GHOST AND CULTURE

John Wall loved his family home of Chingle Hall near Ribchester. A cross-shaped, moated, manor house built in 1260, it had been the location of secret masses during Henry VIII’s persecutions. Wall himself was martyred in the 17th century, his head sent off to France. In 1789 it is thought to have been brought back and hidden somewhere in the Hall. They should have told John Wall where it was, for it seems he is one of many ghosts still walking the Hall, trying to find it.
We can, of course, dismiss such nonsense as superstition. But at least one guide at the Hall will disagree. As well as hearing footsteps, she has had her head and arm stroked by an invisible entity. One brother and sister visiting the Hall watched a cloaked apparition for fifteen minutes. Other people have regularly seen two praying monks.

GHOSTIES IN THE UK

The UK is full of ghosts. Why is this? Whether we accept ghosts as existing or not, stories of ghosts persist. Could it be that there is value in those stories? Could they have a distinct purpose that guarantees they will exist?
Croft Castle on the Welsh border near Leominster is older than Chingle Hall, being mentioned in the Doomsday Book. During the 1920s a host of stories were told, such as the visitor who saw a spectral man dressed in a black leather coat.
Folklore states that it is the ghost of Welsh folk hero, Owen Glendower. Even in the 1950s stories continued to be told, including a visitor who heard 18th century music coming from the castle when it was known to be empty; and a head teacher who, whilst talking to the custodian, saw a reflection in a mirror of someone walking across the room.

MOST HAUNTED

One of the most haunted houses ever was 50 Berkeley Square in London. Ghosts, here, are said to include an insane man who died in the room in which he was imprisoned, a Scottish child killed by a servant, and a woman who threw herself out of a window to avoid being raped.
A terrifying ‘shape’ was often seen in the house, inducing a sailor spending the night there to throw himself out of a window. When the writer Lord Lyttleton spent a night there, he fired pistols at the shape.
Burton Agnes Hall near Driffield is occasionally haunted by Awd Nance, the ghost of a woman who died after a beating in the 19th century. Before dying she made her sisters promise they’d keep her head in the hall.
Horrified, they buried her intact. Within days doors started banging, and the sound of people would be heard in the corridors at night. Eventually a vicar exhumed the woman and placed her head in the hall. The haunting stopped, yet occasionally she still flexes her ghostly muscles.

TALES DOWN THE CENTURIES

Few ghosts are as persistent as the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, Norfolk, thought to be the daughter of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. Dorothy Walpole married one Charles Townsend after living a scandalous life. When Charles found out about her past, he imprisoned her in a room in the Hall for ten years until her death. However, she has been seen many times since then.
One famous witness was George III who, staying at the Hall, woke up one night to see her standing by his bed. Another witness saw her in a corridor, and walked through her. In 1835 a Colonel described her brown attire, but also noted the apparition seemed to have no eyes, her appearances becoming malevolent.
Indeed, when Captain Frederick Marryat saw her with a group of friends, she chased them into their room, laughing wickedly. However, the most amazing sighting was when two photographers were taking pictures of a staircase in the Hall in 1936. Seeing a shape, they exposed a plate. The plate showed the vague outline of a woman in bridal costume.

HISTORY AND PLACE

We can, if we choose, discount all of these ghost stories. I don’t, but let us assume they are all made up – let us be really skeptical. But even if we do this, we are still left with an intriguing possibility. Is there any value in the ghost story itself?
One vital element of all of the above is that they record an element of history or culture. Coming at a time before a modern media, could it be that their transmission WAS a valid element of media?
If we accept such a possibility, then the recounted ghost story takes on a life of its own. It is a vital part of the transmission of a sense of identity – it places a person in his historic and cultural heritage.

A MORAL ARBITER

We can take this purpose of the ghost story further. One recurring theme in the above stories is that of action and consequence. Awd Nance was not buried as she wished. The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall led a life of dubious character.
The result was a haunting – a remembrance of what was done, and what the consequences of such action would be. In a real sense, ‘supernatural’ activity could be the result of behaviour counter to what society expected.
This places a moral importance on the ghost story. So let us be skeptical of such tales if we wish. But remember the importance of storytelling throughout history – to define identity, and to define behaviour. And there is no better way of achieving this than scaring the person to death.
Today, the traditional ghost tale is said to be in decline. I, for one, am sad about this. For whether real or imagined, they served a purpose which helped to bond society together. As I look at the world today, we could do with the occasional ghost to remind us of our humanity.

© Anthony North, July 2007

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