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The Haunted Devonshire Park Theatre: The Phantom Violinist of Eastbourne

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Could one of the musicians on the Titanic be haunting the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne, England? Who is the person behind the ghost said to still be playing the violin?

In the seaside town of Eastbourne, the Devonshire Park Theatre stands as one of England’s most elegant Victorian playhouses. 

Since its grand opening in 1884, the theatre has welcomed countless performers, audiences, and stories to its stage. But when the last curtain falls and the lights dim, it is said that not all who linger in the theatre belong to the living.

Devonshire Park Theatre by Oast House Archive

The Violinist from Titanic Haunting the Orchestra Pit

For decades, whispers have circulated about a ghostly musician who haunts the Devonshire Park Theatre. Some claim to have seen a man dressed in white tie and tails standing silently in the orchestra pit or seated among the stalls, his instrument cradled gently beneath his chin. The figure, shimmering faintly in the low light, is said to vanish the moment one looks twice.

Reports of this spectral violinist date back to the 1960s and 1970s, when both staff and visitors described fleeting glimpses of him during rehearsals and late-night performances. Though sightings have become less frequent in recent years, those who have experienced the haunting speak of a deep sense of melancholy that seems to hang in the air whenever the mysterious music begins.

For a time, locals believed the apparition to be none other than John Wesley Woodward, the Titanic’s heroic cellist who famously continued to play as the ship went down in 1912. 

John Wesley Woodward: (11 September 1879 – 15 April 1912) was an English musician. Born in West Bromwich. A memorial plaque was erected to Woodward on the promenade in Eastbourne depicting the Titanic as it sank.

In Eastbourne, he played the cello both at the Grand Hotel and in the local orchestra. While in Eastbourne he joined the White Star Line musicians, playing on transatlantic ships. On 10 April 1912, he boarded the RMS Titanic at Southampton for her maiden Transatlantic voyage. Five days later, on 15 April 1912, the ship hit an iceberg and he and the other musicians famously continued to play as the Titanic sank. Their final tune was, according to some survivor accounts, “Nearer, My God, To Thee”. All members of the band, including his friend Jock Hume, drowned, and the body of Wesley Woodward was never recovered.

The theory gained traction due to Woodward’s connection to Eastbourne, where he is memorialized with a plaque at the Bandstand. However, researchers later discovered that the ghostly musician could not be Woodward, as the spirit has always been described as a violinist, not a cellist.

Who, then, is the phantom that haunts the Devonshire Park Theatre? 

Paranormal Investigation at the Theatre

The mysterious violinist is perhaps not the only ghost haunting the theatre though. According to a spokesperson, they actually had a few paranormal investigators at their venue in 2005. According to a medium visiting and doing the investigation with them, they believed that a ghost haunting the place could have been Murray King who was an actor and licensee of the venue in the late 1800s up until the 1930s. Could this also be the identity of the mysterious violinist? 

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References:

The Paranormal Database – Eastbourne

The drowned boy and the ghosts that haunt our theatres

Devonshire Park Theatre – Wikipedia

John Wesley Woodward – Wikipedia

John Wesley Woodward : Titanic Cellist (Victim)

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The Ghosts of the Britannia Adelphi Hotel: Shadows in Liverpool

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The current Britannia Adelphi Hotel is the third building here used as a hotel, and filled with ghosts according to rumours. From the dark basement to the haunted suites in the upper floors, this Liverpool hotel is often dubbed Britain’s most haunted one. 

In the center of Liverpool stands a grand and opulent hotel whose luxury hides a darker history. The Britannia Adelphi Hotel, once hailed as the most elegant hotel outside of London, has long been a magnet for both travelers and the supernatural. 

Behind the crystal chandeliers and marble halls lurk whispers of ghostly figures, disembodied voices and strange tapping noises from the walls, and something much more sinister said to dwell on the third floor. Guests have checked in expecting a night of comfort only to find themselves face-to-face with the unknown.

A History of Grandeur and Ghosts

A hotel has occupied this site since 1826, when it first replaced Ranaleigh Gardens, one of Liverpool’s earliest public recreation spaces. The original building gave way to a second hotel fifty years later, which was purchased by Midland Railway in 1892. By 1911, the current Adelphi Hotel replaced the old ones. When it opened its doors, it quickly became a symbol of wealth and sophistication, welcoming guests from across the world.

Famous figures such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Laurel and Hardy once graced its rooms. Even Roy Rogers brought his beloved horse, Trigger, to stay within its walls. Yet despite its polished surface, the Adelphi has always seemed to carry something restless beneath its grandeur, as though the echoes of its past refuse to fade.

The Haunted Adelphi Hotel

According to the stories, Adelphi is haunted because of the many deaths and suicides that have taken place here since it opened. 

Read More: Check out more haunted hotels around the world

There are plenty of ghosts believed to haunt the hotel. One of them being a bellboy, 15 year old Raymond Brown, who was trapped in the baggage lift and died in 1961. He can now be seen picking up guests’ bags and carrying their luggage before he disappears around a corner or slips into the shadows. 

In the elevators there is a whistler who is breathing down people’s necks and tapping them on the shoulder. A female ghost who is pickpocketing the guests, rifling through their belongings in the early morning, vanishes when she is caught.

In the basement it is said that a lady wearing Victorian clothing is haunting. Among the many tales, one rumor stands out—accounts of a demon that prowls the upper corridors, growling and whispering in a voice not of this world.

The Haunted Third Floor

The most haunted floor in the hotel is said to be the third floor. This is according to the staff. There have been several reports about people getting sick when staying there for too long, and people also claim to have seen shadows and ghostly figures at the end of their beds. 

It is said that this shadow is the ghost of a man known only as George in a tuxedo and a toothbrush mustache. He is said to stand silently by people’s bed, his expression unreadable, before fading away into the shadows. 

Some believe it is the ghost of a man who took his own life inside the hotel in the 1930s. It is said that he died in the elevator in the hotel or fell to his death. He is also said to call out to people from a particular window on the Brownlow Hill side of the hotel.

