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The Wailing Spirit of Old Beaupre Castle

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The Haunted Ruins of Beaupre Castle in Wales is one of the places in Wales said to have been haunted by the wailing spirit and deadly omen of the The Gwrach y Rhibyn, also known as the Hag of Mist. 

Hidden among quiet fields outside Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, the ruined walls of Old Beaupre Castle rise in broken silence. Known in Welsh as Hen Gastell y Bewpyr, this medieval fortified manor has carried many names through the centuries, from Beawpire to Y Bewpur, but its reputation has remained unchanged. 

Long after its halls fell into decay, something else is said to have remained behind in Llanfair. Since Victorian times, Beaupre has been whispered about as a place where the past refuses to lie still.

Old Beaupre Castle: The haunting ruins of Old Beaupre Castle in Wales, shrouded in mist and mystery of the The Gwrach y Rhibyn. // Source

A Castle Steeped in Shadow

Old Beaupre Castle dates back to the medieval period, once serving as a fortified manor for powerful families who controlled the surrounding lands. The structure was never a grand military stronghold, but it was a place of authority and domestic life, standing close to a river that winds quietly through the landscape. From it was built in the 1300s until the 18th century, it was owned by the Basset family.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted castles

Over time, the manor fell into ruin, its stones reclaimed by ivy and weather, until only fragments of walls and arches were left to mark its presence.

Yet even as the castle faded from practical use, reports of strange happenings persisted. Victorian era accounts describe unease among those who lived or worked nearby. Owners of the land spoke openly of a phantom tied to the ruins, a presence that made itself known at dusk and lingered long after night had fallen.

Courtyard: View through the arches of Old Beaupre Castle, showcasing its medieval architecture and tranquil courtyard. // Source: Beaupre Castle Courtyard by Guy Butler-Madden

The Gwrach y Rhibyn of Beaupre

According to folklore recorded by Alvin Nicholas of Supernatural Wales, Old Beaupre Castle was once believed to be haunted by a fearsome spirit known as the Gwrach y Rhibyn. This entity, often described as a Welsh counterpart to the banshee, is a harbinger of death whose appearance signals tragedy to come. At Beaupre, the Gwrach y Rhibyn was said to rise from the river beside the castle as twilight settled over the ruins.

Witnesses described a horrifying figure emerging from the mist. She wrung her hands in anguish, her arms ending in leathery, bat-like wings that flapped weakly as she moved. Her cries echoed through the broken stone, a sound of grief so raw that local workers reportedly froze in place when they heard it. Some claimed to see her wandering among the ruins, wailing and sobbing as if mourning something long lost.

Kissing-gate on the footpath to Beaupre Castle: An entrance gate leading to the serene landscape near Old Beaupre Castle, a site steeped in Welsh folklore and haunted legends. // Source: Image by John Lord

Her appearance was never seen as harmless. Like the banshee, her presence was believed to foretell death or disaster for those connected to the land.

The Witch in the Courtyard

When the solicitor bought the estate, he became interested in the story of the Gwrach y Rhibyn. A year or two before the owner’s death, an old man in the Vale of Glamorgan shared the following tale: Above the castle entrance, a panel shows the Bassett arms and motto, ‘Gwell angau na chwilydd’ (‘Rather death than shame’). The old man was working near this door at twilight when he heard a soft, sad wailing sound in the courtyard. He noticed a shadowy figure in the grand porch, wringing its hands and appearing distressed. As he approached, the figure vanished.

Curiosity led him deeper inside, where a voice whispered, ‘Lost! lost! lost!’ He looked around but saw no one. Quietly, he returned to the porch, where the wailing began again. The figure with waving hands reappeared, and he heard a sweet yet sad voice crying, ‘Restore! restore! restore!’ The next day, he shared his experience with the solicitor who owned the castle. ‘I know all about it,’ the kind gentleman from Glamorgan said. ‘Strange voices often remind us of the past and guide us for the future.’ The old man realized the owner had also encountered the Gwrach y rhibyn wandering and wailing around the beautiful old Beaupré.

What binds the Gwrach y Rhibyn to Beaupre Castle remains unclear. Some believe she is the restless spirit of a woman who died tragically near the river, bound to the place by grief. Others argue she is something older, a manifestation of ancient Welsh folklore drawn to sites of power and loss. The river, the ruins and the long abandonment of the manor may have created the perfect conditions for such a spirit to linger.

Old Beaupre Castle: The haunting ruins of Old Beaupre Castle, steeped in history and folklore, stand in the Vale of Glamorgan. // Source: Wikimedia/by John Lord

Echoes Among the Ruins

Today, Old Beaupre Castle stands open to visitors and the elements. By day it appears peaceful, almost forgotten by the rest of the world as a place thought to have some of the Magna Carta written here. But as evening falls and the light fades, the ruins take on a different character. The river nearby reflects the darkening sky, and the wind slips through the broken arches with a mournful sound.

