Every Christmas, the royal ghost of Anne Boleyn is said to visit her childhood home as a spirit.
One of the more famous ghosts that know how to travel, is the ghost of the infamous Anne Boleyn. Most known for the wedge between the State of England and the Catholic Church in the time of the Tudors. The peoples perception of her at the time was awful, and it would be understandable if she felt some sort of resentment or sorrow for how her life ended, even in the afterlife.
A Well Travelled Ghost
Anne Boleyn: The ghost of the former queen has been spotted many places in the UK after her death.
As ghost sightings go, perhaps the Tower of London is a more well known place for ghost sightings of her, as this was the place she was held imprisoned and executed. But it is far from the only place paranormal sightings of the former Queen have been spotted in the UK. She has also been spotted in Windsor Castle, Hampton Court and Rochford Hall to just name a few. But in the spirit of Christmas, we are going to have a look at where the royal ghost spends her Christmases in the afterlife.
Every Christmas she is said to make an appearance at Hever Castle, at least it is now expected. Christmas was supposedly her favourite time and Hever Castle was her childhood home with good memories. And contrary to how her ghost is seen at other locations, headless and darkly dressed for instance, it is said she is seen as more happy and content when spotted here.
Christmas at Hever Castle
The castle was built in 1270 in the rural part of Kent, and although relatively small compared to many other castles we can see in England, it came to play a big part in England’s’ history as it was the seat of the Boleyn family. This is also the place where Anne and Henry first met, when he was still married to Queen Catherine of Aragon, and had an affair with her younger sister, Mary.
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She is often reported to be seen under a big oak tree that stands on the castle ground. This is the place Anne and Henry spent a lot of time courting. Although the ending for the couple was one of the most dramatic break ups in British history, the courting seems to have been genuine. Henry is said to have written her at least seventeen letters, begging her to be his, and the length he went to marry her, spoke to how much he wanted her in his life.
The Tragic Ending
Hever Castle: This is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn and were she is seen every Christmas. It is now open to public. Photo: Hever Castle, Kent/ijclark
Although they did get together in the end, their match was a very unpopular one. In order to divorce the queen, he had to part with the Catholic Church, and Anne was in the public eye a witch, a heretic and a seducer that was a danger to the empire and papal law. They never had a son, but their child Elizabeth the first turned out to be one of England’s longest reigning queens.
But after several miscarriages, never ending gossiping and pressure from all sides, their love turned sour and in the end, Henry found another one and decided to get rid of Anne, in a most dramatic way. On the charges of treasury and adultery and incest with her brother, she was sent to the Tower of London and sentenced to death. On May 19th in 1536, she was executed by beheading at the Tower.
Popular Sightings
With a such an accessible place with such a famous ghost, the reports about sightings has been plentiful. Like in 2015, when a tourist at the castle captured something on camera he was certain had to be the former queen by the fireplace.
The Ghost: Liam Archer captured this photo in 2015, convinced it was the ghost of the queen. Photo: Liam Archer/Daily Mail
‘I believe there is something important historically inside the fireplace she wants me to recover.’, Mr Archer that took the picture told the papers at the time.
Who is to say for what reason Anne has to haunt her childhood home, let alone England as a whole? In any case, her imprints on the course of the history, religion and the royal line, was irrevocably shaken by her life and work.
It has also been said she has been seen walking across the beautiful bridge on the premise that crosses River Eden, perhaps on her way home to the place of her happy and innocent childhood.
In this wide world we have countless customs, holidays and traditions. But the tradition of honoring, and at times, fearing the dead around the dark autumn time, seems to be something we do in all corners of the earth.
Through the modern media we have all grown accustomed to this specific type of Halloween traditions. Carving pumpkins, go trick or treating and dressing up is now a global phenomenon. But the concept of celebrating the dead, souls and spirits during the harvest season has always been something people have done, and probably will continue to do for a while. But although the American style Halloween have monopolised a lot of the celebration, there are still both old and local variation of celebrating this kind of festivity. Here are some of them:
Samhain — Britain
Samhain: Bonfires, offerings to fairies and feasts for the dead was a tradition in the old Samhain celebrations.
The Samhain celebration is probably were the modern Halloween traditions has borrowed most customs and ideas from. It is a Gaelic festival marking the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. it was usually celebrated from 31. October to 1. November. It was celebrated all throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, with many similar festivals held around the same time around the rest of the Celtic Islands.
According to tradition, bonfires were lit as they were seen to have protective and cleansing power. Offerings to the Aois Sí, the spirits and fairies was made to give them a good harvest and making them last through the winter. There was also held feasts where they made place for the dead at the table, as it was believed that the souls of the dead would visit.
The festival was held because the time was seen as a liminal time, were the boundary between the living and dead were minimal and the crossing between this world and the otherworld were more easily done. A part of the festival also included people dressing up in costume to recite verses for food, called mummers play, or mumming.
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All Saints Day — Catholic Church
All Saints Day: This Christian holiday is celebrated many places were there is a Roman catholic or Anglican church.
Within the Catholic Church the celebration of All Saints’ Day or All Souls’ Day is marked November the first and second. It is also called Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed and Day of the Dead. The All Saints Day is a day for celebrating all Saints and Martyrs in the Christian Church. The All Souls Day is mostly for the people still in purgatory to atone for their sins before entering heaven.
This together with Samhain turned into what we now call the modern Halloween with its traditions. Most often, the All Saints’ Day is celebrated within the western christianity, while in the eastern christianity they have celebrated somewhat the same in Saturday of Souls celebrations. It is mostly celebrated by Roman Catholics and Anglicans.
