Spooky tales from South Cumbria - Halloween Special!

In 2013 we took a look at several spooky tales from the Furness Peninsula, then in 2016 we showcased even more sinister tales from the area.

Now, a couple of years later, we are relaying five more spooky stories from South Cumbria, including Furness. So, dim the lights and let's get started...

Spine chilling chanting near Furness Abbey

Some 30 years ago a mother and son were walking past Furness Abbey. They head away from the ruins towards Rating Lane. As they reached the West Gatehouse the young boy started to hear singing emanating from the surroundings.



He turned to his mum and asked 'Where's that singing coming from mum?'. His mother, quite uncharacteristically, snapped 'There is a tape playing somewhere', before rushing the two away from the area. She was clearly afraid but never spoke of the incident again.

Could the mysterious singing have been the sound ghostly monks performing their Gregorian chants? Who can say but the incident certainly makes for a spooky tale.

A mysterious gentleman in Cartmel

In the picturesque village of Cartmel many local folk have spotted a man who appears out of time. Wearing a top hat the man has been witnessed wandering around the priory gatehouse in the centre of the village. He moves mysteriously and when approach or spoken to, he simply disappears.

Who could this mysterious gentleman be? No-one knows.

The locked room of Sizergh

Many many years ago a lord of Sizergh Castle had a wife that he loved passionately. Sadly though his jealousy was just as passionate.

At one time he was called away to serve the king. He was so worried though that another man might steel his wife's affections while he was away that he locked her in a room inside the castle.

He forbid his servants to release his wife under any circumstances and as they were so scared of their master they did not disobey. The lord's wife would scream and plea for release but the servants ignore her cries. Soon the poor woman died of starvation, locked in the room.

Today it is said that the screams of wife's ghost can still be heard echoing from the room, pleading to be released.

The Bowness Bay Tizzie-Whizie

A myth from the Lake District, the Tizzie-Whizie was a much sought after creature of the 1900s.

First spotted in 1900 by a boatman from Bowness on Windermere the Tizzie-Whizie soon became popular with locals and tourists alike. The creature was said to have the body of a hedgehog, the tail of a squirrel and wings like a bee. It was also said to be a water loving creature and quite shy.

The photo featured here was taken by a local photographer after the grandson of the original spotter found and captured a Tizzie-Whizie for the first time. He struggled to capture the beast but managed to drag it from the water and whisk it off to the photographers.

The creature stuck around long enough to have a photo taken before jumping off and flying out the window, back into the wild.

The photo taken became a post card and many thousands were sold, leading to hunts for the mysterious creature. Strangely another was never found...

The White Lady of Furness Abbey

Many have wandered the ruins of Furness Abbey near Barrow-in-Furness but one soul that still wanders the ruins died many years ago.

The White Lady has often been spotted in and around the ruins of the monastic site. She is believed to be the ghost of a squires daughter from the Tudor period. The woman would meet her lover in secret at the recently dissolved monastic site on many occasions until he had to leave on a journey. Her partner never returned from his journey.

The lady, broken hearted, returned to the abbey every day until her death. Could it be that she still returns today?

We hope you have enjoyed this spooky Halloween special. Do check out our previous two posts - Furness Ghost Stories pt1 and Furness Ghost Stories pt2 for more sinister tales.

Do you have a ghost story from Furness or South Cumbria? We'd love to hear your tales. Comment below or on our social media channels..

Furness Ghost Stories pt2 - Halloween Special!

In our 2013 Halloween Special we took a look at several spooky tales from the Furness Peninsula, now, three years later, we will take another look into the mysterious side of this beautiful area with even more ghost stories! So turn the lights off and let's get started...

PLUMPTON HALL, nr ULVERSTON

THE PLUMPTON DOBBY

Plumpton Hall just outside of Ulverston is a lovely 17th Century manor house but it is believed that a manor would have been here since the 1500s. With such a long history there are of course some ghost stories surrounding the property. One of the most notable is that of the Haunted Lantern, which I will speak of shortly, but first lets take a look at the spooky, yet sadly defunct, story of the Plumpton Dobby!

