Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Apparitions / Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

The Abbey Inn, Newlay

The Abbey Inn at 99 Pollard Lane has been described as one of Leeds most Haunted pubs. Dating from the mid 19th century, the Inn was also been used as a mortuary until the 1950s, which may explain to some why it seems to have numerous ghosts.

Big Cats / Cryptozoology

A38 Big Cat (2001)

On Wednesday, 22 August, 2001 the BBC News website published the following article entitled ‘Lioness’ spotted by motorists’

Motorists at a Somerset petrol station raised the alarm when they spotted a "big cat" in an adjoining field.

Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

The New Inn, Gloucester

Dating from the mid 15th century, The New Inn is a Grade I listed building that originally served as hostelry for St Peter’s Abbey. In 1553 Lady Jane Grey (Born 1536 – Died 12 February 1554) was staying here when King Edward VI died. It was here that she was proclaimed Queen, a reign that lasted 9 days.

Clairvoyance / ESP / Other Mysteries / Premonition / PSI

Mr William’s Experience (1812), Scorrier House

On 11th May 1812, Spencer Perceval (Born 1 November 1762) was shot and killed by John Bellingham, making him the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated in office. There is a story that this assassination was foreseen in a dream by Mr Williams of Scorrier House in Redruth, Cornwall.

Festivals / November

Guy Fawkes Night Tar Barrels, Ottery St Mary

There is a tradition dating back to the 17th century in Ottery St Mary, where tar soaked barrels lighted and carried through the Devonshire town. Only those who are born and lived within the town are eligible to carry one of the seventeen barrels which begin their journey from outside the local pubs.

ESP / Other Mysteries / PSI

Rev Joseph Wilkins Experience

The following account of a strange experience by a young Joseph Wilkins in 1754 is taken from ‘The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain’ (1897) by John Ingram though the case has also been mentioned in several books including ‘Phantasms of the Living’ edited by Edmund Gurney, Frederic William Henry Myers and Frank Podmore.

Apparitions / Hauntings

Stratford Tombstone Murder Ghost

I find it very distasteful when ghosts are identified as people who were killed in fairly recent events, especially as this could cause distress for the deceased’s friends and family. I am therefore in two minds whether to mention this reputed haunting and I apologise if it upsets anyone.

Apparitions / Early Christianity / Hauntings

Stoneleigh Abbey

The Grade I listed Stoneleigh Abbey is country mansion dating from the 16th century, built in the grounds of a Cistercian Abbey which had been founded in 1154 and destroyed after the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII. ‘A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 2’ (1908) gives the following historical background of the Abbey.