They say that in England there are almost no settlements that could not boast of at least one ancient castle or an abandoned house where ghosts live. The townspeople even take pride in the ghosts that live nearby. The British joke: not a single self-respecting lord admits that there is no ghost in his castle. The ghost in the chambers is the same indicator of the antiquity of the genus, like, for example, a coat of arms or a wine cellar, filled with barrels covered with a layer of century-old dust.
The dark shadow of Charles I
The classic abode of ghosts is considered the British castle Hampton Court, the former residence of the royal family, where over the centuries Someone was constantly poisoned, strangled, pierced with a dagger … They say that even late at night in the dark passages of Hampton you can find the dark shadow of the executed Charles I carrying his own head under his arm.
By the way, in 2003, surveillance cameras recorded how a mysterious figure, having opened the door, went for a walk into the courtyard, and then slowly returned to the room. The guards in the castle did not find any unauthorized persons …
Phantoms are born here
But here is a village, in a small area of which a dozen ghosts live at once, a rarity even for Foggy Albion.
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We are talking about Plakley, which in southeastern England is no different from hundreds of villages with the same small houses, a church, a railway station, pasture and a clay pit. Why all these numerous ghosts were chosen by Plakli remains a mystery. Skeptics even talk about an unspoken agreement between the villagers, who thus decided to attract tourists. But the researchers of the paranormal are sure that if the villagers had agreed, they would have offered tourists the same story, which they wrote together. But we are talking about different ghosts. Most likely, in those places some mysterious phenomena do occur that give rise to phantoms.
In the pub
I managed to visit Plakley in the fall, when it becomes especially clear why the British Isles were named Foggy Albion. The gray sky, it seemed, a little more, and crush the village with all its houses, inhabitants, and ghosts for the company. Because of the falling fog, the surrounding seemed unsteady, unreal, and, remembering the legend that on the road leading from Plakley to neighboring Multman's Hill, from time to time a ghost carriage with four horses harnessed to it passes, I, with a watchful ear, already seem to I even heard the clatter of horses' hooves, and the creak of wheels, and the clicking of a whip.
I didn’t spend too much time in Pluckley, and I cannot boast that, sitting in a pub, I listened to the stories of old-timers about immigrants from the other world, striving to kill a late traveler. However, before the trip, I managed to read several pages of the guide, which told in detail about the local evil. That's what it said.
A corner of fear
Lovers of bloody spectacles can supposedly watch every night how ghostly robbers, without dividing the prey, pierce their comrade with a dagger and nail him to an oak tree. The place where this happens is called Fear Corner. By morning, the robbers, the oak, and the treasures melt in the air, and it is hard to believe that this tragic event really happened here centuries ago.
On the outskirts of the village, near the bridge, a gypsy woman in a faded shawl may come up to you and offer to tell fortunes for a reasonable fee. It is better not to try to find out your fate from her, although the prediction can be made very accurately. After all, this, you guessed it, is a real ghost. And the real gypsy was burned here, perhaps by the same robbers who shared the treasures.
Plakla residents sometimes joke that they don't need any weather reports to predict thunderstorms. Shortly before / as clouds appear in the sky, a ghost appears at the ruins of an old mill, which is nicknamed the Black Miller. Its history is unknown to anyone. It is believed, however, that some miller could have been killed by lightning, but why the soul of the deceased did not find rest after this, it remains to be seen.
And near the Plakli railway station, where the building of a brick factory is visible above a clay quarry, from time to time strange sounds are heard, reminiscent of human cries. It is said that a factory worker died in this quarry. From under the layer of clay that fell on the poor man, screams of fear and pain were heard for a long time. When the worker was taken out from under the rubble, he was already dead …
The lady in white and the lady in red
The Dering family are local old-timers. Their ancestors settled here several centuries ago. Previously, they owned a fairly large estate, but the central estate burned down in 1952, and now the descendants of the once wealthy family live in a small two-story house. Before the fire, the ghost of a woman in white "lived" in the library of the burned-out estate, who, according to the owners of the estate, was once their great-great-grandmother, judging by the old portrait, who loved to dress in all white.
There is also a ghost of a woman in red in Plakly. In the Church of Saint-Nicholas and in the village cemetery adjacent to it, you can find the disembodied shadow of this young lady. Her body has been buried in an underground church crypt since the 12th century. The deceased was so young, beautiful, that someone put a red rose in her hand. The body was placed in a lead coffin, and that one was placed in another … There are only seven such coffins. The last was an oak coffin.
Death by unrequited love
Perhaps the only place in Pluckley where you can not fear meeting with ghosts is Parkwood. Now there is a pasture here, and earlier there was a rather dense forest. So, in this forest, a colonel once hanged himself from unrequited love, and since then his ghost wandered sadly between the trees. But the forest was cut down, and now the colonel is wandering somewhere else.
However, it was not only the colonel who became famous here for his suicidal tendencies and posthumous walks. At the end of the First World War, a village teacher committed suicide. By the way, he also hanged himself. His ghost can still be seen by the road called Dickey Bassez Lane. Especially often, his body, swinging in a loop in the wind, appears in front of passers-by in inclement weather.
Not far from the brick factory is a two-story house with a tall chimney called Rosecourt. Its current inhabitants claim that the spirit of its former mistress dwells here, who, having prepared a potion from poisonous berries, drank it and thereby took her own life. It happened at about half of the fifth day. It was at this time that tourists, if they are lucky, now notice a woman's silhouette with a mournfully bowed head outside the windows of the house.
Near another house, called Greystones, they notice the ghost of a priest who lived there, who, they say, during his lifetime was somehow connected with the mistress of Rosecourt. Perhaps it was because of him that the woman took her own life. In any case, those who found her corpse said that the poor girl took poison near the window from which Greystones was best seen. Can't the unfortunate priest still forgive himself for the death of his parishioner?
And recently, another one has joined the family of ghostly entities roaming Plakly. We are talking about a mysterious female figure who took a fancy to the Church of Saint-Nicholas. Where did she come from, what kind of tragic story is connected with her and how the woman in red will react to the "new" woman, it is too early to say. Time will tell.
Unnecessary revelations
I left the village of a dozen ghosts with a strange feeling. I wanted to be away from this ominous place as soon as possible, and at the same time I felt a vague longing, as if ghostly creatures from the mysterious other world were looking sadly in my back. We looked and wondered - why are people leaving Plakly so quickly? After all, had they lingered a little longer, perhaps the ghosts would slightly lift the veil of secrecy and tell that for centuries and centuries they have been tying them to a village in southeast England.
Igor VESELOV