The feast itself is celebrated on November 1. and is mostly a day of prayer and remembering the souls of the dead. On the day there are many ways the practitioners remember the dead, and the traditions vary from church to church, but it generally include lighting candles and praying.
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Allantide — Wales
Allan Apples: Apples are important for Allantide as they are a token of good luck.
A Cornish version of Halloween traditions is the Allantide, or Kalan Gwaw, meaning the first day of winter. In the sixth century, Cornwall had a bishop named St Allan, and therefore it is also known as Allan Night and Allan Day. Traditionally it was celebrated on the night of October 31 and the day after.
A lot of common traits with Hollantide celebration in Wales and Isle of Man as well as Halloween itself. To celebrate they rung the church bell to comfort Christian souls on their journey to heaven. They made Jack’o lanterns from turnips. But the most important fruit this feast was red apples. Large, glossy Allan apples were polished and given to friends and family as gift for good luck.
Divination game to read the future was also a part of the festivities. They ere for example throwing walnuts in the fire to predict the fidelity of their partners, or poring molten lead in cold water to find out the job of their future husband. Also some parts of Cornwal, they lit ‘Tindle’ fires to the Coel Coth of Wales.
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Day of the Dead — Mexico
Día de Muertos: This day is often recognized for the costumes and makeup.
The Day of the Dead or Día de Muertos in Spanish is a Mexican holiday, well known for their distinctive costumes and face paint. Before the Spanish colonization in the 16th century, the celebration was in the beginning of the summer in Mexico. But it became intertwined with the Christian church and European Halloween traditions and moved to the end of October and beginning of November.
It is a holiday, stretching over several days gathers families and friends to pray for their lost ones and help their way to heaven. According to the Mexican culture, the death is viewed as a naturally part of the human cycle and should therefor not be seen as a day of sadness, but a day of celebrations.
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Pchum Ben — Cambodia
Preparing to open the gates of hell: Monks praying and people gifting food and flowers to the ancestors. Prayers during Pchum Ben. Credit: Maharaja45
The holiday is a fifteen day celebration on the 15th day of the tenth month in the Khmer calendar, at the end of the Buddhist Lent, Vassa. And would in the Gregorian calendar, mostly be in September and October. The translation of Pchum Ben is Ancestor Day, and its a time were many Cambodians pay their respect to the dead family and relatives up to seven generations.
Monks chant the sutta in Pali language without sleeping overnight to prepare the gates of hell opening. This occurs once a year and is a time were manes (spirits) of the ancestors come back. Therefore they put out food offerings that can help them end their time in purgatory.
People give foods like sweet sticky rice and beans wrapped in banana leaves, and visit temples to offer up baskets of flowers as a way to pay respect to their deceased ancestors. It’s also a time for people to celebrate the elderly.
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Pangangaluluwa — Philippines
After sundown: In Philippines they light candles and camp out in the cemeteries to honour the ancestors. Photo by Alexandr Chukashev on Pexels.com
The name of the holiday is from the word kaluluwa, meaning soul or spirit. It is an event that lasts three days at the cemetery with food stands and pop-up stores around the cemetery as the people celebrating the festivities, camp out.
On the first of November people gather in cemetaries to light candles and put flowers on the grave to respect the ancestors. some places in the north they have this old tradition of lighting pinewood next to the graves. In the cemetery there is a priest walking through it to bless all the tombs.
Outside of the emetaries, there are carollers singing through the night, all draped in white blankets. The same tradition is for children as they go door to door and singing hymns to get money.
Today, the local tradition is slowly fading out, merging more and more with the modern Halloween traditions, but out in the provinces, mostly, the old practices is still upheld for now.
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Saint Andrew’s Day — Romania
Night of the Wolf: During this night wolves have special powers and can speak. Photo by David Selbert on Pexels.com
This day is today connected to the Christian saint, but it also have some pagan origins with the Roman celebration of Saturn. In the Dacian Ney Year was an interval when time started up again. On the turn of the night, wolves were allowed to eat the animals they wanted and it was also believed that they spoke as well, although, if you heard it, it meant an early death.
Early on the day, the mothers went into the garden to get branches, especially from apple, pear, cherry trees and rose bush branches. They made a bunch of these branches for each family member, and if a branch bloomed by New Years day, it meant they would be lucky and healthy the following year.
There was also a tradition of girls hiding sweet basil under their pillow to have dreams about their wedding. It was also customary for girls to put 41 grains of wheat under their pillow, and if they dreamt someone stole them, it meant they were going to be wed the next year. This premonition was also done by bringing a candle to a fountain at midnight and ask Saint Andrew himself if he could give them a glimpse of their future husband.
This day was especially good for revealing the future husband by magic, a superstitious belief that was also in Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Russia as well as in Romania. This was also the day were vampiric activity was at large, all until Saint George’s Eve on the 22. of April.
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Dziady — Poland
Dziady: Cemetery on dziady nightby Stanisław Bagieński from 1904.
The Dziady is a slavic feast to remember the ancestor long passed. It is sometimes translated to Forefathers Eve. It used to be celebrated both in the spring and in the autumn, but today, it is usually held in the end of October like .
In the feast they eat ritual meals to celebrate the living and the souls. It was either held at the house or at cemeteries, were poring directly on the grave was and still is a thing. In some areas the ancestors also had to bathe, and saunas was prepared for them. They also lit up candles and lights to guide the souls so they wouldn’t get lost and wander off.
There was also a special kind of begger, a beggars-dziady, people thought to be connected to the other words. They were given food and sometimes cash to make them pray for their loved lost ones.
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