The Haunting of the Titanic Crew in The Sefton Suite

It is said that The Sefton Suite in the hotel is an exact replica of the first-class smoking room on the ship. It has later been disproven by the hotel itself. But this myth is perhaps the reason people think that Captain Edward Smith, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, is haunting this hotel. 

A paranormal researcher and author Tom Slemen claims to have witnessed three men haunting the room, saying it was Smith together with two other naval officers who also went down with the ship.

“During one talk, there was standing room only, and I and many other people saw three men standing at the far end of the room who were dressed as naval officers with white caps and dark jackets with all the braiding. The middle officer, who looked about sixty, had a white beard and stood about 5 feet 7 or 8, and the trio were there one moment then gone the next, and there were gasps of shock when this trinity of ghosts vanished.” Source

 It is also said that a woman in a grey Victorian dress is haunting it. 

The Living and the Dead

Today, the Adelphi Hotel continues to welcome guests into its 402 rooms, each richly decorated with touches of old-world charm. Visitors can enjoy fine dining beneath sparkling chandeliers, relax in the sauna and marble swimming pool, or sip a quiet drink in the bar. Yet as night falls, and the last lights dim, the grandeur takes on a different tone. The laughter from the dining halls fades, replaced by faint whispers down long corridors and the creak of unseen footsteps.

For some, the Adelphi is a place of elegance and nostalgia. For others, it is a labyrinth of shadows and memories that refuse to die. Whether George’s ghost still stands watch or something far darker prowls the third floor, one thing is certain—those who stay at the Britannia Adelphi Hotel never quite leave as they arrived.

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The Haunted Britannia Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool

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The Ghosts Haunting the Ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle

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Around the ruins of the once grand Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland, England, the ghost stories are covered by a thick veil of sea mist. From legends of a gallant knight to the Queen from the War of Roses, the abandoned fortress is not quite empty.

High upon the storm-battered cliffs of Northumberland, along the bleak, windswept edge of the North Sea, the desolate ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle loom against the sea misty horizon. It used to once be the largest castle in Northumberland and a garrison against Scotland, but only fragments remain of its grand past. 

Today, the 14th century castle’s skeletal remains offer a hauntingly beautiful backdrop for coastal walks — but for those who linger too long after dusk, this crumbling fortress whispers tales of bloodshed, betrayal, and restless spirits.

The Grim Legacy of Thomas Plantagenet

Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster: (c. 1278 – 22 March 1322) was one of the leaders of the baronial opposition to his first cousin, King Edward II. Soon after Thomas’s death, miracles were reported at his tomb at Pontefract, and he became venerated as a martyr and saint.

Dunstanburgh Castle was born of ambition and rebellion. Built in 1313 by Thomas Plantagenet, the Second Earl of Lancaster, it was intended as both a symbol of defiance and a personal refuge against his increasingly hostile cousin, King Edward II.

But Plantagenet’s rebellion would ultimately prove fatal. Captured and tried for treason, his fate was sealed on a cold March day in 1322. Because of their kinship and Lancaster’s royal blood, the king commuted the sentence to beheading, as opposed to being hanged, drawn and beheaded,[5] and Lancaster was executed on 22 March near Pontefract Castle.

Read More: Check out the story of The Haunting of the Scarborough Castle Ruins and the Foggy South Bay Beach were the ghost of Piers Gavenston is said to haunt, one of his enemies at court and who Plantagenet was one of the judges to have Gavenston executed. 

Yet even death offered no dignity. Legend holds that it took an inept executioner a gruesome eleven strokes to sever Thomas’s head and that eleven strokes were needed for his decapitation. Locals say the Earl’s anguished spirit has never left Dunstanburgh.

Visitors have reported seeing a headless figure wandering the Dunstanburgh Castle grounds, his severed, mangled head cradled beneath one arm. Witnesses claim his face still bears the contorted agony of those final, harrowing moments before death.

The Wars of the Roses and the Queen’s Ghost on the Beach

Dunstanburgh didn’t die with Thomas Plantagenet. In the bloody turmoil of the Wars of the Roses, Dunstanburgh Castle changed hands from the fighting Lancastrian and Yorkists factions no fewer than five times, each siege leaving it further battered from cannon fire. Amidst the wreckage of those violent decades, another spirit lingers.

Right below the castle there is Queen Margaret’s Cove. It is said that Margaret of Anjou escaped to France here, lowered over the side of the cliff in a basket to a boat waiting below in 1460. 

Margaret of Anjou: (23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Through marriage, she was also nominally Queen of France from 1445 to 1453. Born in the Duchy of Lorraine into the House of Valois-Anjou, Margaret was the second eldest daughter of René of Anjou King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine.

Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, is said to roam the crumbling battlements and desolate beaches below. Desperate to defend her son’s claim to the throne, Margaret’s final days in the north were marked by betrayal and defeat. Her specter, clad in royal robes now faded by centuries, is often glimpsed at twilight, gazing mournfully out to sea.

Although the keepers of Dunstanburgh Castle tended to favour the Lancastrians and Queen Margaret, it has led to the castle being associated with her, most of them historically improbable and we don’t really know if she ever went there. She is also said to be haunting Owlpen Manor in Dursley, Gloucestershire.

Locals claim that during stormy nights, her sorrowful figure walks the shoreline, her ghostly form sometimes accompanied by the distant echo of battle cries and the ghostly glow of lanterns flickering within the empty towers.

The Ghost of Sir Guy the Seeker

One of the more obscure ghost stories said to haunt Dunstanburgh Castle comes the gallant knight, Sir Guy the Seeker from the 16th century. He was riding along the coast  and was caught in a terrible storm. He found the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and went there for shelter beneath the shattered turrets of the gatehouse. He stayed the night, and the storm raged and the wind howled. 

