At the old Cabra Castle, once known as Cormey Castle, it is said that the ghost of an unfortunate servant girl is haunting it’s hall. She was brutally murdered by the castle owners when they found out she was bearing one of the heirs’ children.
In the heart of Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, stands Cabra Castle—a place where history, beauty, and the supernatural intertwine, casting an enchanting but eerie spell close to the Dún a Rí Forest .
Cabra Castle is given to two castles in this area. One is now only ruins, the other one is turned into a luxury hotel. The centuries-old castle has captured the imagination of travelers and ghost enthusiasts alike, earning a reputation as one of the most haunted hotels in the world, according to a chilling 2010 Trip Advisor ranking.
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Today it is a hotel as it has been since the 90s, but before that it used to be the land of the O’Reilly clan. This was until Oliver Cromwell took control in the 1600s. The original castle from before this time was destroyed and Cabra House was built on top of the ruins. The ruins of the original Cabra House, or Cabra Castle, can be seen on a slight height near the Wishing Well in what is now Dún a’ Rí Forest Park, formerly part of the Cabra Estate.
Cabra Castle: Today the Cabra Castle is a luxury hotel. It is said to be haunted of not only one ghost though. //Source: Colette Gemmell/Wikimedia
The rebuilt castle was then called Cormy Castle and the Foster family lived there when the supposed ghost story is said to have happened. The main building was in ruins, destroyed during the Cromwellian War, however, its adjacent courtyard remained in good repair.
A Tale of Forbidden Love
In the 1780s, the castle’s owners had a son who found his heart entwined with that of a servant girl named Sarah. Who this was is not specified, but it is known that John Tomas Foster was the one that took over the castle in 1795, but died shortly after. Although he is not named in any of the stories, he is the heir around that time. If there ever worked a girl named Sarah during that time, is not found any proof of though.
According to the legend, they managed to keep their relationship a secret for a while, but secrets have a way of unveiling themselves when the truth cannot remain hidden. Sarah’s secret was revealed when she discovered she was with child, a revelation that would prove catastrophic for her and her lover.
A Tragic End
The heir’s family, driven by property and social standing, decreed that Sarah must be silenced. In a macabre turn of events, Sarah was taken from the servants’ quarters of Cabra Castle and dragged into the nearby forest, perhaps the Dún a Rí Forest, where they murdered her and her unborn child.
Legends recount that Sarah met a gruesome end, her lifeless form hanging over a bridge in the dark heart of the forest. But it is said that her spirit did not rest, and the echoes of her tragic tale continue to haunt Cabra Castle to this day.
Sarah’s Bridge: In the Dún a Rí Forest, there is a bridge called Sarah’s Bridge, constructed in 1801, was named in memory of Sarah Mountmorris, who married into the Pratt family. Local legend, on the other hand, tells about a Sarah who had been meeting her boyfriend on the bridge for nearly three decades. One evening, he unexpectedly proposed to her, causing Sarah to fall into the river and drown. To prevent a similar tragedy, side walls were added to the bridge, making it a more secure and less risky place for romantic rendezvous. Therefore it has little to nothing with the Servant Sarah from Cabra Castle.// Source
A Crying Infant in the Night
Visitors to Cabra Castle have reported spine-chilling experiences, where the past and present intersect in eerie ways. In the stillness of the night, some claim to have heard the haunting cries of a baby—an unsettling reminder of the pain and sorrow that once unfolded here.
The courtyard rooms hold their own secrets, with numerous accounts of guests sensing an unexplained “presence” nearby. These encounters have left many with an indelible sense of the uncanny, especially in the courtyard rooms and near the Hanging Tree that is found on the ground. In some version of the story it was from this tree that she was hanged.
The Other Ghost at Cabra Castle
But the ghost of the unfortunate servant girl is not the only ghost said to haunt the old castle. One guest recounted an encounter with a man clad in the uniform of the early 20th century, striding purposefully down a corridor—a figure both mysterious and disconcerting.
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In the dark hours when the veil between worlds seems to waver, others have described hearing the unmistakable sounds of a horse and carriage. These spectral noises, they claim, herald the arrival of a phantom carriage depositing a crying infant at the castle’s steps—a haunting scene that defies explanation.