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References:

Old Beaupre Castle – Wikipedia

The allegedly haunted Old Beaupre Castle and Farmhouse goes for sale | The Vintage News

Historic Old Beaupre Castle goes on sale for £950k | Daily Mail Online

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The Haunted Legends of Pennard Castle

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Said to have been conjured up by a sorcerer or even the fairy folk themselves, Pennard Castles history is both mysterious and haunted by the sound of the howling witch left in the sandy ruins of the abandoned castle in Wales.

Rising above the windswept coastline of the Gower Peninsula, the crumbling remains of Pennard Castle sit watchfully on their cliff, surrounded by shifting sands and centuries of uncanny legends where only ghosts remain. 

What stands today is little more than weathered stone and silent arches, yet the castle has inspired some of the most unsettling stories in Welsh folklore. Its desolation is not simply the work of time. Locals whisper that Pennard’s downfall began with curses, fairy vengeance, and the dark attentions of a supernatural hag.

Source

A Castle Built in a Night

There is little recorded about the castle and throughout centuries more myths and legends than facts have etched themselves into the mind of the locals. 

Folklore claims Pennard Castle was slowly built with mortar and sweat like its neighbors. Instead, it appeared in a single moonlit night. The fair folk, who were said to haunt the nearby woods and hollows, are sometimes credited with its construction. Sometimes it is said it was a sorcerer who conjured the castle one night to save himself from death by the Normans.

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from haunted castles around the world

The ruins of Pennard Castle overlay an earlier Norman earth timber ringwork fortification. The cliffs on the north and west side offered strategic defences, and a stone castle was built in the 1300s. The castle changed hands from the Broase clan to the Mowbray, Despenser, and Beauchamp families.

Exceptionally stormy weather in the 13th and 14th centuries blew large amounts of sand into and around it. The sandy storms damaged the castle structure so much the ones living in it abandoned it. By the 1650s, the historical records talk about the desolate ruins of the castle buried in sand. 

The Curse of the Fair Folk over Pennard Castle

So who were these fair folk said to be the ones building the castle? Along the Parkmill route in the area, you will also find an abundance of Buckthorn, the favourite of the Welsh Faeries, or Lunantisidhe from Irish folklore. Some also say this is a sign of the Welsh version of them and their presence around the castle. 

One of Pennard’s most enduring legends tells of a wedding feast held by the lord of the castle. As he and his guests celebrated, music drifted into the hall from the courtyard. There, the fair folk, or Verry folk, “verry-folks”, the fairies of Gower, were dancing beneath the moon. 

The Verry-Folks: The Gower Peninsula is a region rich in folklore and a particular one because of the present population being by ancestry of English and Flemish as well as Cornish and Welsh. One of its more endearing legends is that of the Gower Verry Volk – fairy folk. Local mythology describes these little people as capricious, lively, and fond of music, dancing and general merriment. // Source

Instead of welcoming them or offering hospitality, the lord reacted with anger and drove them out. Insulted and furious, the fairies cursed the fortress and its master. That same night, winds howled across the coast and a tide of sand rose like a living force. By dawn, the castle was half buried. Within a few short years, so much sand had piled against the walls that Pennard became uninhabitable. Some tales claim that while Pennard was choked by sand, the beaches of Ireland were stripped bare, the grains carried across the sea as part of the curse.

The Hag of Pennard Castle

The legends of Pennard do not end with the fair folk. The castle is also tied to a terrifying spirit known as a Gwrach y Rhibyn, a witch or hag of death whose screeches and cries echo across the cliffs. Like the banshee of Irish folklore, she appears before a death in certain old families, often in the form of a crow-like creature hunched in the shadows. 

Some say that it was the sorcerer who conjured up the castle who invoked her to protect him from the Normans and that she would not let any mortal spend the night in the castle. 

If that were not frightening enough, she is said to physically attack anyone foolish enough to sleep among the ruins. Some versions of the tale say she leaps upon any living soul who beds down inside the castle walls. Others claim she only assaults those from the ancient local lineages she has shadowed for generations. The outcome is seldom good. Those who dared to sleep in Pennard Castle were said to awaken mad, die before morning, or in stranger cases rise as poets, cursed with visions they could never fully express.

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Legend has it that one Carmarthen man, daring to spend the night in the ruined castle, was attacked by the Gwrach. The ghostly figure swooped down upon him, leaving him bruised and bloodied. Though he survived, he was cursed to live the rest of his life as a madman.