Suddenly, a terrible figure appeared in white, urging him to follow as he would be rewarded with beauty bright.The night fearing nothing, followed the figure up a staircase to a room of hundred sleeping knights and their horses slept. There was also a beautiful woman sleeping in a crystal casket in the center of the chamber. Images and carvings of serpents were guarding each side of the casket. On one side was a sword, on the other a horn. The figure said the knight could save her by using either the sword or the horn, but could only choose once. He took the horn and blew it. The sleeping knight got up and attacked him. The figure in white kept taunting him as Sir Guy fainted. 

When he woke up, he was back at the gatehouse. He became obsessed with the sleeping maiden he tried to find again. He searched every stone in the ruins, but found nothing. He died a lonely and broken man. But on stormy days it is said you can still hear his ghost with the thundering waves against the walls, wandering the ruins seeking the beauty bright. 

Local Haunted Legends

Where did the story come from? Although there are slight variations of the legend, it has been told at least as early as the 19th century. Similar stories, possibly inspired by Arthurian legends, have existed as well close to Hexham and Eildon Hills. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted castles

There have also been said that there are tunnels under Dunstanburgh Castle, stretching and winding from Craston Tower, over to Embleton and nearby Proctor Steads. 

Even in daylight, Dunstanburgh Castle carries an eerie quiet. The ruined gatehouse, shattered walls, and isolated cliffs exude a sense of melancholy, as though the land itself remembers every act of bloodshed committed upon it.

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References:

Ghosts of Dunstanburgh Castle

Northumberland Folktales: Dunstanburgh Castle and the Ghost of Sir Guy the Seeker | Under the influence!

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The Berwick Vampire: A Blood-Soaked Legend from Berwick-upon-Tweed

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In the midst of border disputes between the English and the Scottish as well as the looming threat of the plague, a new monster started lurking in the dark street. The Berwick Vampire is one of the oldest vampire stories from the UK. 

Berwick was besieged on more occasions than any other town in the world with the exception of Jerusalem, changing hands between England and Scotland 13 times and as a cultural identity not in unison about who they are between the two. It also has more than one vampire story, one of them from a time before the vampire term was even a thing.

In the shadow of ancient battlements and along the fog-laden streets of Berwick-upon-Tweed, lingers the sinister tale of the Berwick Vampire. Though far less famous than its Eastern European counterparts, this chilling account has earned its place in folklore as one of Britain’s earliest recorded vampiric encounters.

A Town Haunted by Blood and Death

The story takes us back to the medieval period, when Berwick was a frequent casualty of border wars between England and Scotland in the 12th century. Life was brutal and death was a constant companion. Among the many tales of plague, battle, and witchcraft that circulated during these turbulent centuries, the legend of a bloodthirsty revenant rose to prominence.

As the story goes, a local man of ill-repute — sometimes described as a wealthy landowner or merchant, died suddenly, his life claimed by an unspecified illness or misdeed. Sometimes it’s said that everyone believed he was an upstanding citizen, and that his misdeed and corruption was only found out after he had died. 

This is why they denied him to be buried on consecrated land after he died of the plague. Death did not lay him to rest. Within days of his burial, villagers began whispering of a pale figure stalking the streets after nightfall. Livestock were found drained of blood, and children complained of night terrors and unexplained bruises upon waking.

The Vampire’s Reign of Terror

It wasn’t long before these sightings took a darker turn. Townsfolk claimed to encounter the man’s corpse-like figure lurking in graveyards and near the town walls. Those who crossed his path reported feeling an intense, unnatural cold and being overcome by a sense of impending doom. It is also said that two children went missing, and they all believed it had to be him. 

Revenant: The term vampire or the undead was not used in medieval time, but several of the stories about the Revenant, Sanguisa or the bloodsuckers of folklore bear resemblance to what the modern world would classify as a vampire legend. In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living and was in medieval times used interchangeably with ghosts. They come from various cultures like the Celtic and Norse, some reminding more about a classic ghost story, some more of a vampire legend. Although today a mixed version of the western and eastern European mythologies of the undead.

As he was running down the street, a pack of howling dogs followed him, keeping all the villagers awake. He shouted out: “Until my body is burnt, you folk of Berwick shall have no peace!”

The Vampire Hunt

The villagers gathered and decided to fight the vampire after several days had forced them inside after dark. Ten young farmers were selected to dig up his body, hack it up to pieces and burn it. 

They did so, but it wasn’t the end of their misery. After burning him to ash, the plague returned and took half the population of Berwick. When they buried the dead, the villagers insisted that they could hear the sound of the vampire followed by his pack of hounds.

Howling Hounds: Often in William Newburghs tales of the undead, there is a pack of dogs following as the dog motif has been connected with death for ages in European mythology. The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death.

The Legacy of the Berwick Vampire

The Berwick legend also highlights how vampire hysteria in the medieval and early modern periods often paralleled outbreaks of disease and unexplained deaths, as communities struggled to explain misfortune with supernatural causes as well as border disputes. Something that many of the vampire legends we have from William Newburgh, like the story of the Berwick Vampire, shares.

William of Newburgh: Many of the tales about the British vampires comes from the 12th century historian, William of Newburgh. William’s major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis (“History of English Affairs”), a history of England from 1066 to 1198, written in Latin. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses into 12th-century life. He is a major source for stories of medieval revenants, animated corpses that returned from their graves, with close parallels to vampire beliefs.

Today, Berwick-upon-Tweed is a picturesque town known for its Elizabethan walls and coastal charm. Yet for those who listen closely, especially when mist rolls in from the North Sea, old stories persist. Locals still recount the ancient tale of the Berwick Vampire — a reminder of a time when the veil between life and death felt perilously thin, and the dead were not always content to stay buried.

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References:

Vampires of Scotland and England Borders | MJ Wayland

Vampires of Berwick and Melrose

Berwick upon Tweed Vampire

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The Buckinghamshire Vampire: England’s Forgotten Blood-Drinker

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Coming day after day to torment his wife, the Buckinghamshire Vampire terrorized an entire town for days. And he wasn’t stopped until the Bishop intervened. 

