Because it's Nearly Halloween!!!

[JillyBeanz]

I thought it would be nice to share the "most haunted" place in my area, Northumberland, England. If there's any "ghostie" stories about your area - please add them for us all to read - no matter how silly - it's just a giggle!!

 

 

Dunstanburgh Castle.

Near Embleton Northumberland

Sprawled across a windswept cliff top, against which thunderous waves pound incessantly, the sinister ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle possess an uncanny aura that the proximity of a sea-sprayed golf course, does little to dispel. Begun in 1316 by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster and enlarged by John of Gaunt, the once proud fortress had, by the 16th century, fallen into decay being described in Henry V111’s reign as “ a very ruinous house and of small strength”.

 

It was around this time, occurred the events which have endowed the castle with a ghostly reputation. Sir Guy the Seeker was a gallant knight who, whilst riding along the Northumberland coast one day, found himself caught in a dreadful storm. The lightning flashed above him, the thunder crashed around him, he was blinded by the rain and lashed by the wind. Desperate for shelter, he chanced upon the ruins of Dunstanburgh Castle and, leading his terrified horse up the perilous and twisting rocky path, took sanctuary from the tempest beneath the shattered turrets of its massive gatehouse. As the storm raged and the wind howled through the crevices of the castle walls, there suddenly appeared a hideous figure dressed in white that urged him to follow to where he would be rewarded by the sight of a “beauty bright”.

The fearless knight followed up a narrow winding staircase and into a room where lay a hundred sleeping knights and their horses. At the centre of the chamber, in a sparkling crystal casket, there slept the most beautiful maiden Sir Guy had ever seen. On either side of her, were two serpents, one holding a sword, the other a horn. The spectre told the Knight that he could awake the lady, but that he must choose whether to use the sword or the horn. Only the correct choice would rouse her. He thought for a moment and then, striding forward took up the horn and blew it. Suddenly the sleeping Knights flashed into life and rushed at him, whereupon the bold, brave and fearless Sir Guy fainted clean away. As the room began to swirl, the figure in white came towards him, a look of contempt upon its twisted features and, as the gallant Knight slipped into unconsciousness he heard its taunting voice, echoing round and round inside his head: -

Now shame on the coward who sounded a horn

And the knight who sheathed a sword