The Enchantingly Haunted Cabra Castle
The ending of Cabra Castle ghostly tale is as enigmatic as the spirits that wander its halls. While the tragic story of the servant girl’s murder leaves a lingering sense of sorrow and injustice, there is a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness.
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Cabra Castle remains an enchanting yet haunted place, captivating those who dare to visit. Its rich history, mingled with the supernatural, creates an otherworldly experience that leaves an indelible mark on all who wander its storied grounds.
While the tale of the servant girl’s murder remains a haunting reminder of the injustices of the past, Cabra Castle, forever enigmatic and hauntingly beautiful, beckons to those who seek an experience beyond the ordinary. Step into its storied halls, and let the echoes of the past whisper their secrets to you.
Once a beautiful manor in Cologne, Germany, Haus Fühlingen continues to decay and fall into ruins with its dark and bloody past. Although an abandoned building, it is said to be filled up with ghosts.
In the city of Cologne in Germany there is an old manor house that is said to be haunted. Most of the former glory is gone now, and only the ruins and skeleton of the main building still stands.
The house of Villa Oppenheim, or as it is better known as, Haus Fühlingen on Neusser Landstraße 5A once belonged to the prominent Oppenheim family, rich from centuries of banking. Eduard Freiherr von Oppenheim built the place in 1884 to keep his horses. It had a racecourse and farm and he wanted it for training.
The Oppenheim’s sold the estate in 1907 as the soil wasn’t really suitable for the training he wanted and by a cruel twist, the home of the jewish family ended up in the hands of the Nazis, marking the beginning of the dark times of the place.
During the war the Nazi’s used Haus Fühlingen as a farm where they used forced laborers who used the house as sleeping quarters. According to both facts and legends it is said they hanged a man that is said to haunt the place.
The Hanged Man
Edward Margol was a 19 year old forced laborer from Poland who got entangled in a web of lies and paid with his life.
At the time it was a man named Ernst Kolb who was the tenant and landowner and he lived there together with his daughter at Haus Fühlingen.
The Nazis fabricated an accusation that he had sexually abused the tenant’s underage daughter. They brought him to a nearby brick factory and hanged him in 1943 for the false claims and he is said to forever wander the estate.
After his death, his body was sent to Bonn University where they dissected him in the anatomy department. What happened to his remains are not so certain, but they were most likely buried.
Other Tragedies
Fast forward to 1962, there was a former Nazi judge named Gerhard van K. living in Haus Fühlingen who hanged himself on the second floor on New Years Eve. People speculate that the two incidents are connected and that the judge was responsible for Margol’s death, although that has never been proven.
By 1967, the city of Cologne demolished part of the building and many of the doors and windows were bricked up. They also found two cars walled up within the walls of the house for no apparent reason.
No one really took care of Haus Fühlingen anymore and it started to show. From this time, many of the ghost stories about the place started being passed around by the locals.
Tragedy struck the house in 2007 again, long after the last person living there had moved. Haus Fühlingen was now abandoned after the widow of the judge, Alice van K. died, but people still visited. That year another suicide happened inside of the house were some young people visited the empty house were they found him on the second floor.
Ghost Hunters in Haus Fühlingen
After its dark history as well as the decaying exterior slowly being taken over by the weather and graffiti, the house has been stapled as haunted and an attraction for ghost hunters. The ones that come out from the house tell about strange light phenomena, shadows fleeting past them, the radio turning on and off by itself and feeling uneasy and sick while being inside.
A prospective buyer once brought a priest to drive away the spirits and ghosts haunting Haus Fühlingen. This proved to be inefficient though as the sightseeings of the paranormal and the darkness kept being reported on, and it looks like the ghosts are the only inhabitants of the house for the time being.
Haus Fühlingen has since 2008 been planned for a renovation to make luxury apartments, however as of now, they are still just plans and the future of the house is still uncertain. The city of Cologne is also in the process of trying to remove it from the list as a protected building, paving a way that one day, it could be torn down completely. Question is, will that help in stopping the reports of shadows around on the old estate?