Hidden among the villages and misty woodlands of Buckinghamshire in south east England, a county better known for its pastoral landscapes and historic estates, lies a strange and unsettling tale of a vampire said to have once terrorized the area. 

Unlike the famous aristocratic bloodsuckers of Gothic fiction, this legend, whispered among locals for generations, speaks of a malevolent revenant risen from its grave to prey upon the living.

A Folkloric Fragment from Rural England

This story is also one of the vampiric tales we have from the historian William of Newburgh who wrote down many of the monsters and ghost stories from medieval England and Scotland. Allegedly he got the story from Stephen de Swafeld, the archdeacon of the diocese of Buckinghamshire from 1194-1202. 

William of Newburgh: Many of the tales about the British vampires comes from the 12th century historian, William of Newburgh. William’s major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis (“History of English Affairs”), a history of England from 1066 to 1198, written in Latin. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses into 12th-century life. He is a major source for stories of medieval revenants, animated corpses that returned from their graves, with close parallels to vampire beliefs.

A well respected man of Buckinghamshire died unexpectedly in 1192 and was buried by his family and his grieving widow on the eve of Ascension Day. He must have been a rich man, as he was buried in a tomb. Buckinghamshire had acquired a lot of wealth during the Anglo-Saxons, soon to be taken by William the Conqueror.  

The next night the widow was awakened at night when something laid next to her in her bed. When she opened her eyes, she saw it was her dead husband laying next to her, staring at her with dead eyes. It was said he got on top of her, pressing her down into the bed.

It is unsure and not specified what this actually means. Did he paralyze her like a night terror thing, did he force himself on her?

When the sun rose, the man went back into his tomb. But he would return the next night. Some say he did the same for a second time. But for the third, the widow was prepared. She had invited her friends and family to watch over her, in case her dead husband came back. 

He crept through her window, but when he was heading for her bed, the walking dead was attacked by her protectors who chased him off with loud noises and into the fields where the animals were grassing. Some say that he went to attack his brothers instead who were living in the same town.

Revenant: The term vampire or the undead was not used in medieval time, but several of the stories about the Revenant, Sanguisa or the bloodsuckers of folklore bear resemblance to what the modern world would classify as a vampire legend. In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living and was in medieval times used interchangeably with ghosts. They come from various cultures like the Celtic and Norse, some reminding more about a classic ghost story, some more of a vampire legend. Although today a mixed version of the western and eastern European mythologies of the undead.

For a long time, the vampire kept appearing in the town, attacking sleeping people as well as resting animals. Soon, every household was up all night, guarding to defend themselves from the vampire stalking them. 

It got so bad he started appearing in broad daylight, seen by big groups of people in the streets and in the fields. Often he was seen with a pack of hounds following him, something the undead in William’s writing did, as well as other British ghost and vampire stories. 

Howling Hounds: Often in William Newburghs tales of the undead, there is a pack of dogs following as the dog motif has been connected with death for ages in European mythology. The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death.

Blessings from the Bishop

The story of the undead reached the Bishop and they decided to do an investigation. This has also been said to be the Archdeacon Stephen. He had written to St. Hugh, the bishop of Lincoln, asking for advice. It was said that they had to open his tomb and burn him to ashes, but the archdeacon didn’t want to and asked if there was another way. 

They decided to open his tomb and exhumed his body. When the tomb was opened the body was found to have not decomposed. The bishop had written an absolution that they placed on the man’s chest before the tomb was sealed up again. 

It is said that this helped and the blessing  from the bishop made so the revenant remained in his grave and he never bothered anyone ever again. . 

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References:

Buckinghamshire Vampire – OCCULT WORLD

William of Newburgh: Medieval Vampire Hunter? | Our Ancient History

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The Vampire of Alnwick Castle: Northumberland’s Restless Dead

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In the castle often dubbed the Windsor of the North, the Alnwick castle also houses some dark legends. One of them being that there once was a vampire demon lurking in the dark corners of the castle. 

Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England has been called  the Windsor of the North and has been the home for the Percy family since 1309, including the current 12th Duke of Northumberland. It has played a crucial role in the history of England, as a stronghold in the border wars with Scotland as well as the power battle in the Wars of Roses.

Long before Alnwick Castle gained modern renown as a filming location for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts or Downton Abbey, it was home to far darker, bloodier folklore. In the 12th century, this formidable Northumbrian stronghold was at the center of one of Britain’s most unnerving medieval vampire tales — chronicled by the historian William of Newburgh.

The Tale as Told by William of Newburgh

William, writing around 1196, recounted the terrifying legend in his Historia Rerum Anglicarum, documenting the story of a long-deceased servant to the Lord de Vesci of Alnwick in the 11th century who refused to stay buried. It was said he came from Yorkshire to escape the law. Or was it the master of the castle himself who stayed underneath his castle after his death? According to local accounts, after his death this malevolent soul rose nightly from his grave to prowl the surrounding village.

William of Newburgh: Many of the tales about the British vampires comes from the 12th century historian, William of Newburgh. William’s major work was Historia rerum Anglicarum or Historia de rebus anglicis (“History of English Affairs”), a history of England from 1066 to 1198, written in Latin. It is written in an engaging fashion and still readable to this day, containing many fascinating stories and glimpses into 12th-century life. He is a major source for stories of medieval revenants, animated corpses that returned from their graves, with close parallels to vampire beliefs.

He was said to be a horrid man, although his misdeeds aren’t always specified. He was also a very jealous man and suspected his wife had taken a lover and wanted to caught her in the act. He told her he was going out on a journey for many days, but in secret snuck back after dark. He went to spy on her and climbed to the roof of his house to look in her window. Some say that he was hiding on a beam overhanging her room. 

Whether his wife cheated or not is debated. Some say that a man really did enter her room, causing him to lose his balance and fall down. He fell through the roof or off the beam and crashed to the floor and injured himself badly. As he lay dying on her floor, he refused to repent his sins, and died with the cursing words of his wife looming over him. 