The Whitehaven News printed an article in 1899 which told of 'A Genuine Ghost: Caught on Christmas Eve' at Plumpton Hall. The tales of a haunted room had long been know at Plumpton, a room where the horrible sounds of chains clanking, shrieks and groans which would scare even the most hardy of folk. The room was so famous that many were desperate to spend a night in the room. The ghost was said to be so terrifying that the owner of the farm only charged a small rent from the tenant. One year though two servants from a near by farm were walking home on Christmas Eve when they spotted the fabled ghost; white from head to toe with a grinning human skull, groaning loudly. Un-deterred the two pursued the ghost. They followed it through some woodland until suddenly the ghost disappeared. Curious? The two ran forward to where the ghost had been to discover a hole. Inside the hole was a head shaped turnip lantern with a candle with in it, chains and a white sheet with, not so surprisingly, the farmer of Plumpton Hall wrapped up inside it. After all that the Plumpton Dobby was in fact the farmer trying to, no doubt, make a bob or two by creating a terrifying ghost!

THE HAUNTED LANTERN OF PLUMPTON HALL

Another interesting tale from Plumpton is that the hall possesses a haunted brass lamp which will always find its way home should it be removed from the building.

The brass lamp was said to have washed up on shore from the wreck of a ship from the Spanish Armada (although experts have now said that it is much more recent in date). For many a year the lantern has hung in the hall and often lit to help guide travellers across the sands. It has also been the centre of some mystical behaviour and if ever it is removed from the hall it always finds its way home and is discovered hanging back in it's rightful place, even when extreme lengths are gone to to remove it; like the time it was sealed inside a barrel and thrown out to sea.

Who knows what is going on with the lamp and why it is so determined to remain in the hall! Is it paranormal or is it just a fanciful tale? I'll let you be the judge of that.

DALTON-IN-FURNESS

A SINISTER SOUND INSIDE THE OLD POLICE STATION

Many years ago now myself, my brother and some friends had the opportunity to stay the night in the Old Police Station and Courthouse in Dalton. At the time the site was being renovated into a cafe and apartments and the place was, especially at night, quite spooky!

We were set to sleep in a small room to the front of the building but during the night we went for a wander around in the pitch black. Eventually we ventured into the Police Inspectors house, which is attached to the station, and were situated in a large room on the first floor. Whilst in the room some loud and strange noises started to emanate from the floor above us. Prolonged scraping noises were clear to hear, it sounded like someone dragging heavy furniture across the floor, or something more sinister. All in the room were, quite reasonably, scared and panicked about this. We were the only ones in the building at the time, what on earth could be making this sound!? It carried on for a while until seeming to stop. We built up some courage and, slowly, moved up the stairs to the room which the noise had come from.

As we entered we were met with a large empty room. No one was in there, nothing was there which would obviously explain the sound and everything was a little eerie. To this day we don't know what caused that strange and scary sound. All we do know though is that when the station was still in use the wife of one of the Police Inspectors had tragically fallen on a set of stairs while taking food to the prisoners. This fall killed the woman and some may say that her spirit still haunts the station. As we were in what was once her house who's to say that the noise we heard wasn't from her long dead spirit?

 

FURNESS ABBEY / ABBOTS WOOD

A RECENT, MYSTERIOUS, SIGHTING OF A MONK

It was the 14th of September 2014 when two women were walking near the abbey, they stopped for a moment to enjoy a view across the ancient ruins towards the abbot's house when they noticed something a little strange. There was some movement in the woodland behind the abbot's house, they looked closely and there was a hooded figure, "Oh god, it's a monk!" one of the ladies gasps. The figure wore white robes with a black scapula and hood, the typical look of a Cistercian monk. The figure stood for a moment before walking a little to the right and stopping again, it looked out over the abbey before moveing away into the bushes.

The ladies weren't to worried at this point as they thought it was probably one of the Iron Shepherds, a local living history group, but they still decided to go and have a look where they had seen the hooded vision. They rushed up the hill and into the woods. When they arrived there was nothing,, no sign of anyone, the woods was eerily empty save two ladies with toddlers on the road ahead. Slightly puzzled they went in search of the Iron Shepherds but they were nowhere to be found, and as they later found out hadn't even been in the area that day.

The ladies went to see where the figure had been, as they arrive though they start to feel cold and the hairs stand up on the back of their necks, nothing was around. They decided to leave a tissue on the fence where they had seen the monk and wandered back down to the roadside where they had originially been stood. As they looked up once again they are met with a completely different scene, the whole area looks different from before as if they had been looking at a completely different place or, indeed, time!

