place again. But without going inside and prior to getting there I shared that the half the place was missing. Once there, All I can discribed is there existed a terrible sadness and dissapointment that "Our Familes resting place is so disrespected ""Either put it right or just go away".
Im guessing that we dont take into consideration that this place held a lot of significance for many people .
Cold Christmas needs to be restored and spritally cleansed .
I also got that there was some sort of agreement , many being rested out of the parish into a private churchground , money passing hands , fear that whatever these kids died of was infectious needing to be rested out of harms way and the significant amount of Yew tress are a very good indicator that there are many other graves that should have been always been included in the grounds but there is nothing !
I might be picking up on a load of old BS Im not a medium nor do I claim to be special in any way , just that if you listen hard enough you get a chatter going.
I slept very late , very troubled by what I had picked up , dreamt of the church yard being once beautiful and had a silly thought that a small playground should be errected in or near the site!
Re: Cold Christmas
8/11/2011 had been told by a couple of friends about Cold Christmas ,believing that I was quite sensitive they wanted me to visit the place and after dinner that evening myself and my daughter along with three others visited the area. I had never been to the area before ,nor knew nothing of its history.
Indeed on the march to the church yard I was expected to feel warmer as the walk went on (all wrapped up very well) however it got colder as we got nearer and I was able to locate the church yard moments prior to arriving due to an overwelming sense of sadness and cold . Without wanting to turn the evening into high jinx I didnt want to scare anyone but we had been escorted down the path by a very concerned sprit ,worried about our intentions as it made me aware that "the resting place for our innocent had been subjected to many bad things", there was a sense of outrage and anger that the resting place had been neglected and misused as "this was not part of the promise /agreement " ( I dont know what was meant by that) ,it was to be a "quiet and beautiful place to rest the children" and was now being visited by people who did nothing but "disturb and frighten". I was also shown an ajoining field and told that there were many more resting there but it no longer appears as part of the graveyard and a sense of being seriously pissed over this and the "un Godly things" that have happened and the reck and ruin of the area ! Two of the people with us had very heavy legs finding it difficult to walk needing a sit down, but both reported they didnt feel fear or under threat .
Perhaps other vistors to the area that have experienced stones being thrown at them need to take that as a warning , they appear to know what your intentions are and do not wish to be disturbed in that manner as it brings anxiety and distress to them calling up other things they didnt ever want there.
After putting a broken tombstone back to its rightful place suddendly felt an surge of outrage again and was being told to either put it all right or just go. The sadness was picked up by all of us and there was a lot of chatter about how disgusting it was that a resting place could be left like this ….thoughts of others not influenced by me (age gaps and all very different people and Im sure at least one wanting to get a scare). Two went into the tower ,I didnt bother as I felt by this time that what ever was escorting us was almost expecting us to exploit the place again. But without going inside and prior to getting there I shared that the half the place was missing. Once there, All I can discribed is there existed a terrible sadness and dissapointment that "Our Familes resting place is so disrespected ""Either put it right or just go away".
Im guessing that we dont take into consideration that this place held a lot of significance for many people .
Cold Christmas needs to be restored and spritally cleansed .
I also got that there was some sort of agreement , many being rested out of the parish into a private churchground , money passing hands , fear that whatever these kids died of was infectious needing to be rested out of harms way and the significant amount of Yew tress are a very good indicator that there are many other graves that should have been always been included in the grounds but there is nothing !
I might be picking up on a load of old BS Im not a medium nor do I claim to be special in any way , just that if you listen hard enough you get a chatter going.
I slept very late , very troubled by what I had picked up , dreamt of the church yard being once beautiful and had a silly thought that a small playground should be errected in or near the site!