The creature, often referred to simply as the Alnwick Vampire, brought with it a pestilent air of death. Villagers spoke of a sickening stench and oppressive atmosphere whenever the restless corpse stalked the streets. It is also said that a pack of hounds howling was following him. In the original source, it’s not often mentioned they feared for their blood to be sucked out of them, but being “beaten black and blue by this vagrant monster.”

Howling Hounds: Often in William Newburghs tales of the undead, there is a pack of dogs following as the dog motif has been connected with death for ages in European mythology. The black dog is a supernatural, spectral, or demonic hellhound. It is usually unnaturally large with glowing red or yellow eyes, is often connected with the Devil, and is sometimes an omen of death.

The villagers were so afraid they started to lock themselves inside of their homes at night. It is also said that the castle was close to being abandoned and that people started to move away. Soon after the nightly disturbances began, a dreadful plague outbreak swept through the village, and the suffering townsfolk laid blame squarely at the feet of the wandering revenant.

A Grim Solution: Dismemberment and Burning

Local priests and terrified townsfolk, desperate to end the curse, gathered on Palm Sunday at two brothers who had lost their father to the plague and wanted to stop it before it consumed them as well. and decided upon a grim but time-honored medieval remedy: they would exhume the vampire’s corpse and destroy it.

A band of brave men dug up the grave. He was not found six feet under as he had been buried the first time, but right under the surface with just a bit of soil barely covering him. 

His body was naturally preserved and bloated. It was said it had swollen to almost twice its size and his flesh was more pink than deadly white. Although the stench of flesh was overwhelming. 

To put an end to the horrors, they dragged the body from the earth, hacked it to pieces as gallons of fresh hot blood poured out of him, pure evidence of him being a bloodsucking monster. The body pieces were taken outside of the town and burned the remains to ash.

William of Newburgh recorded the event in chilling detail, remarking on how the decay and pestilence lifted almost immediately after the body’s destruction.

Vampire or Revenant? A Medieval Fear

This account from Alnwick is one of the earliest written vampire legends in England. Even to this day, William de Newburgh is claimed to have been a serious historian who relied on good and trustworthy sources. 

In the story though, he does call the castle Anantis, and it has since then been affiliated with the Alnwick Castle. This sort of became canon lore after Montague Summers published The Vampire in Europe in 1929 where he called the legend the Alnwick Vampire. 

There have been some that have speculated that the castle from the story was actually Annan Castle of the Bruce family in South West Scotland. However, the structure of the story does remind quite a lot of an Irish vampire story about an evil lord jealous of his wife and dies when spying on her and her suspected lover.

Read More: The Legend of Ireland’s Vampire King Abhartach and the Haunted Giant’s Grave

It is also said that William heard the story from an old monk who lived when the story happened, meaning it must have been sometime in the late 11th, early 12th century like most of his vampire stories. It wasn’t called vampire though, but some sort of bloodsucker or sanguine, the latin word for it. 

Revenant: The term vampire or the undead was not used in medieval time, but several of the stories about the Revenant, Sanguisa or the bloodsuckers of folklore bear resemblance to what the modern world would classify as a vampire legend. In folklore, a revenant is a spirit or animated corpse that is believed to have been revived from death to haunt the living and was in medieval times used interchangeably with ghosts. They come from various cultures like the Celtic and Norse, some reminding more about a classic ghost story, some more of a vampire legend. Although today a mixed version of the western and eastern European mythologies of the undead.

In the medieval mind, such revenants were often considered a cross between a ghost and a vampire who were physical corpses that left their tombs to infect the living, causing plagues, death, and despair. The cause of their resurrection was often attributed to sin, improper burial rites, or a cursed nature in life.

Other Ghosts at Alnwick Castle

In addition to a legend of a bloodsucking undead, it is also said that the ghost of a Grey Lady is haunting the castle grounds. It is said that a young teenage girl was working as a maid in the castle in the Victorian time. One day she was working in one of the kitchens. She fell down a chute to the tunnels below the castle. The dumb waiter used to raise and lower food between the castle floors and broke and fell on top of her. It crushed her to death. 

It is said that she is walking in the tunnels and dark corridors deep below the castle. 

Today, Alnwick Castle embraces its eerie history, and there is even a gin inspired by the legend. Ghost tours and local folklore evenings recount not only the vampire of the 12th century but also tales of spectral knights, weeping women, and shadowy figures that stalk the castle halls and grounds after dark.

And though centuries have passed since the old master’s body was consigned to the flames, some claim that on misty nights, a strange stench lingers in the old graveyard, and figures are glimpsed where no one should be.

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The Alnwick vampire

Vampire and Ghost of Alnwick Castle

The Secrets of Alnwick Castle’s Haunting Past

1196 (ca.): Vampire of Anantis | Anomalies: the Strange & Unexplained

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The Vampire of Croglin Grange: The Mystery Behind the Legend

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The Vampire of Croglin Grange was passed down as an actual true story told and published. But what was the truth behind this vampire story, and was there really any truth to it?

Tucked within the pastoral landscapes of Cumbria, England, the quiet village of Croglin once played host to one of Britain’s eeriest and most unsettling vampire legends — a story that has chilled listeners for well over a century. Known as The Vampire of Croglin Grange, this tale was first popularized in the 19th century, yet its setting and sinister details evoke much older European revenant lore.

Croglin is a quiet picturesque fellside village between the Pennines and the River Eden. Because of its proximity to the Scottish borders, the village was often raided by the Border Reivers in the 15th century. Though historians debate its authenticity, the story’s sinister atmosphere and eerie specifics have earned it a place among England’s most famous vampire legends.

The Account That Sparked the Legend

The legend was first widely shared by Augustus Hare in his 1896 book The Story of My Life, his autobiography. The story was related by a certain Captain Fisher. The Fisher family were long-time residents of the region, and presented it as a genuine family incident that took place in Cumberland around 14 miles south east of Carlisle and not far from the Scottish border. After moving down to Surrey, the Fishers had let the Grange out.

