Ghastly Ghosts by Gina D. B. Clemen (1)
What is a Ghost?
Centuries ago, people talked about ghosts, spirits and spooks, and they still talk about them today. But no one knows exactly what a ghost is!
Certain scientists and psychic experts study ghosts and haunted places. They try to understand supernatural events of the past and present.
Psychic experts use complex machines to discover ghosts. Others try to photograph ghosts. Sometimes ghosts appear in photographs and no one can explain why!
Today several important universities have a Parapsychology Department. In these departments, experts study the supernatural and try to find an answer to old questions.
So what is a ghost? The most common explanation is this: ghosts are spirits of the dead. Their death was a tragic or terrible one. They haunt the place where they died. It can be a house, a castle, a theatre, a forest, a road or a ship. They cannot rest in peace!
Do ghosts really exist? What do you think? Read this book carefully and become a ghost investigator. Fill in the 'Phantom File' with your opinion after each case... and then decide!
CHAPTER TWO
The Horror of Berkeley Square
There are many ghosts in the city of London. There are haunted houses, theatres, streets and pubs! One of the most evil ghosts is the one at Berkeley Square.
Between 1870 and 1900, no one wanted to live at 50 Berkeley Square. There were footsteps at night and macabre appearances. One particular room in the house was especially dangerous.
In 1870, a brave young man decided to sleep in the haunted room for one night.
'Ghosts don't scare me,' he said.
The next morning he was dead. His body was in the middle of the evil room.
A year later, a young girl slept in the haunted room. That night she saw or heard something horrible. The next morning she was mad! She could not speak about her horrifying experience to anyone.
Lord Lyttleton was an English lord. 'I don't believe in ghosts,' he told his friends.
'I will sleep in that house and nothing will happen to me.'
During the night, the people in the next house heard a gunshot.
The next morning Lord Lyttleton was terrified and told them, 'Something came into the room from that corner. It was slimy and had an evil smell. I fired my gun at it and the ghost disappeared. It was horrible! I cannot describe it. That house IS haunted by a ghastly spirit.'
A year later, a maid was cleaning the haunted room. She did not know about the evil ghost. At midnight, horrible cries came from the haunted room. The people in the house ran upstairs. They found the poor maid on the floor in convulsions. Her terrified eyes stared at a corner of the room. It was the same corner Lord Lyttleton indicated.
The maid refused to speak. Her only words were, 'What I saw was TOO HORRIBLE to describe.' The next morning she died at St. George's Hospital.
The story of the two sailors is perhaps the most famous of all. In 1875, two sailors arrived in London. They wanted to work on a ship. They had no money and nowhere to sleep. They walked around London and came to Berkeley Square.
'Look!' said the younger sailor. 'There's an empty house. We can sleep there.'
The sailors entered the dark, empty house. They went up the stairs.
The older sailor said, 'This house is cold and dark. I don't like it. It scares me.'
'Don't be silly!' said the younger sailor. 'We have nowhere to sleep. Let's stay here!'
They slept in the haunted bedroom. In the middle of the night, they both woke up.
'Listen!' said the younger one. 'There's someone downstairs. Can you hear the noise?'
'Yes,' said the other. 'I can hear footsteps. Oh no, the footsteps are coming upstairs!'
At that moment, the door opened slowly. A big, dark figure came in. The older sailor was terrified. He could not move. He just sat and looked at the horrible thing.
The younger sailor ran out of the room, down the stairs and out of the house. In the street, he found a policeman. They returned to the house, but the sailor was too frightened to enter. The policeman went upstairs alone.
'Is anyone here?' he cried.
There was no answer and he found no one. There was an evil smell on the stairs. He looked everywhere, but he couldn't find the older sailor. Then he looked out of the window. The older sailor was lying in the garden - he was dead.
Did 'something' push him out of the window? Or did he jump out of the window in terror? We will never know.
CHAPTER THREE
Glamis Castle and its Chosts
Scotland is famous for its haunted castles and its ghosts. Glamis Castle has a long history of violent murders and ghosts. It is a big castle with more than one hundred rooms and many secret hiding places. The castle also hides terrible secrets.
During the Middle Ages there was a battle near the castle. After the battle, some men came to the castle. They were afraid and in danger.
'Excuse us, sir. We are in danger. The enemy is following us. Can we stay at your castle for a few days?' they said.
The Earl of Glamis smiled and said, 'Follow me. You can hide in a secret room.'
The men were happy and said, 'Thank you, sir! You are very kind.'
The Earl of Glamis looked at the men but did not answer. He took them to a secret room.
'Enter and don't make any noise,' he said.
The men entered. The Earl locked the door and put the key in his pocket. He never opened that door again! Many years later Lord Strathmore opened that door and fainted! He found a room full of skeletons. Visitors to the castle often hear strange noises in that room. They hear knocks at the door. Perhaps the ghosts of the men want to get out!