To this day the ladies do not know what they witnessed that afternoon but it certainly is something that will remain with them always.

A 1930's BOY MEETS A MONK

In the Autumn of 1934 a young butchers boy was cycling through Abbots Wood towards the road having made a delivery. Suddenly he heard a strange noise and the temperature dramatically dropped. He skidded, came to a halt and hopped off his bike. Looking up the boy was confronted with a mysterious figure, a figure in long robes, a monk! Petrified he scrambled back onto his bike and raced off down the hill to get away.

The boy maintained this story for the rest of his life until his passing at the age of 81. The incident must have been truly terrifying!

THE FURNESS FELLS

THE CLAIFE CRIER

This tale is from a little further up into the Furness Fells at Claife Heights on the west side of Windermere but relates to the monastic site of Furness.

Many years ago now a ferryman, quite new to the job, was shored up on the east side of Windermere at Ferry Nab awaiting passengers to take over the mere. It was a dark and stormey night with not many people to aid when cries from across the lake started to echo over the water; "Boat! Boat!". The ferry man was quick to head out, if slightly reluctant, and rowed off over the water to the west. He was gone for sometime. Awaiting passengers started to gather on the east shore when the ferry man returned. All awaiting were surprised to see that he had no passengers. When he finally made it back to shore the ferry man was so terrified he couldn't speak and had gone mad. He could not say what had happened whilst he was at Claife but the incident must have frightened him so as a few days later he passed away.

Following this faitful night more cries of "Boat! Boat!" were heard but no ferryman was brave enough or foolish enough to listen and all stayed moored on the east. Eventually the cries got to much and were loosing the ferrymen business so a monk from Lady Holme Island was called to exorcise whatever spirit lay to the west. The monk duely responded and performed an exorcism, he banished the Claife Crier, as the spirit had become known, to a quarry in the area, now known as Claife Crier Quarry, ‘until men should walk dryshod across the lake’.

The Crier is believed to be that of a Monk from Furness Abbey who's job was to save the souls of deborched women in the area. He fell for one of his clients, a lady of Claife, and one day followed her back to her home at the heights, she then regected him. The monk was so distraught that he cried and wailed until eventually dropping dead. His spirit then lingered and continued to cry out eventually calling out for "Boat! Boat!".

Although apparently exorcised the Claife Crier is still said to be roaming the heights and has often been heard crying out across the lake to this day as the night draws in...

I hope you have enjoyed this spooky special and haven't been too scared. If you want to read some more ghostly stories from Furness then do take a look at our 2013 Halloween Special and until next time, sleep well!

Furness Ghost Stories - Halloween Special!

In this special blog post we will take a brief look at some of the ghost stories from around the Furness Peninsula. Be sure to read with the lights off!

Furness Abbey - Apparitions and Hooded Figures

Furness Abbey has been linked to many spooky tales since its dissolution in the 16th Century but we will only look at two here.

It was new years eve 1980 when a young man was peddling away on his bike to get home after finishing work at the Abbey Tavern. As he was in a rush to get to a party he decided to go home by cycling past the ruins, usually he would avoid the ruins by heading straight out onto Abbey Road. He quickly got by the ruins only glancing at them once. As he came to the junction he headed off up towards Rating Lane along a dark and poorly lit road. When he reached the ruins of the West Gate, that towers above either side of the road, a strange feeling came over him. He looked up to see the shadow of, what he believed to be, a cowled monk on horse back. The figure held his gaze for a moment until car headlights on Rating Lane broke his stare and he peddled off hard and fast! There have been several sightings of a monk wandering towards this broken archway over the years, who could this mystery monk be?

On many occasions apparitions of monks have been spotted amongst the haunting ruins of Furness Abbey leaving witnesses baffled and frightened.

Image taken from North West Evening Mail newspaper.

Original Image by Roy Chatfield

A photographer has even caught on camera what he believes to be a ghost in the Abbey grounds. The man had taken many images of the Abbey one day but when he developed the images he was shocked to discover one of them had a white hooded figure standing in it, near to the church tower. The photographer swears that no one was there on the day and he didn't see anything through the viewfinder on his camera when he took the picture. The image was also taken on a 8 second exposure which would blur someone who happened to be walking by! You can see the image to the right, what do you think? Is it a monk or is it something else all together?