The Night the Vampire Came

According to Hare’s account, in the early 19th century, a brother and sister — Amelia, Edward, and Michael Cranswell — rented a remote country house known as Croglin Grange between 1875 and 1876. The house was charming but isolated, surrounded by open fields and ancient churchyards. Though Hare doesn’t name them in his story, later sources give their surname as Cranswell. And while Hare doesn’t give a date, it’s been assumed they occupied the house at some point in the 1870s, as this was when the Fishers moved out.

Read More: Check out The Vampire of Croglin Grange by Augustus Hare to read it as it was published for the entire story.. 

One particularly hot summer’s evening, the siblings retired to bed, leaving their windows open to the night air. As darkness settled, Amelia Cranswell lay in bed beneath the glow of a full moon when she noticed a pair of glittering eyes peering through her window. It was described as having a brown face and flaming eyes. Transfixed with horror, she watched as a thin, shriveled figure with unnaturally long fingers crept closer.

The creature deftly unlatched the window, slipped inside, and lunged at Amelia, biting into her neck and drawing blood. Paralyzed with terror, she managed to let out a blood-curdling scream as the creature fed. Her cries summoned Edward and Michael, who burst into the room and chased the attacker away — though not before seeing it flee toward the churchyard.

A Grim Pursuit

The next morning, the brothers searched the grounds but found no trace of the intruder. Fearing for their sister’s life, they insisted she travel to recover elsewhere and they went to Switzerland. Several months later, Amelia returned, and despite lingering fears, resumed life at Croglin Grange.

But on another moonlit night, the creature returned — this time, the brothers were ready. Michael and Edward, armed with pistols, pursued the shriveled, man-like figure across the moonlit fields to the old churchyard, where it disappeared into a crypt belonging to a long-dead local family.

The next day, accompanied by local villagers, the brothers opened the vault. Inside, they found a mummified, grotesque corpse — remarkably intact — with fresh blood on its lips. The body was swiftly burned or, in some versions, a stake was driven through its heart before it was incinerated, bringing an end to the terror that had plagued Croglin Grange.

Fact, Fiction, or Folklore?

Skeptics have long debated the historical accuracy of the Croglin Vampire story. Some argue it’s a Victorian gothic fiction piece cleverly presented as oral history. Others point out that while Croglin is a real place, no definitive records corroborate the events described by Augustus Hare.

The story was revisited in 1919 when Montague Summers republished it together with Varney the Vampire, saying it should be dismissed as folklore. He found no evidence that Croglin Grange ever existed. Most likely it was based on Croglin Low Hall even though there was no nearby chapel. 

Folklorists suggest that the tale fits within a wider tradition of revenant lore in northern England and Scotland — stories of the dead returning from their graves to drink the blood of the living, particularly during plague years. The creature’s withered, ancient appearance also aligns more with old European vampire myths than the suave, aristocratic blood-drinkers popularized by later gothic fiction.

Francis Clive-Ross gave some more insight in a 1963 article for the journal Tomorrow, Clive-Ross stated he’d discovered information that might lend some truth at least to the setting of Fisher’s tale. Clive-Ross found out that Croglin Low Hall had actually been known as Croglin Grange until the beginning of the 18th century and that it really used to be a chapel nearby. Croglin residents, however, told him that the incident hadn’t occurred in the 1870s, but rather way back in the 1680s.

As it turned out, the Fisher’s had actually been tenants back then, and it was the Towry family owning it and that the story most likely came from them. Some linked the bat-like creature from a local story of the grave of a local priest. Some speculate that what the woman actually saw was an owl, or perhaps an escaped monkey from the circus. Some even suggest that it is a story about the trauma from the Civil War, everything to not recognize the possibility of a vampiric creature stalking the locals. 

Even so, there is a window at Croglin Low Hall that is believed to be the window the vampire showed himself. It is now bricked up and festooned with a lucky horseshoe. As a protection, just in case. 

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References:

Croglin Grange – Wikipedia

The Vampire of Croglin Grange – a Genuine & Ancient British Bloodsucker? – David Castleton Blog – The Serpent’s Pen

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The Haunting of the Scarborough Castle Ruins and the Foggy South Bay Beach

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Covered in fog, the Scarborough Castle looms over the South Bay Beach in the English seaside town. Countless ghosts like the beheaded Earl, weeping women and prisoners of war are said to be drawn to these sandy beaches in the cover of darkness. 

Scarborough Beach, with its golden sands and the rhythmic lull of the North Sea, is a cherished destination for many in North Yorkshire, England.Scarborough is a place where history is not confined to books but lives on through stories whispered on the wind. Writers like Susann Hill grew up here and she spoke a lot about how the town influenced her eerie stories like The Woman in Black. After the horror movie St. Maud came out, it was also put on a list of a horror movie road trip through England together with Culzean Castle from The Wicker Man and Westminster Bridge from 28 Days Later. 

But if we are to believe the legends, the Scarborough South Bay Beach and the rest of the town are actually haunted. From the haunted halls of the Grand Hotel to the ancient stones of St. Mary’s Church, shipwrecked ships in the bay and the ruins of the old castle, the town is filled with tales of the supernatural.

The Woman in Pink and the Murder of Lydia Bell

Among the most enduring legends is that of the Woman in Pink haunting the beach and various other locations in the city. There are many variations. One of them speaks of a veiled figure, draped in a pink nightgown-like dress, seen wandering the shoreline during foggy nights. She is seen wandering the beach, clutching a baby in her arms. The child is said to be covered with a white shail.

Who was this woman? Some locals said that it is the ghost of a woman who threw her child to its death. 

Another famous legend of the Pink Lady connects her to the murder of Lydia Bell in 1804. Although, her name was actually Eleanor, named from her paternal grandmother. She was a teenager and daughter of a York confectioner, Joseph. In the evening she slipped out from her room and went to meet up with a soldier stationed there. In some versions of the tale it was her married lover. Witnesses saw her walking away with someone, but a positive identification was never made.