The Weeping Woman in the Ruins

Visitors sometimes report the sound of a woman crying among the broken walls when the wind dies and the dunes lie still. Some believe she is a tragic bride, forever mourning a lost love. A maiden reputedly threw herself off nearby Penrice Hill after avenging the death of her lover.

Others insist the weeping maiden is none other than the gwrach herself, changing form as suits her purpose. Whether a spirit of sorrow or a harbinger of death, her presence lingers in the night air, carried over the sands like a lament for the castle and the lives it claimed.

A Place Where Time Does Not Rest

Pennard Castle has long since fallen to ruin, its halls open to the sky and its gates claimed by sand. the rare county flower of Glamorgan extensively on the castle site.

Source

Yet the stories remain. The curses of the fair folk, the deathly hag, the unseen bride, and the chilling fate of those who sleep within its walls all cling to the site as stubbornly as the dunes that smothered it.

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References:

Myths of Pennard Castle, Gower – History Points

Pennard Castle

Pennard Castle | Visitor Information

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The Ghosts of St Donat’s Castle – The Wailing Lady and the Watchful Eye

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Crammed into the ancient towers and dark corner of St Donat’s Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, the ghosts lingering within these walls are old and persistent. 

On the cliffs overlooking the restless waters of the Bristol Channel, St Donat’s Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan has stood for nearly a thousand years 25 km west of Cardiff. Some claim that for the longest time, ghosts have been roaming the area. 

The Haunted St. Donat’s Castle: Said to be haunted by plenty of ghosts and phantom figures, it is today used as a school. // Source

Built in the twelfth century and once the proud seat of the powerful Stradling family, its towers and battlements have seen war, wealth, and whispered tragedy. Since 1962, it has housed an international secondary school called Atlantic College.

The St. Donat’s Castle History

Antique ceilings, fireplaces, a moat, battlements, dungeons – in short, over 800 years of history, which also included Celtic kings defying the Romans, the Norman invasion of Wales and centuries of slowly decaying neglect. 

Castle & church, St. Donats, Glamorganshire from around 1835.

The oldest parts of St Donat’s castle were built in the 12th century by the De Hawey family, though the only surviving parts left are the keep and what is now the inner curtain wall.

Read More: Check out all haunted castles around the world

The castle was passed into the ownership of the Stradling family in 1298 with the marriage of Sir Peter Stradling to Joan de Hawey. The new owners spent a fortune expanding the castle and added many features including the outer gatehouse and curtain wall in 1300, as well as making the keep larger, with the inner court being built some 200 years later.

The Ghost of Lady Stradling

The most fearsome spirit said to haunt St Donat’s is Lady Stradling, a restless ghost whose sorrow has never found peace. It is also one of the ghost stories told the longest, and there are written sources about her haunting to at least the pre-1880s.

There are tales about seeing a Lady in White drifting through the corridors, bearing a sense and atmosphere of intense melancholy. It is said that her husband died in one of the many crusades Europeans took in medieval times. Her name or who her husband supposedly was has been up for speculation. 

There are many variations to her story though. Some versions tell of betrayal and murder within her own family. Some say her haunting is because of her mourning as her husband fell in battle, some she was slain by a jealous husband, others that a violent relative ended her life in a fit of rage. 

Whatever the truth, her spirit lingers, bound to the castle that witnessed her end. She has most commonly been reported in the Long Gallery area. Around the Lady Anne Tower, an apparition of a woman dressed in Medieval clothing, believed to be Lady Stradling has been spotted. It is also said that screams and moans are coming from the haunted tower.

The Hag of the Mist

Witnesses who claim to have seen Lady Stradling describe her in many unsettling forms. Some say she appears as an old, haggard woman with eyes hollowed by centuries of grief, her long fingers scratching at the windows as she cries into the storm. Others speak of a figure of an elegant lady clad in a gown of fine silk, her footsteps light and rhythmic, the soft click of high heels echoing through the corridors long after midnight. 

Like the banshee of Irish lore, her wailing is said to herald death within the family. In Wales, this form of a ghost is called The Gwrach y Rhibyn, or the Hag of the Mist. When her voice is heard piercing the night air, the Stradlings or those connected to their legacy know that loss is soon to follow.

Ghost of Pirates and Phantom Pipers

In 1449, Henry Stradling, along with his wife and child “while sailing from his house in Somersetshire to his house in Wales” were captured by the notorious Breton pirate, Colyn Dolphin, who plundered the Welsh coast from Lundy Island. The pirate demanded a large ransom which was met by the Stradlings after they sold off two of their manors (Tregwilym in Wales and one in Oxfordshire) and a large quantity of wool.

After the stories spread and were exaggerated by poems, songs and legends, and ghost stories of pirates haunting the area around the castle started. 

Many visitors have recounted hearing the distant sound of bagpipes echoing through the castle, despite there being no visible source for the music. Local legend suggests this phenomenon is the work of a Scottish piper who met his demise at St. Donat’s Castle.