The Custodian's Cottage/Abbey Mill Cafe - A Ghostly Face and Buried Body

The former Custodian's Cottage next to Furness Abbey, now the Abbey Mill Cafe, also holds some ghostly stories of its own. Many years ago when the cottage erupted in flames local firemen descended on the site to tackle the blaze. While they fought to tame the fire many of the firemen claim to have seen a young girl at the top window of the building. Due to this they were certain that they would find a body in the fire damaged carcass of the building but when they searched the rubble no body was found. Was the face they saw in fact the spirit of a long dead girl who once lived at the Cottage? Who can say! But what is interesting is that once, when a psychic visited the Cottage she could sense something beneath the floor. Today the large main room of the Cottage has a wooden floor but 7+ years ago you had to step down a few steps to reach a concrete floor. When this psychic came she stood on the concrete floor and could sense that, in the far right hand corner of the room, there was a body buried 4 feet under the ground. If you were to measure from the actual ground level outside this would be 6 feet. The interesting thing about this though is that she claimed it was the body of a child! It does make you wonder if this could possibly be the body of the young girl who was seen at the window when the Cottage burnt down!

Dalton-in-Furness - Haunted Pubs and Highways

It is thought that a building has stood in the place now occupied by the Brown Cow Inn in Dalton since the Middle Ages and this has led to several ghostly tales being told. One such story, which has not been noted since the 19th Century, is of haunting chanting being heard coming from the direction of the Abbey. This chanting was often accompanied by the sound of a church bell ringing which led witnesses to believe it was the Monks of the Abbey singing. Another story from the Brown Cow involves witnesses seeing a strange apparition. Back before the interior of the pub was open plan as it is today a man took his drink into one of the small rooms to sit at one of the wooden tables. On entering the room he was rather surprised to find an oddly dressed stranger sitting in a seat near the window, staring out through the glass as if he was looking and waiting for someone or something outside. The figure sat quite still not making a sound. The man who had entered the room greeted the stranger but was met with no reply. Later when the man left, returning to the bar he asked the landlord about the strange fellow in the other room. The landlord informed the man that no one, other than him, had entered the room that night. When the curious landlord accompanied the man back to the room they found no one inside, much to the mans surprise! There was no way that the stranger could have left the room without being seen or heard!

A young man of the name Tom, who lived in Dalton, once worked in the mines at Roanhead. One morning when he was cycling to work by Millwood he saw another man cycling towards him on the other side of the road. The other person was middle aged wearing a grey suit and a brown trilby hat, nothing too unusual for the time. Tom continued to cycle along not thinking much of it. Suddenly, when the two were only a few yards from one another, the other person suddenly steered his bicycle directly at Tom! Tom broke hard and almost fell off his bike swerving away from the other man. When he turned around to give the man what for he was shocked to find the road empty of life. There was nowhere the other man could have gone to hide; he had completely vanished!

Other Stories

Shadowy figures and loud bangs have all been associated by employees at BAE Systems, in Barrow, to the spirit of a worker who had killed himself.

A couple who were traveling through Leece one evening had to slam on the brakes and come to a stop. A large black creature was sat in the middle of the road stopping them from getting past. The creature stood about 2 meters tall and had bright yellow eyes! Eventually the beast stood and walked off the road allowing the couple to drive by. It stood on the grass verge watching as they went.

In 2009 the North West Evening Mail ran a small article about Abbots Wood house, which included a picture from inside the house. On publication though many readers wrote in as they had noticed something in the far right of the interior image. There was the ghostly shape of a woman stood behind a table! Could it be the ghost of a previous occupant? Who can say but with the house no longer standing her home is long gone. Here is the picture for you to view; can you see the ghostly figure?

Image courtesy of the North West Evening Mail
Originally printed in 2009

We hope you have enjoyed this special spooky edition of Furness Hidden Heritage, if you know of any other ghost stories from the Furness area please let us know and we may use them next Halloween! Business as usual with the blog will resume on 12th November so be sure to check back then for a post on the area surrounding Furness Abbey. Until then happy Halloween and sleep well!

Read more Furness ghost stories in our second Halloween special here - https://furnesshiddenheritage.blogspot.com/2013/10/furness-ghost-stories-halloween-special.html