What really happened that night has been retold mostly in legends. They say she tried to scream out into the foggy night, but it was drowned by the sound of a foghorn. After she died she was thrown off a cliff. She wasn’t discovered until the next morning when some fishermen happened upon her. She was found a few miles down the coast with severe trauma and attempted rape was assumed. Her murderer was never caught, although a soldier was arrested and later acquitted. According to the ghost stories he didn’t confess his crimes until years later on his deathbed, but that is only in the stories. 

Now she is haunting the beach and various other places in the town, like the house she was staying in when she was in town, said to be Bell Mansion or the Georgian House on St. Nicholas Street, which it is also known as. She is often said to appear in a pink, sometimes a red dress, looking like just another person among the crowd, running down the beach towards the Spa before vanishing into thin air. Some say that you can still hear her faint screams between the humming of the foghorns on foggy nights. 

How true was this story about Lydia Bell though? Or was it Elanor? With several names and dates, there are not many actual crimes to cross check with and easy to get mixed up. The earliest appearance as a ghost story seems to be in Jack Hallam’s book Ghost of the North from 1976, although the story is said to have been known a long time before this. 

The Woman in Black

Now, although the legend of The Woman in Pink is one of the most well known stories for the locals, the world probably knows Scarborough as the haunting ground for The Woman in Black. And although it’s not just like the book, there are certainly legends of a darkly clad ghost wandering the beach as well as other places in the town. 

Some say that there is the ghost of a woman in a black veil haunting the area. It is said that her name was Helen Hywater and was waiting for her sailor lover. He was to return to Scarborough within 300 days to marry her. When he never came, she took her life on day 300 and has been haunting the place on foggy nights since then. 

This legend doesn’t have many sources though and one of the online sources comes from ghosthunter Anne Roehampton. This story is also connected to the Grand Hotel, where some claim that she took her life in one of the rooms and that her spirit roams the corridors still. Some think that this story partly influenced Susann Hill when crafting the Woman in Black. 

The Woman in Black: The 1983 Gothic horror novel by English writer Susan Hill, is about a mysterious spectre that haunts a small English town. A television film based on it, also called The Woman in Black, was produced in 1989, with a screenplay by Nigel Kneale. In 2012, another film adaption was released starring Daniel Radcliffe. The story has definitely shaped the ghost stories told in Scarborough today.

There are also said to be a witch without a name haunting the area. The most famous witch accusations was that of Anne Hunnam or Marchant, although no records says that she was actually sentenced to death for it. She is said to be haunting a footpath, wearing a dishevelled dark and hooded cloak. Her sinister cackling following the people trespassing her domain. 

Ghostly Soldiers: Echoes of Ancient Battles

Scarborough’s history is steeped in conflict, from Viking invasions to civil wars. It’s said that the spirits of long-dead soldiers still patrol the beach, their forms glimpsed through the fog, clad in antiquated armor. These apparitions are silent, their faces obscured, marching eternally along the sands they once defended.

After the English Civil War the castle was used as a prison and military barracks until the end of World War 1. Many perished behind its walls, but haunt the premise in their afterlife. Near the remnants of a Roman signal station by the castle, visitors have reported sightings of a solitary Roman soldier, standing guard as he did centuries ago.

Scarborough Castle: A Fortress of Phantoms

Overlooking the beach stands Scarborough Castle, a sentinel of stone with a history as turbulent as the seas below. Today, most of the 3500 years old castle lies in ruins, and many believe the haunting feeling of the beach it was built nearby comes from the ruins. 

Read More: Check out all haunted castles

The castle is reputedly haunted by several spirits and those spirits seem to wander freely from the castle walls down to the beach. 

Piers Gaveston was the son of a Gascon knight and is said to haunt the castle as well as the beach of Scarborough. Through his friendship with King Edward II, he became a favorite and the Earl of Cornwall. This favouritism made him deeply unpopular with the royal court, and when he was appointed regent in the king’s absence, it was enough for them. Gaveston met a grisly end in 1312 when he was sent to the castle for his safety by the king. But it was in vain and he was taken prisoner from here by the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford and Arunde and later beheaded in Blacklow Hill.

His headless ghost is said to roam the castle grounds, a restless soul seeking justice. He is also said to lure people to the edge and try to push visitors off the castle walls. 

Another tale exclusively from the castle tells of a woman who, in a fit of despair, threw something over the castle wall before leaping to her death because her soldier she was seeing left her for someone else. Her spirit, consumed by grief, is believed to haunt the ruins, her cries echoing through the night, among with all the other ghosts looming in the foggy bay. 

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References:

The ‘haunted’ Yorkshire beach that was used in a horror movie – YorkshireLive

Is Scarborough Haunted? Haunted places and ghost stories.

We live on the UK’s most ‘HAUNTED’ beach with ‘unruly ghosts roaming the shore’ – but it’s hiding a secret | The Sun

The ‘haunted’ Yorkshire beach that’s worth a spooky Halloween drive from Manchester

Ghost-hunting in Scarborough

Scarborough’s haunted history: Share your ghost stories and spooky sightings around the town for our ‘Coastbusters’ series this Halloween

Scarborough’s haunted history: Share your ghost stories and spooky sightings around the town for our ‘Coastbusters’ series this Halloween 

The Black Widow – Dark Tales Around Scarborough | The Abroad Guide

Scarborough Ghost Trail

The Pink Lady Of Scarborough | The Forteana Forums

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The Burned Man of Shoreham Beach Haunting the Seaside Town

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In the seaside town in England, Shoreham by Sea, there seems to be a lingering specter on the beach. Ever since the second world war, there have been tales about the ghost of a burned man haunting the stretch of land by the shore. 

Shoreham Beach in 1986, a group of teenagers from the private school was having an end of term celebration. One of the boys looked up and saw a figure close to the water. His hair burned, covered in shadow and ash. Before they could react, the figure charged towards them, screaming. The teenager fled from the beach, suddenly filled with the stench of rotting meat, melted plastic and burnt skin. They had just encountered the burned man of Shoreham beach, and they were certainly not the only ones. 