The Headless Horseman

Stories of a headless horseman riding through the castle grounds have persisted over the years. While rare, those who claim to have seen him describe a spectral figure mounted on a ghostly horse, illuminated by an eerie glow. Although not a very descriptive haunting, a very common one around the British Isles. 

Some visitors have reported hearing the plaintive cries of a child reverberating through the castle, particularly during the night. The origin of these sorrowful wails remains a mystery, though local tales speculate they may belong to a child who met a tragic end within the castle’s walls.

There was even a witch called Mally-y-Nos. a perplexing lady named Mallt-y-Nos (Matilda of the Night), said to haunt the area around the castle.

The Ghost of Thomas Stradling

The Stradling’s managed to hold onto the castle until the death of Sir Thomas Stradling in 1738, when ownership passed to Sir John Tyrwhitt, his friend. 

Sir Thomas Stradling was unmarried and in his twenties when he planned to go on the Grand Tour with his close friend from university, Sir John Tyrwhitt, the fifth baronet of Stainfield. Before the two young gentlemen set out on this great adventure, they made a pact with each other. If either was to die while on this tour, then the other would inherit the estate of the deceased. Or so it was claimed.

While travelling Sir Thomas Stradling was killed in a duel on the 27th of September, 1738 in Montpellier in France. According to folklore, Sir Thomas Stradling’s nurse, who had raised him since he was a baby, wished to pay her respects and invited to see his body. 

She was convinced that the man in the coffin was not Sir Thomas, but an imposter. She knew that, as a small boy, Sir Thomas had lost a finger on his left hand as  it had been bitten off by a donkey, at least that’s what the story said.. But the man inside the coffin had all his fingers intact. But where then was Sir Thomas?

Gossip was rife on the subject, and for years afterwards, locals visiting St Donat’s Church would point at Sir Thomas’ tomb and declare: “That is where the imposter lies”.

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Sir Thomas had left no heir, but made a verbal agreement with Sir John Tyrwhitt as well as a written will. In it, he had left the castle and his entire estate to his cousin, Bussey Mansel, the 4th baron of Margam. But when Bussey had visited St Donat’s Castle after his death, he had been confronted by the ghost of one of the Stradling ancestors. The ghost had declared that it would never give the castle to a Mansel. Terrified, he turned his horse and fled as fast as it would carry him, never again to return to the castle.

The answer to who actually owned the castle remained in litigation for over 60 years. Ultimately, St Donat’s Castle did pass to the Tyrwhitts, much to the dismay of the people of St Donat’s. In fact, it is claimed that the vicar of St Donat’s Church was so incensed that ‘in his fury’ he destroyed a windmill and two watermills. It was despite all of the work, never used as a primal residence, and it started to fall into disrepair. 

Hollywood Connections

American millionaire William Randolph Hearst who bought the castle after seeing photographs of the castle in Country Life magazine. Hearst, who at the time was having an affair with the actress Marion Davies, spent a fortune renovating the castle, bringing electricity not only to his residence but also to the surrounding area. The locals enjoyed having Hearst in residence at the castle as he paid his employees very well, and his arrivals always created a big stir in a community not used to American excesses. 

Hollywood Era: Randolph Hearst (centre) with Alice Head (managing director of Good Housekeeping) and Federico Beltran-Masses (Spanish artist) at St Donat’s Castle in Wales, taken in 1928.

Hearst spent much of his time entertaining influential people at his estates and holding lavish parties at St Donat’s with guests like Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and a young John F. Kennedy. Upon visiting St Donat’s, George Bernard Shaw was quoted as saying: “This is what God would have built if he had had the money.”

He spent a huge amount of money turning the castle back into its former self but due to economic reasons put the castle up for sale again in the late 1930’s.

Godfrey Williams and the Exorcism

An exorcism was reportedly performed in the early 20th century, which was claimed to have succeeded in ridding the castle of several apparitions, including a hag and a mysterious disembodied eye in several guest rooms. The owner at the time, Godfrey Williams, disliked the castle and may have been responsible for the spread of these stories.

The castle was bought by Morgan Stuart Williams in 1901 and after his death in 1909 it went to his son Godfrey. But Godfrey was so “disturbed” by the castle hauntings that he put the place up for sale. Godfrey had seen a ghostly panther prowling the castle corridors at night and reported seeing a single giant glowing eye appearing nightly in one of the bedrooms.

It’s said that Godfrey brought an exorcist to the castle and after the usual rituals a great gust of wind swept down the staircase and out went the panther and the glaring eye.

After being used by British and American troops during the war it was finally bought again in 1962 by Monsieur Antonin Besse II, and given to the Governing Body of Atlantic College. Today it still functions as an international college but is also open to the public for general viewing.