The terrible leprosy disease destroyed many lives throughout the ages. And in the city of Loja, The Hangman’s Tunnel in Loja, Ecuador is the place for one of the city’s tragic ghost stories.
The city of Loja in Ecuador was a place that people set out from to look for the mystical town of El Dorado in search of gold. Today it is more known as a place of culture, art and song. But even this bright singing city has its dark stories and legends.
A long time ago there was a leprosy colony at the asylum known as San Juan de Dios Hospital in Loja in Ecuador. Back in the day it used to be an incurable disease and the people suffering from it were put away far from other people fearing to catch the disease.
It is a horrible disease that causes severe disfiguring skin sores as well as nerve damage. It had a huge social stigma and those suffering from it were placed in these Leprocomio, or leper colonies across the world.
This was the place where Ana María grew up, as her unwed mother, Luz Marina had to take a job at the colony to support her daughter after she was kicked out of her family. Ana María grew up and received an education as a nurse as well, working closely with those affected by the disease.
She fell in love with a young law student named Luis Felipe. Over two years they met at their regular meeting place on the road leading to the hospital by a huge cliff known then and especially after as The Hangman’s Path.
After her mother died, Ana María hoped to marry, but found that she had been infected by the disease and had to be quarantined with the other infected away from everyone.
Unable to meet her fate, she decided to hang herself in a guabo tree near their regular meeting place. When Luis Felipe saw her hanging from the tree, he too chose to hang himself together with her.
Today, the hospital is known as Hospital Isidro Ayora. In 2007, they built a tunnel at The Hangman’s Path, now known as the Hansman’s Tunnel. It is a popular place for the locals to gather when playing with Ouija boards and claiming that they have seen the ghost of the two lovers, hanging from the tunnel.
In the secluded and mountainous streets in La Paz, Bolivia, the ghosts of the past are still roaming the streets. Both dangerous widows and Bolivian freedom fighters.
The street in La Paz has rumors of ghosts roaming. And it is not an anonymous ghost we are talking about. The ghost that supposedly roams these streets is the Bolivian folk hero, Pedro Domingo Murillo, who played a key role in Bolivia’s independence.
Calle Jaen is one of the old streets in La Paz and it looks like a ghost of colonial times with the architecture. This is the place where Murillo used to live. The streets are also known for the ghostly apparitions that are seen both by the locals and the tourists visiting.
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The Ghost of Bolivia’s Freedom Fighter Murillo
He is reported mostly appearing to both locals and tourists by the museum during sunset where he tries to communicate with the people seeing him. They even put up a green cross at the end of the museum to ward off spirits that don’t belong in this world anymore.
Haunted Street: Jaen Street, named after the revolutionary Apollinar Jaén, is the best-preserved colonial street in La Paz with its cobbled streets and Spanish architecture. The houses date from the 18th century. One of the homes was owned by Pedro Domingo Murillo.// Photo: Dan Lundberg/wikimedia
Murillo is known for leading a rebellion against the Spanish crown. He was eventually captured and hanged in 1810. He had this to say:
“Compatriots, I die, but tyrants won’t be able to extinguish the torch I ignited. Long live freedom!”
Many see him as a spark that ignited the battle to free South America from Spain, and each year, there is a parade through central La Paz with lit torches in his honor.
The Black Widow of Calle Jaen
He is not the only ghost of this street though. The ghost of a widow crying for her dead husband begs for help in her black mourning clothes. She looks innocent and manages to lure kind people, especially men. When they try to help her, they will disappear forever.
The staff working at the bars in the streets are serving Ajenjo: a Bolivian variety of absinthe. They claim that the hallucigen from the drink has caused people to see both ghosts and spirits after a few sips, especially the ghost of Pedro Domingo Murillo.
Shadowy figures in the window, chilling entrance during the summer, the old and haunted church in Beijing called Chaonei No. 81, keeps its secrets close to the chest. The famous haunted house is believed to be haunted by a woman said to have taken her life inside.
Chaonei No. 81 ( 朝内81号), also called Chaonei Church as it was built with that in mind, perhaps, the records aren’t clear. The French reimagined baroque architecture from the 20th century stands out amongst the modern Beijing skyscrapers and the Ming dynasty buddhist temples.