Re: Cold Christmas
I visited thundridge old church oct 2011.I took a ghost box and a digital recorder for those who dont know what a ghost box is it was invented in US a few years ago you can look it up on youtube or the search engin that you use. it is a transister radio the only diffrence is it has been hacked to sweep the channals at a fast pace, in between the blips you can pick up spirit voices, this does work. anyway I switched the ghost box on and asked if anyone was there, I then asked for there names I got a Bruce,peter and then an evil voice said his name was Simnar not quite sure if I have spelt it right, also an old woman says Yes Mother, I have no clue what this was suppose to mean,straight after the voice repeated Yes Mother, this was very unsettling as it was in my voice,it was terrifying to hear that, I have kept the recording it has other stuff on there as well. anyway a few weeks later I did the ghost box again in my home and in the recording the same name simnar was heard, I think that the spirit came back with me. you can believe this or not. be very carefull at the old church there is a couple of evil spirits there, I wont go back there, thats for sure
Re: Cold Christmas
The following comment was e-mailed into the site
For goodness sake get all your facts right about Thundridge Old Church.Itwas a private church but eventually the family who owned it built a new church in Thundridge village & the old church became redundant.No one hung themselves there,& most of the activity that goes on there so called ‘hauntings’ are done by locals to poor saps who beleive it’s haunted. Of course it’s cold there it’s in a valley & the strange noises are the windblowing through the holes in the tower made by vandals who have no respectfor the church. When we first moved to the village the old church had a lovely stone wall & wrought iron gate that was in 1976. These were removedby thieving money grabbing vandals.The headstones were in place but overthe last thirty years these also have been removed by people who have norespect. Why don’t people ‘get a life’ & don’t look for something that isn’t there,we all have imaginations & can see,hear,what we wish to see &hear! The girls who died didn’t die suspiciously,they died of scarlet fever,how strange is that? If you go there a night ,yes it is eerie,withthe wind blowing, rooks crowing,foxes crying & owls hooting! This is the stuff of nightmares? Theres no Freddy Kruger or Texas chainsaw massacre going on! People do light fires there so you will smell burning sometimes,&beware if you do go inside the tower there are a lot of loose stones that tend to fall from a great height! Too many vandals go to the old church but beware of locals & the the police. Oh by the way the 4×4 belongs to the local farmer who actually attacked some people & rammed their car, so bewarned. Also Cold Christmas is a hamlet not a town or village. A lot of money has been spent by English Heritage on renovating the church tower,again idiots have now ruined the work that was carried out,what a waste of time & money! So all you Satanist,Occult worshippers, Devil worshippers,Hells Angels,& any other pratts beware SOMEONE IS WATCHING YOU, but better still, STAY AWAY & PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE!
Re: Cold Christmas
Sounds very welcoming doesn’t it. I’m not sure I’d call Hell’s Angels prats (or any of the afore mentioned Satanists etc etc). Anyway I hope that 4×4 bloke got arrested for attacking people with his car.
Re: Cold Christmas
[quote=Ian Topham]So all you Satanist,Occult worshippers, Devil worshippers,Hells Angels,& any other pratts beware SOMEONE IS WATCHING YOU, but better still, STAY AWAY & PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE!
[/quote]
I always love being lumped in with these guys.
My typical response:
Dear Sir or Madam;
Some of us like to get to the bottom of things. We have heard these reports, and are interested in the facts of the matter. You have offered interesting information about the site and it’s history, which we will be happy to examine the record and verify.
That said, please do not confuse recording folklore or legitimate attempts at studying reports of paranormal activity with Devil Worship, Occultism, or other such tomfoolery. I, myself, own a church I am in the process of restoring, and can understand frustraition with vandals. I can still recall the police officer explaining to me that bear traps were not the answer.
Any attempt at real science generally precludes the destruction of evidence, so I seriously doubt you will find most of the posters on this site stealing headstones or committing vandalism.
Summum Nec Metuam Diem Nec Optima
Re: Cold Christmas
Besides its relevance to a legal system, more generally forensics encompasses the accepted scholarly or scientific methodology and norms under which the facts regarding an event, or an artifact, or some other physical item (such as a corpse) are ascertained as being the case. In that regard the concept is related to the notion of authentication, where by an interest outside of a legal form exists in determining whether an object is what it purports to be, or is alleged as being