The Feline Haunting in the 90s

There are also tales of a phantom cat, a large, semi-transparent black creature that prowls the corridors and stairways. This was said to have been reported on in the 90s when the castle was used as a boarding school for the richer kids around the world. Was it the black panther coming back? Or simply the stories of it? Those who have seen it claim it brings with it a feeling of dread so heavy that the air seems to thicken around it. 

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And then there is the piano that is said to be one of the more haunting objects in the castle in modern times. In one of the great halls of St Donat’s, a piano stands near the window that overlooks the sea. It is said that when the castle lies quiet, its notes begin to play by themselves. The melody is never the same twice, as though the unseen player improvises a song of sorrow for each soul the castle has claimed. Staff, visitors, and even students from Atlantic College, which now occupies the castle, have all spoken of hearing the music late at night when no living hand could possibly touch the keys.

The Haunting supposedly got so bad that they had an exorcism done to deal with it. Again. 

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References:

St Donat’s Castle 

Exploring St. Donat’s Castle: Wales’ Haunted Past | Mary Ann Poll

Haunted Castles Wales Sorted by Name 

British goblins : Welsh folk-lore, fairy mythology, legends and traditions 

The imposter of St Donat’s Castle | Glamorgan Star Newspaper

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/medieval-welsh-castle-princes-princess-26682356

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The Gorbals Vampire: Glasgow’s Night of Terror

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One night, the Southern Necropolis Cemetery in Glasgow is filled with children. In their mind they are not playing, they are hunting the horrible vampire that is said to have taken the life of more than one child. The absolute mania of the Gorbals Vampire ended up passing several new laws. 

In the heart of Glasgow, Scotland, beneath the looming industrial smokestacks and crowded tenement blocks of the Gorbals district, a strange and unnerving legend took root in the mid-20th century — one that would see dozens of children descend on a graveyard armed with makeshift weapons, hunting for a vampire with iron teeth.

This bizarre incident remains one of Britain’s most famous examples of mass hysteria, though some still whisper that something truly sinister once prowled the crumbling headstones of Southern Necropolis.

Southern Necropolis: Stone gatehouse of Glasgow’s Southern Necropolis cemetery. // Source

The Night of the Vampire Hunt

The legend began one gray, mist-cloaked evening in September 1954 in one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods, with little to no open spaces for the children to play except from the old cemetery. Rumors had spread like wildfire among the children of the Gorbals district that a seven-foot-tall vampire with glinting iron teeth was stalking the Southern Necropolis cemetery, having allegedly abducted and devoured two young boys.

Within hours, the graveyard was teeming with local children — some as young as five, others in their early teens — armed with sticks, knives, pieces of wood, and stones. They combed the Victorian graveyard in groups, peering behind headstones, ducking into mausoleums, and calling out to each other in hushed voices.

In the back of the graveyard, steelworks were throwing up flames and a sulphur filled smoke covered the sky. It was all giving the scene, casting shadows the children were chasing. 

Reports say some adults were also drawn to the scene, though most dismissed the affair as childish nonsense. Yet, the sheer number of armed, determined children — and their insistence that a vampire lurked among the graves — unsettled more than a few bystanders.

Authorities Intervene

As night fell, the cemetery watchman and local police arrived, attempting to disperse the crowds. One of them was PC Alex Deeprose and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The children refused to leave, claiming they wouldn’t abandon the graveyard until the vampire was caught or killed. 

The Gorbals Vampire was supposedly a seven-foot-tall monster with long metal fangs. They claimed the vampire had captured and eaten two boys and was living in the graveyard.

It took several hours and repeated police patrols to finally send the would-be vampire hunters home. The event made national headlines the following day, alarming both the public and local officials. The next evening, the children was back to hunting down the vampire. Theories abound as to what had caused such a mass outbreak of panic and belief in a blood-drinking monster. It even reached parliament. 

Blame on American Horror Comics

Authorities were quick to blame American horror comics, such as Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror, for filling young minds with terrifying fantasies. In the aftermath of the incident, parents, teachers, and church leaders joined forces to push for the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955, which banned the sale of certain horror comics to minors in the UK.

According to the children, it had all started in the playground, and spread from school to school before blowing up like a full blown panic. As Ronnie Sanderson, who was eight and one of the hunters said:

‘The word was there was a vampire and everyone was going to head out there after school. At three o’clock, the school emptied and everyone made a beeline for it. We sat there for ages on the wall, waiting and waiting. I wouldn’t go in because it was a bit scary for me.’

Although the base of the story was that children had been taken by the vampire, there was no records of any missing or murdered children around the time of the incident. A 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries had included a story called The Vampire with the Iron Teeth. Could this be where the hysteria came from? Or was it in fact something much older? There’s no evidence that any of the Glasgow vampire hunters had ever glimpsed an American comic.