The 'Grey Lady' is another ghost of Glamis Castle. Lady Janet Glamis lived during the reign of King James V of Scotland. King James was a cruel man and did not like Janet.
'Lady Janet Douglas Glamis is a witch! She tried to poison me!' he said to his court.
'No, that is not true!' cried Lady Janet. 'I am not a witch! I am innocent!'
The King sent poor Lady Janet to prison for many years and she was very unhappy. Then in 1537, the King's men burnt her. Her ghost haunts the clock tower of Glamis Castle. People say her ghost is transparent and there is a strange red light around her head.
At the beginning of the 1800s, the Earl of Strathmore had a son. The baby was deformed. The parents hid the baby in a secret room. Only the parents and the nurse knew about the baby.
The boy grew up but he always stayed in the secret room. No one knew the terrible secret. One day a workman went to repair the roof. From the roof, he saw the window of the secret room and looked inside.
He was terrified and began to shout, 'There's a strange creature in that room! What people say is true!'
The Earl heard him and said, 'Listen carefully. You saw nothing!'
'But, sir, I did... I saw a...!'
'You saw no one and heard nothing. Do you understand? I am sending you and your family away from Scotland.'
'I don't want to go away, sir.'
Take your family and go to Australia. Here is lots of money. Now go!'
The next day the workman and his family left Scotland.
The creature died when he was very old. Perhaps his skeleton is still in the secret room.
Today people at the castle can hear a child crying at night. Others say that the ghost of a strange creature walks around the castle and makes unusual noises.
CHAPTER FOUR
Borley: a Haunted Village
Borley is a small village about 100 kilometres northeast of London. It has a church, a rectory and a few houses. It also has more ghosts than any other village in England!
In 1863, Reverend Henry D. Bull built the Borley Rectory. When he died in 1892, his son became minister and lived in the rectory with his wife and daughters. On 28 July 1900, Reverend Bull heard a noise outside the rectory. He opened the door and saw his daughters. They were very frightened.
'We saw a ghost!' they cried. 'It was a nun - a young nun. She was silent and very sad. She walked in front of us.'
'Where is the ghost now?' asked Reverend Bull.
'She disappeared,' said one of the girls.
Some people did not believe the girls. But a doctor and a teacher saw the same nun on the same day, 28 July, a few years later. On 28 July 1972, a group of scientists saw her too!
The nun was not the only ghost of Borley Rectory. There was also a headless man, a phantom coach with two horses and others. Other bizarre happenings at Borley included organ music playing in the empty church, lights that went on and off, furniture that moved and stones that fell from the sky!
Reverend Guy Smith arrived at Borley Rectory in 1928. He and his wife didn't like the noises and the other strange events.
'I don't believe in ghosts. It's all a lot of nonsense. But I want to understand what is happening,' said Reverend Smith.
So he called Harry Price to investigate. Price was a famous psychic expert. He arrived at Borley with several assistants and started investigating.
On 10 June 1929, there was a sensational newspaper article in the Daily Mirror about the ghostly figures at Borley. Hundreds of curious visitors came to Borley Rectory. They wanted to see the ghosts! Reverend Smith did not like all these visitors. He soon left. But Harry Price continued investigating. He wrote books about the rectory and its ghosts.
Soon Reverend Foyster and his family arrived at Borley.
He and his family had the same problems as the other reverends. He kept a diary of the bizarre events. During this, time mysterious messages appeared on the walls of the rectory. They were written to the reverend's wife Marianne.
Who wrote these messages? Was it a ghost? Or was it Mrs Foyster?
After five years and about 2000 ghostly appearances, Reverend Foyster left Borley! He was the last reverend at Borley Rectory. No one wanted to live there.
On 27 February 1939, a big fire destroyed the rectory. After the fire, workmen found a woman's skull in the ground and several religious symbols. People said the ghosts moved to the church after the fire.
But WHY is Borley haunted? Why does the nun appear to many people in the village? Who are the other ghosts?
A legend says the rectory was built on the ruins of a medieval monastery. Near the monastery, there was a convent. A monk fell in love with a young nun at the convent. On the night of 28 July, they decided to escape together in a coach. But the nuns of the convent discovered their plan. They were very angry. They shut the young nun in a small room and she starved to death. The monk was beheaded.
During the 1960s, a psychic expert called Geoffrey Croom-Hollingsworth was interested in Borley. He and his assistant Roy Potter spent a lot of time there.
This is what Croom-Hollingsworth said, 'One summer night I saw the nun walking across the garden. I called Roy Potter and he saw her too. She was about 4 metres from us. Then she disappeared into a wall.'
Croom-Hollingsworth and Potter studied the bizarre events at Borley for many years. Their conclusion? Borley is haunted!
CHAPTER FIVE
Royal Ghosts
Today the Tower of London is a popular tourist attraction. Millions of people visit it every year. Do they know the Tower is haunted by royal ghosts? William the Conqueror wanted a castle and a prison, and built the Tower of London in 1078. The Tower has a ghastly history of tortures, murders and executions.