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Out of place it has passed from a French manager of the railway or Christian missionaries, different governmental members of the Chinese Republic as well as the Catholic Church. But one thing remains the same, the rumours about a restless spirit that lingers, no matter who lives there.
The Mystery of the Chaonei Church Building
The story behind the supposed haunted house at Chaonei No. 81 is hard to get straight. As with a lot of buildings before the formation of the People’s Republic of China was formed, because of missing paperwork. Who built the Chaonei Church? Was it the French manager of the railway? Or it might even have been the Qing imperial family building it for the British to use as a church? However it is believed to have been built around 1910, although some claim it is even older.
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Chaonei Church Building: How Chaonei No. 81 ( 朝内81号) looked from across the street in 2014, looming dark in the otherwise bright and busy street. //Photo: Daniel Case/Wikimedia.
By the neighbouring hutong, the traditional streets in Beijing, the house has always been remembered as haunted. And even during the 1970s, during the cultural revolution, the neighbours remember the Red Guard that lived in the Chaonei Church, got so frightened after staying inside of the haunted house, they had to leave after a few days.
The Woman Hanging from the Rafters
But who frightened its inhabitants, that even the red guard couldn’t handle? According to the most commonly told legend, it is to a woman that once resided in Chaonei No. 81. Or rather, a scorned woman that used to live there, as most haunted histories start with.
The woman that used to live in the Chaonei Church is said to have been a wife or maybe a lover of an officer of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the nationalist party of China) that fought against the communist party during the Chinese civil war in the 1940s. The nationalist lost, and fled to Taiwan as the communist came into power.
The woman was allegedly left behind by her officer man who fled with the army to Taiwan, and she is said to have hung herself from the rafters of the house.
The Ghost Inside of Chaonei No. 81: According to legend, the ghost haunting Chaonei No. 81 is the spirit of a woman left alone in the house by an officer who fled the country.
Whether the outcome of the war had anything to do with her death is debatable, as some suggest it was more that the officer was never at home, not paying her the attention she needed than the victory of the communists that led her to her decision of taking her life in the Chaonei Church.
Her existence at all is debatable as a lot of things during the civil war are lost, forgotten or even hidden away and a lot of documentation to confirm or deny the story is not there. What we can go by is the word of mouth however, and many that have stayed in Chaonei No. 81 knowing its history say there was never a KMT officer living there, and no woman hung herself in the rafters.
The history behind Chaonei No. 81 is clouded in mystery, and there seems that no one can really agree on one account. But ghost stories have their own way of ignoring this, and sneaking their way into the mind of those around anyway. And according to the locals, this place has always been haunted. The locals persist in their own lore that she can indeed be heard, especially on those stormy nights, screaming from the empty house during thunder.
The Vanishing Workers From the Chaonei Church
Even the construction of the house has been up for dispute with strange tales from the Chaonei Church. Like the story of a British priest who supposedly built on the property disappeared before being able to build the church. When a search party was sent, they supposedly found a secret tunnel leading all the way northeast of the premise to the Dashanzi neighborhood.
There have also been three people, working on construction down in the basement in the building next to Chaonei No. 81 that supposedly vanished into thin air. They got drunk on the job and decided to break into the house by breaking the thin wall that separated the two houses. They were never seen again according to the reports.
The House that Never Dies
A message to the entrance is put up, telling the visitors that there are no ghosts residing there, contrary to local beliefs, urging the paranormal seekers to stay away from the Chaonei Church.
Warning off people: Chalked notice on Chaonei No. 81 in Chinese, warning of ghosts in the house. Original text: “请勿相信谎言 无鬼” (Please do not believe lies, there are no ghosts)//Photo by Daniel Case//wikimedia
Especially after the horror movie, The House that Never Dies, inspired by the the haunted legends of Chaonei No. 81 and its story, the interest of it came back. And after its release in 2014, up to five hundred people crowded outside the house, causing the catholic church to close the gates, only letting a few in at the time.
The same thing happened with Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital when a movie was made about the legend and they eventually demolished the entire building because the paranormal seekers were too much and the construction of the building not safe enough.