A Deeper, Older Fear

Some folklorists have suggested the tale may have deeper roots in Scottish folklore. Tales of iron-toothed witches and ogres appear in old Scottish legends, often as bogeymen figures used to frighten children into good behavior. One such character is the “Jenny wi’ the Iron Teeth,” an old Glasgow nursery bogeywoman said to lurk in dark corners and snatch naughty children. There was also the Iron Man, an ogre that was out for children. 

It’s possible that these older, orally transmitted stories resurfaced in a new form amid the poverty and anxiety of post-war Glasgow, where violent deaths, disappearances, and urban legends weren’t uncommon. According to the legend of Jenny, she was hunting for children not wanting to go to bed around Glasgow Green in the early 1800s. 

Jenny wi’ the Airn Teeth

Come an tak’ the bairn (child)

Tak’ him to your den

Where the bowgie bides (bogie lives)

But first put baith (both) your big teeth

In his wee plump sides

Was the Gorbals Vampire Ever Real?

No vampire was ever found, and no missing children were officially reported to match the tale. Whether a sinister figure once stalked those fog-drenched graveyards, or whether it was simply the product of fear, folklore, and fertile imaginations remains a mystery.

Corbals Vampire Today: A mural of the Gorbals Vampire by local teenage artist Ella Bryson and Art Pistol street artists, Ejek, in an archway on St Luke’s Place near the Citizens’ Theatre. //Source

But to this day, Glaswegians still recall the night in 1954 when an army of fearless children armed themselves to confront the unknown, determined to drive a bloodthirsty monster from their streets. The Act and laws passed back then are still a thing today. 

And at night, beneath the crumbling stones of the Southern Necropolis, some claim you can still feel the weight of ancient legends… and hear the echoes of small, determined footsteps in the dark.

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References:

The Gorbals Vampire – Did a 1950s Nosferatu Prowl Glasgow’s Southern Necropolis? – David Castleton Blog – The Serpent’s Pen

The Gorbals Vampire – Media Centre

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The Vampire Secrets of Glamis Castle: Bloodlines and Bloodlust in Scotland’s Haunted Fortress

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In one of the oldest inhabited castle in Scotland, Glamis Castle is said to be filled to the brick with ghost stories and legends. According to the stories though, there is seemingly something more monstrous and more blood thirsty said to be sealed inside of the bricked up secret chambers, waiting to get out. 

Standing in stoic grandeur amidst the rolling Angus countryside, Glamis Castle has long held a reputation for secrets, shadows, and spectral figures. Known as the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Glamis or Glammis Castle, in Forfarshire, the seat of Lord Strathmore, is steeped in royal history and ancient nobility — but its corridors also echo with stories far darker than those found in any history book.

Of its many chilling legends, two vampire tales rise above the rest, hinting at unnatural bloodlines and eternal imprisonment behind stone walls. These stories, passed down for generations, have become the cornerstone of Glamis Castle’s macabre mythology.

The Vampire Child: The Sinister Family Secret

At the heart of Glamis Castle’s vampire lore is the enduring whisper of a “vampire child” — a secret so terrible, it was said to be known only to the laird, his heir, and one trusted family retainer in each generation. According to the legend, there is a secret chamber in the castle where the vampire child was placed. There is an old story that guests staying at Glamis once hung towels from the windows of every room in a bid to find the bricked-up suite of the monster. When they looked at it from outside, several windows were apparently towel-less. Though this is more likely due to the owners removing them in order so that the guests would not find the rooms, according to several relatives of the family.

The lords of Glamis. who, according to legend, were drinking and gambling, losing their family fortune. By the mid-17th century, the castle was in ruins. It was inherited by Patrick Lyons, who rebuilt the castle and rehabilitated the family, for which he was made the earl of Strathmore.

According to lore, in the early l800s the first son of the 11th earl of Strathmore was born a hideously deformed, egg-shaped monster with no neck, tiny arms and legs, and a large, hairy torso. According to legend, the child was once born into the Bowes-Lyon family with monstrous characteristics: deformed, unnatural, and blood-hungry. This child, believed to be a vampire or some other unholy being, was hidden away in a sealed chamber within the castle — a room known only to a few and never spoken of publicly.

In fact, there was a son born, Thomas Lyon-Bowes, the first child of Thomas Lyon-Bowes, Lord Glamis, and his wife Charlotte Lyon-Bowes née Grimstead. He is however recorded born and died in October 21, 1821. The stories about the child being “a monster” allegedly started when the unnamed midwife retold it in the local village. 

The castle was given to the second son, unlawfully, and the creature, after so many years away became mad. It reportedly died in 1921 or 1941. 