By day, Shoreham Beach in West Sussex is a tranquil stretch of coastline, its pebbled shores and gentle surf offering a quiet respite from the bustle of nearby Brighton. But when the clock strikes midnight and the seaside air in the sleepy Shoreham-by-sea  thickens with mist and the mood shifts. Along the beach, the old footbridge, and the narrow, dimly-lit streets of Shoreham’s High Street, a restless, agonized spirit is said to roam — a tortured phantom known only as The Burned Man.

An Apparition Born of War

Unlike many of England’s older hauntings, this spectral tale has a known starting point: the 1940s. The era of the Second World War left deep scars across the British Isles, and Shoreham was no exception and many believed this was the place the Germans would enter if the country was invaded. 37 air raids hit Shoreham and Southwick during the war and killed at least 17 people. Eight of them were locals. The worst death toll occurred on 21st October 1940 when a bomb landed by the Shoreham Shipping Company and killed five persons including a 17 year old Home Guard George Earthey, Arthur Laker a firefighter and John Hoad all from Shoreham.

Locals believe The Burned Man may have been a victim of those turbulent years — whether a soldier, an unlucky civilian caught in a bombing raid, or someone consumed in a fire now lost to record.

What makes this legend particularly unnerving is the remarkable consistency of the eyewitness accounts. From the war years through to modern times, people walking alone after midnight have reported nearly identical, chilling encounters.

The Dreaded Sequence of Events

Those who’ve crossed paths with The Burned Man describe an oppressive stillness in the air, as if time itself hesitates. Footsteps echo a little too loudly on deserted streets. The glow from streetlamps seems to dim.

Next comes the smell — an unmistakable, stomach-churning stench of burned flesh and charred fabric. Witnesses say it begins faintly but quickly envelops them, leaving no escape.

And then, without warning, he appears.

A gaunt, blackened figure, arms flailing wildly as though still consumed by invisible flames, his face a grotesque mask of pain. From his cracked, charred lips come moaning, demented cries of agony — sounds that witnesses claim linger in the ears long after the phantom vanishes.

Reports note that sightings only occur between midnight and 2:00 AM, always in isolation, and most commonly near the beach’s edge, along the old town’s High Street, and near the historic footbridge.

Though wartime Shoreham has long since faded into memory, The Burned Man remains, his tormented soul trapped between the old streets and the restless tides. Some still claim to catch the scent of burned meat on particularly foggy nights, an ominous sign that The Burned Man walks again.

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References:

The Burned Man – Shoreham Ghost | British Paranormal

https://paranormaldatabase.com/sussex/suspages/sussdata.php?pageNum_paradata=16&totalRows_paradata=427

Shoreham-by-Sea – Wikipedia

Shoreham’s War – shorehambysea.com 

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The True Story of The Chinnery Backseat Driver Ghost

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The Chinnery Backseat Driver ghost is now a famous photo used to prove that ghosts exists. but does it? What was the story behind the photo at the time, and what do the experts say about it today?

The Chinnery Backseat Driver ghost, or the backseat ghost, is a picture that has become quite popular on lists of pictures proving the existence of ghosts. This intriguing image not only captures the attention of paranormal enthusiasts but also raises numerous questions about its authenticity and the narrative surrounding it. But what is the true story behind the now famous picture?

Read Also: The Christmas Haunting of Roos Hall of the Headless Horseman, The Mysterious Tale of Borley Rectory – Was it Really Haunted? and The Red Barn Murder and the Ghost in the Dreams for more ghost stories from Suffolk

Many believe it to be a chilling reminder of the past, while others are skeptical, suggesting that it could be a simple case of double exposure or a cleverly staged scene. This has sparked debates among both believers and skeptics, igniting curiosity about the origins of the photograph, the circumstances in which it was taken, and the identity of the spectral figure appearing in the backseat.

The Story Behind the Picture

March 22, 1959, 44 year old Mrs. Mable Chinnery from in Ipswich in Suffolk, England packed up their car and took off to visit Mable’s mother at the cemetery with her husband, Jim. When they arrived, Mr. Chinnery stayed in the Hillman Minx car as his wife went to the grave of her mother.

Mable had just gotten a new camera, some saying it was an Eastman-Kodak Brownie. She had brought it on her trip to take some pictures of her mother’s gravestone who had died a week prior. After taking several photos, Mrs. Chinnery saw that she had one picture left. So, she pointed the camera at her husband in the car and took the picture.

When they got the film developed though, she saw it was more than her gravestone Mrs. Chinnery had taken a picture off. Sitting in the backseat of the car was the clear image of a person. When Mrs. Chinnery showed the pictures to her friends they pointed out the figure in the backseat saying: “But there’s your mother in the back!”

According to Jim, she loved sitting in the back of the car. One of the final things she had told them before she died was: “you’ll never come to any harm ’cause I’ll still be with you.”

Investigating The Chinnery Backseat Driver

The photo has since gone through rigorous tests by professional photo analysts. This includes Skeptics who did a deep dive into this picture not too long ago. According to the experts that were examining the picture, the figure in the photo is not a reflection or a double exposure. Perhaps a bit of controversial take on a ghost photo. This comes from an article about the photo claiming because the door’s upright wouldn’t block off part of her face. And she can’t be a reflection in the window, either, according to them. So what can she be? And is a double exposure impossible?

According to many photographer, the camera she was using, could easily have taken a double exposure by mistake. These skeptics suggested that whatever was in the photo wasn’t a ghost, but rather the mind making familiar patterns out of light and shadow. Some also think the most likely scenario is that Mrs. Chinnery took a photo of her mother in an armchair shortly before the old woman died. 

What Mrs. Chinnery ended up believing about the picture is never mentioned, neither is the further haunting from her mother. This together with all the possible explanations for the image distortion makes it difficult to come up with a single simple answer of what happened the day they snapped The Chinnery Backseat Driver.

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