Keeping the legend alive: The movie trailer from the 2014 movie ‘The House that Never Die’, inspired about the legends surrounding Chaonei 81.
In 2016 however, Chaonei No. 81. interior and outside was renovated and rented out. Perhaps that is what it took to get rid of the spirit and the lore seeping from the old bricks of the Chaonei Church. But there are also those claiming they have an uneasy feeling of dread when walking by the house. And even in the hot summer, with the sun scorching right at the door, the doorway of the mansion somehow always feels cooler than in the shade.
In Grahamstown, South Africa there is a ghost story about a convict haunting the place where he was hanged by the Old Provost. His ghost can forever seen walking the last walk he ever did on the way to the gallows, still bitter about receiving the death penalty.
Today Grahamstown or Makhanda wich it is now officially known as in South-Africa is a city with a well known university town, housing Rhodes University, one of South Africa’s oldest as being a popular place for backpackers. The town on the Eastern Cape also have a big Art festival, the biggest one in the country, and is otherwise for those people that wish to live a quiet life.
The Town Under Military Law
But this wasn’t always the case however as it was founded as a frontier military outpost built after the Fourth Xhosa War in 1812. and has an old prison known as the Old Provost. A long time ago Grahamstown was better known as a place under militant law, public punishments and public hangings, watched by a lot of people. The legend is that the ghost of one of these hanged people are still haunting the place next to the botanical gardens.
Built in Grahamstown in 1838, the Old Gaol or Old Provost was a military prison when martial law ruled in the old town during colonial times. The fortress was designed as a Panopticon prison, meaning a design that allowed for constant surveillance of the prisoners.
Grahamstown: The Town, officially renamed to Makhanda in 2018 was built as a military frontier, and is today a university city. The town has many haunted ghost stories, like the ghost of the dead man walking from the military prison old provost. Pictured is the view of the city from an old fort.// Source: Wikimedia
During this time the town was seen as rather uncivilized and it was said of it in 1833: “two or three English merchants of considerable wealth, but scarcely any society in the ordinary sense of the word. The Public Library is a wretched affair”
A few decades after this was said about the town however, Grahamstown was the second biggest town after Cape Town in the English colony.
The Haunted University in Grahamstown
The Old Provost is not the only ghost haunting the university town, as most of the faculty buildings have some sort of history and its local ghosts roaming around on the campus.
There are according to campus rumours, witnessed a young boy and girl in the journalism department haunting the halls. There is also whispers of ghosts that used to live in the small cottages the Institute of Biodiversity is now built on top over.
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Even the botanical garden close to Old Provost has a ghost wandering in the green garden, smelling like perfume and feeling like a cold wind passing by. This is the ghost of Lady Jana Maria de los Dolores de Leon Smith.
But who was this ghost from the Old Provost, and why is he still haunting the place?
Dead Men Walking by Old Provost
The Old Provost prison was built for military offenders, and although a small building, ruthless punishments were put in place. Those who were convicted and served their time were put in these cells completely designed that you would never have a private moment inside the walls.
Those even more unfortunate and convicted to death were chained on their feet and hands, humiliated as they were lead from the fortress of the Old Provost to the plaza they were going to be punished in front of the entire population of Grahamstown. “Dead men walking”, as they were called.
The last person we know of that was publicly hung was in these parts were Henry Nicholls and is also known as the ghost that walks this final walk forever as a ghost. He pleaded guilty and was convicted for a rape happening in 1862.
The Old Provost: The military prison in Grahamstown was design for constant surveillance and is now a place were ghosts roams according to local legends.
He had already confessed to the crime, but didn’t really think it was a crime he had to pay with his life. Nicholls spent four months in the Old Provost, hoping to get of with his life as rape was not a capital punishment under English law but only prison time.
But since he was a military man, he was under military law. And according to that, the punishment for his crime was death by hanging.
The Last Hanging on the Eastern Cape
Watching a hanging like this was great entertainment for the people of Grahamstown and the rest of the surrounding areas. According to the stories, people rode for as long as seven days to behold the execution of Henry Nicholls by Old Provost. This hanging was the last execution in the Eastern Cape.