Some versions of the tale go further, suggesting that the “secret of Glamis” is that in every generation, one such child is born — cursed or blessed, depending on the point of view — with vampiric traits. Another legend tells that the monster is in Loch Calder near the castle. These children, it is said, never die, but are locked away, immortal and unseen, sustained through blood or other unknowable means. Over time, the corridors of the castle have become riddled with rumors of bricked-up rooms, hollow walls, and windows that can be seen from the outside but do not exist within.

Searches for the supposed secret chamber have never revealed definitive answers — only more questions. But for those thinking that concealing a child inside a room seems to harsh about this family, just think about the tragic case of Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, cousins of the queen, listed dead for years, but turned out to live in Earlswood Hospital for mentally disabled people in 1941, classified as: “imbeciles”. 

The Blood-Sucking Woman: The Servant Entombed Alive

A separate legend, no less disturbing, tells the story of a serving woman who was caught engaging in a grotesque act of vampirism. According to lore dating back several centuries, the woman was found leaning over the corpse of a fellow servant, her mouth stained red, drinking the blood from the lifeless body.

Horrified, the castle’s occupants did not attempt to destroy her in the traditional methods associated with vampires — no stake, no fire, no silver. Instead, they condemned her to a crueler fate: she was bricked up alive within a hidden room, left to die in solitude, possibly in the very act of waiting for another victim.

Some stories say she remains alive to this day, an immortal vampire trapped inside the walls, forever hungry and vengeful. Those who work at Glamis today have reported unexplained cold spots, sounds of scratching, and even soft crying from behind thick stone walls — perhaps signs of the entombed servant still begging for release.

The Secret Chamber

This part of a secret chamber being haunted is told by many and could have sprung out from an older legend. The origins of this story go back hundreds of years, to an age when the Lyon and Lindsay clan were engaged in a bitter, ongoing feud. 

On a cold snowy night, there was a group of Lindsays on the run from other clans and they went to Glamis to seek refuge. Some say it was the Ogilvie who was trying to escape the clutches of their enemies, the Lindsays. 

The Earl promised them his protection, but trapped them in a room where he looked inside. Some say that the Earl was working with the Lindsays and caught them and imprisoned them. He never let them out of the  16 feet thick room, and for years, there were banging from the walls, screams and noises coming from them. Even after they were dead and long gone fro hundreds of years, you could still hear their cries through the castle. 

The sitting Earl decided to put a stop to the haunting and went into a room where no one went. He opened the door with a key and he was frozen with terror. He closed the door, bricked it up and never spoke about what he saw ever again. 

A Castle of Secrets and Shadows

Glamis Castle is no stranger to the paranormal. In addition to its vampire legends, it’s also home to numerous ghost stories — from the Grey Lady thought to haunt the chapel, to the Earl Beardie, cursed to play cards with the Devil for eternity. Yet none are as unsettling — or as persistently whispered about — as the vampire tales that seem woven into the very walls of the building.

Read More: Glamis Castle is filled with ghost stories. Read more about them in Lady Janet Douglas, Ghost of Glamis Castle

Visitors often speak of a strange feeling of being watched, even in empty rooms. Some claim that doors open and close on their own, or that footsteps echo down halls long after the castle has closed for the night. Could one of those footsteps belong to the vampire child, still pacing in darkness? Or is it the blood-sucking servant, endlessly circling her unseen prison?

The castle may gleam proudly by daylight, but as night falls, the questions it refuses to answer begin to stir. And somewhere, in one of its sealed rooms, the undead may still be waiting.

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References:

Monster of Glamis Fireside Companion | Vault Of Evil: Brit Horror Pulp Plus!

Glamis Castle – Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Glamis Castle – Wikipedia

Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon – Wikipedia

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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 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 Hunderprest: The Vampire Monk of Melrose Abbey

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A devious and unholy monk called The Hunderprest, was said to haunt the countryside on the Scottish border as well as Melrose Abbey. Was this specter really a bloodsucking vampire?

In the Scottish Borders, the ruins of Melrose Abbey have stood since the 12th century as a brooding, atmospheric relic of medieval piety and power. Melrose is a seemingly picture perfect place, drawing people in as the best salmon and trout fishing in the country. 

The Melrose Abbey is on the north east side of the town center and some of the more iconic buildings from the area. Behind its beautiful Gothic arches and solemn grave markers lies a dark legend: the tale of the Hunderprest, or the dog priest, a vampiric monk whose foul deeds and undead existence chilled even the most devout.

The Mysterious and Magical Melrose Abbey

The Abbey was founded by a colony of Cisterian monks in 1136 by the River Tweed. Once, it was said a miracle happened here, when the corn in their cellar multiplied in the time of a great famine, and the monks could feed them all. This and more miracles were said to have been performed by Abbot Waltheof, the stepson to King David I of Scotland. 

Through its time of operation it was one of the wealthiest monasteries in Scotland, but through all the years of war on the Scottish border it was badly damaged by the English in 1385 and rebuilt in the late 14th century. 

Melrose Abbey: A view of the interior of the ruined Melrose Abbey, Scotland. Heath’s Picturesque Annual 1835 by Roger Griffith

Today it’s a museum, although a big part of it is now lichen-covered ruins. In the Chapter House there is a burial casket of a heart, thought to belong to King Robert I, also called, The Bruce. In 1812, an old stone coffin was found close to the altar, thought to be the final resting place of Michael Scot, the mysterious Scottish wizard from the 13th century, said to have changed the River Tweed with his staff and turned the single peak of the Eildon Hills to the three we see today.

But not all miracles were as magical as these wonderful things. Some say that the magic happening around the cloister was also the work of evil, perhaps even a bloodsucking vampire. 

The Hunderprest of Melrose Abbey

According to medieval chronicles, the Hunderprest was a monk of Melrose Abbey during the 12th or 13th century. The Cistercian monks who lived and worshipped there had built the Abbey, the first Cistercian Abbey in the country, at the behest of King David I. They were famous for their Melrose wool they sold to the rest of Europe. 

Though little is known about his mortal life, legend says he was a man of great vice and depravity, a predator hidden behind a habit, whose sins were so grave that even in death, the earth rejected him.

Melrose Abbey in 1800, when part of the abbey was still in use as the parish church

Exactly what his sins were is not explicitly said always, but he was often claimed to have been a womaniser and drunkard, bringing shame upon his order. The region was a place of unlawfulness though, being controlled by independent clans called The Border Reivers that often clashed together in violence. It was both a time and place of ruthless lawlessness. 

Some say that in life, he used to be a chaplain to a lady who lived nearby. He was given the name Hundeprest as his favorite thing to do was hunting on horseback as a pack of howling hounds followed him. 

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.

Some accounts claim he practiced the black arts in secret, while others allege unspeakable acts committed under the guise of spiritual authority. The locals whispered of his unnatural appetites and sinister nature — rumors that seemed confirmed after his passing.

The Undead Haunting of the Abbey

Because of his sins in life, there was no way he was getting into heaven, and his soul could not find any peace. Livestock were found drained of blood, villagers claimed to see a shadowy figure lurking near graves, and monks reported being stalked by a ghastly presence within the cloisters at night.

He tried to enter the Abbey in the night in the form of a winged bat, only driven away after vigorous prayer and rituals from the monks. Because he was unable to cross the threshold to the holy ground, he needed another place to torment.

He found the cottage to a woman who he had known when he was alive. Said to be the woman he had been the chaplain for in life. She was also rumored to have been his lover. Her neighbors reported that a vampire roamed around her house, moaning and screeching at her, scaring her. Every night he returned to torment and terrorize, lusting after her blood. Because of this, they decided to summon an elder monk from the abbey for an exorcism. 

The Exorcism of a Vampire

Determined to put an end to the terror, the abbot of Melrose called upon the services of a particularly devout and courageous monk, often believed to be William of Newburgh, a respected chronicler of supernatural events. He ended up writing about a lot of monsters and ghosts in the middle ages. 

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.

According to the old accounts, a group of monks were put to task and went to the grave of the priest to investigate. As the day waned, the priest appeared like he was levitating out of his grave. They managed to shove the vampire back with a staff. Sometimes this is changed to a mighty axe the monks swung at him. The earth swallowed the Hunderprest like nothing had happened, the ground undisturbed again. This is when the elder monk knew they were dealing with a vampire and knew what to do. 

They waited for daylight and dug up his grave again. They exhumed the Hunderprest’s corpse and what they found only deepened their horror: though dead for some time, the monk’s body was fresh, his face ruddy, with blood at his lips curled up to a grin, classic signs of the undead in medieval folklore.

It was also said it was through praying and fasting that they managed to defeat him. How they killed the vampire, although not named as such in the early sources, varies. Did they stake him through the heart? Probably not, but they do mention setting him on fire and burning him to ashes as most of the stories of the undead mentions. The legend of the stake came later. 

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.

After they burned him to ash, they took him to Lammermuir Hills where the wind carried him to the north along the borders. 

To this day, visitors to the hauntingly beautiful ruins of Melrose Abbey claim to feel a chilling presence lingering among the weathered stones. Some report seeing a shadow moving through the broken cloisters at night, or hearing faint whispers in the darkened archways.

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References:

Legend of the “Hunderprest” Vampire of Melrose Abbey

Airhouses – News – The Incredible Legends of Melrose Abbey

The Hunderprest: The Vampire Monk of Melrose.