On 19 February 1862 was the last day for the convict and it was also his last walk. He was led out from the Old Provost and had to walk past the gathering crowd towards the gallows. He never got a chance for last words or prayers. He was simply strung up and hanged to his death in front of a blood thirsty crowd.
But why is he still haunting the place? It’s perhaps difficult to answer for a ghost, but one of the theories was that Nicholls was unhappy and bitter about receiving a death punishment some only served prison time for.
The Bitter Ghost Haunting
Rape rarely got the death sentence, even back in that time and you mostly got sent away or served prison time, although being actually convicted for it was a lot harder than today.
A lot retelling the story of the ghost wandering from the Old Provos think that because of this, Nicholls meant that the punishment he received was too hard and the humiliating Nicholls ended his life, his soul can never be free.
Instead of going forward in his afterlife he is convicted of a life sentence, lasting for eternity, and must wander in all the remaining days between the Old Provost, now turned into a cute cafe, and the gallow, passing through the entrance to the now so modern university.
The murder of Maria Marten, a case called The Red Barn Murder got a lot of media coverage in England because of the strange circumstances. The murder was allegedly solved by the appearance of the ghost of the victim, haunting people’s dreams.
‘”If you’ll meet me at the Red Barn as sure as I have life I will take you to Ipswich Town and there make you my wife.” This lad went home and fetched his gun, his pick-axe and his spade. He went unto the Red Barn and there he dug her grave.With her heart so light she thought no harm, to meet her love did go He murdered her all in the barn and he laid her body low – The Folksong The Murder of Maria Marten
The year of 2004. The Place? at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. A skeleton, reassembled so many times and exhibited, used as a teaching aid in the West Suffolk Hospital. It is almost possible to forget that the people hanging there, next to the teacher, used to be a living human. What cruel fate it is, to always be on display. But then we can wonder, why? Why do you hang there? Is this your punishment? Did you do something? And who hangs beside you? The question is always asked.
“Who is that skeleton?”
Beside you is someone infamous. Jonathan Wild, the notorious gang leader in Britain, known as the great corrupter. The students might know his name, his crime. But who are you? Does anyone remember your name?
The Skeleton of the Murderer William Corder
The skeleton sitting in the classroom actually belongs to William Corder, a man that would end up in the infamous case of The Red Barn Murder.
He was a boy like any other, born in 1804 to a prosperous tenant farmer in Suffolk, England. He was nicknamed Foxey at school and was a bright kid. He had his whole life in front of him and he had some dreams of becoming a journalist or a teacher as he had some talent for writing. But there was a darkness in Corder that eventually would devour him.
Corder’s father liked his brothers much better according to the rumours around town, and he was sent to London to find work, not wanting to fund his sons dreams. He was said to be a liar and a cheater, thereof the name Foxey most likely. He was also known for petty theft, like when he sold his father’s pig. Yes, his father’s pig.
In London, he fell into bad company and spent all of the money his father gave him. He was a well known ladies man and all around an untrusty fellow. But Corder’s biggest crime was the Red Barn Murder and being found out by the ghost of Maria Marten, the woman he murdered.
Maria Martens Life and Death
After a while, William was called back to the farm from his wild time in London. There he met Maria, daughter of a mole catcher in the same small village, two years older than him and the likes of William Corder didn’t immediately catch her interest.
Maria Marten: The young girl ended up being the victim in the Red Barn Murder/Wikimedia
Maria Marten was 17 years old with a taste for finer things with a curse on her head and would end up as the victim in The Red Barn Murder. There is the story about her that a fortune teller once said that she wouldn’t reach old age, but would have many lovers and riches.
Before getting involved with William Corder she was actually seeing Williams older brother, Thomas. He was the oldest and also the fathers favorite and the two got into a relationship that was doomed from the start.
Thomas Corder wanted to keep the relationship secret as she wasn’t regarded of the same status as himself, being poorer and of a family with a “low” status. The Corders were after all, prosperous farmers.
That didn’t stop him from getting involved with her though and Maria Marten fell pregnant with Thomas child. Thomas left her when she told him about her pregnancy, perhaps hoping it would convince him to go for her after all.
It did not, and she gave birth to his child alone, but the child died a couple of weeks later. Maria then got into a relationship with a Peter Mathews, a middle age man who also dropped her after giving him a son called, Thomas Henry in 1824.
Indeed she had some lovers, perhaps some riches. And indeed she wouldn’t be alive for long.
William Corder and Maria Marten’s Relationship
When William Corder came home from London, bad luck struck his family. His father died and his brothers got very ill, leaving him to manage the farm together with his mother. And this is were he got to know Maria and they got involved in a relationship. But it wasn’t a happy match from either of their families stands. She on her side was already left with a ruined reputation by a Corder. And from the Corder’s perspective, she was a fallen woman and not from a prosperous family like theirs.
The Red BarnMurder: The old barn close to their houses was the scene of the Red Barn Murder and later a tourist attraction. It is now burned down./Wikimedia
This didn’t stop them meeting, although they met in secret. Often at a red barn right by Marias house. It was called that because of the red tiles on the roof and would later be a tourist place as the location of where The Red Barn Murder happened. But the secret of their relationship was not to last for long, as Maria became pregnant again. Maria wanted William to marry her, and according to him, he said yes.
At the same time that winter, William’s brother and Maria’s ex-lover, Thomas was walking over a frozen lake. The ice cracked and Thomas went under, drowning. William was now the owner of the farm as the only son.
Between Maria being pregnant, the farm being in financial troubles and his brother dying, it seems that it put a toll on him. He put Maria in a lodging at Sudbury, a couple of miles away from home to have their baby. But this too should not live and died soon after. William buried the child in a field and there have been speculations that this was not a natural death and that he might have killed their love child as well. And these day, who could really tell?
The Red Barn Murder
Maria and William started to argue about some money that may have been stolen, they argued about the burial of the child and how it looked like William would not marrying Maria after all. At one point the pair made a plan, when William said they should elope to Ipswich. She would come dressed as a boy and they would meet in the Red Barn were they had met countless of times before.
Why would William Corder elope now? Now that he didn’t have a father or older brother to interfere? One of the problems the couple had was with Maria and her crimes. It wasn’t necessarily unlikely or weird that they would like to run away, as Maria had several charges on her for bearing illegitimate children. Criminal at that point in time.
The days before their plan was set into motion was the last time Maria Marten was seen alive. William began acting odd and a lot of questions were asked about her. Where was Maria? Wasn’t he going to Ipswich with her?
He told the people asking she had gone ahead to Ipswich, but then he changed the story, and told she had gone to Great Yarmouth and wouldn’t be able to return yet. Then he changed the story again, and he said he was meeting Maria and that they were going to marry. He said he felt unwell and traveled to Isle of Wight, writing back home that they were married and happy there. He said he was sorry that Maria couldn’t write herself as she had hurt her hand and wondered why some of her letters hadn’t made its way back home.
The Ghost of Maria Marten Haunting the Dreams
This vague and strange story didn’t sit well with her family though. The Marten family did not believe William and his excuses as to why they hadn’t seen or heard from her. But in a strange twist of fate, she would find other means to contact her family.
Maria had a young stepmother back in Polstead, Ann Marten. She was troubled by strange and scary dreams about her stepdaughter. Twice Ann Marten had woken from a terrible dream that she herself knew to be true. When she shared them with her husband they looked for Maria in their town and found her.
Read Also: Another ghost story about a ghost that allegedly help solve her own murder case, read about The Greenbrier ghost in The Ghost that Went to Court
The dreams to her stepmother told that Maria had been murdered in the Red Barn buried under the floor and not gone to Isle of Wight at all. Her husband, Maria’s father was sent to the barn and looked for his daughter, prodding the ground with a mole-spike. There he discovered the remains of his daughter, brutally murdered and discarded under the floor for a long time.
Maria was shot as well as stabbed multiple times to death. They brought her to The Cock Inn and, decomposed as she was, her sister Nancy identified her from the clothes, the hair and a gap in her teeth. Around Maria’s neck they found a green handkerchief. According to the witnesses it belonged to William Corder. Was she also strangled? Was she even dead before he buried her in the grain storage bin her father found her in?
The Trial of The Red Barn Murder
Back in Ealing were William had fled, he knew nothing of the mysterious dreams and the discovery of Maria under the barn. Time went by and William needed a wife. He put an ad in The Times and asked for a wife. He picked Mary Moore and they set up a young ladies school in Ealing, West London. He was moving forward in his life. But Maria wasn’t forgotten yet.
Boiling some eggs at home the police came knocking at his door and apprehended him. First he denied that he knew of this Maria Marten, but the evidence was there and he was brought back to Suffolk.
And the press was on this, coming from all across the country to behold the spectacle of his trial and the strange circumstances around it. The case of The Red Barn Murder even got a play on stage before Corder even came to trial, which they actually sold tickets to.
The Red Barn Murder Frenzie: The execution of William Corder, the Red Barn Murderer was a popular event and thousands of people attended/Wikimedia
Forensic pathology was not as advanced yet and it was impossible to determined what of the things that killed Maria. That is why he was charged with nine different murder charges, where shooting, strangling, stabbing and burying alive was a couple of them.
“By that powerful engine of the press,” he said, “I have been described…as the most depraved of human monsters,” he said of the media coverage.
Corder’s defense was articulate, but improbable, claiming Maria herself had taken her own life, but he was found guilty on the circumstantial and medical evidence, and sentenced to hang.
It was the Chief Baron Alexander that was the judged, and he added that his dead body was to be dissected and anatomized, almost like a second punishment.
The Execution of William Corder
The execution was a great play and melodrama itself, and several thousands of spectators had tickets to the show of William Corder’s last moments. During his last days the prison chaplain had tried to get a confession from William who had denied all of the charges against him. Finally, William Cordery admitted to killing MAria by accident during one of their many quarrels. What he denied was stabbing her. Perhaps it was the mole-spike her father looked for her with that made those wounds?
In any case, he took the punishment for all of her injuries. His last words were: “I am guilty; my sentence is just; I deserve my fate; and, may God have mercy on my soul.” He was left hanging for an hour, most likely in agony before he died.
After his death he was transported to Shire Hall were he was left for science as the sentence was. But many of the things done to his body after death was highly unscientific. For one,his skin was removed, tanned and used as a book cover that described his crimes and live. Like the most bizarre biography.
What happened that day? Was Maria’s mother psychic? She was only around a year older than Maria, and had not exhibited similar dreams before. Perhaps it’s a bit odd that her dreams started just after news of Williams marriage to Mary Moore. And there were also some rumors that linked her as a lover with William.
What happened skeleton hanging in the lecture hall? Truth be told, it isn’t even William. At least, not all of it. After his hanging, he was chopped up, his body dissected in front of anatomy students, perhaps even used as an experiment with galvanism.
The Red Barn Murder Frenzie
Perhaps the most gruesome thing was that none of the people involved were left in peace after their death, as the story about the Red Barn Murder was a sensational tale and people flocked to the location as well as tried to get a hold of some sort of suveniers from the case.
After the execution, William Corden’s ear was sold, his skull was taken by Dr John Kilner who collected The Red Barn Murder memorabilia. Even pieces of the rope he was hanged in was cut up and sold for a guinea. Perhaps the disturbance of the dead came back to haunt the living that looked at their death as some sort of amusing spectacle?
After many strange and tragic events that happened after The Red Barn Murder enthusiast Dr John Kilner took the skull for himself to his collection, he believed that the skull was cursed and gave it to ta friend. But bad fortune kept plaguing the two men and in the end they decided to pay for a Christian burial to lift the curse of the skull of the murderer William Corder.
Maria also kept being disturbed after The Red Barn Murder. A lock of her hair was sold at two guineas and Polstead with her cottage, the Red Barn and her grave became a tourist attraction and people started chipping away at it so it completely disappeared. The grave as well as the Barn, planks, roof tiles and all sold as macabre souvenirs.
After 2004, the skeleton of William Corder, or at leas what was left of him was removed from the classroom and finally put to rest six feet under.
But the rumors still lingers about the ghost of Maria haunting her stepmother’s dreams, about what really happened that night of The Red Barn Murder. But maybe it is time William got some peace, having served over 200 years for his crimes.
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.
