Whitby Ghost Walk
(Source- National World Newsprints)
It was a must for our first visit to Whitby to experience a Whitby Ghost walk.
We love spooky things and what better way to find out the history of an area than to explore its grizzly bits?
So after checking in to our B&B, grabbing some dinner and a quick breath after Rievaulx and Helmsley, off we went to meet Dr Crank by the Whale Bone Arch in the cold darkness of February to hear his solemn tales.
We didn't take any photos during this trip as we were too busy avoiding a loud and obnoxious drunk man who tagged along and we were desperately trying to listen to our host rather than take in the sights.
Dr Crank covered the famous ghost tales of Whitby and took us to each place the fateful end occurred- or close enough. On this particular trip this included The Burning Girl, Dracula's Bench, The Whitby Witches, The Barguest Hound, The Hand of Glory, The Grey Lady, The Headless Horseman, and The Screaming Tunnel. Full disclaimer, he may have covered some more of the tales which are also disclosed on his website, but due to the disturbance we were unable to listen as intently as we wanted to.
To give a little summary on each tale then:
#The Burning Girl
This tale is about the poor unfortunate Mary Clarke. Situated on Grape Lane, there is a building which used to be an infirmary. Mary Clarke was a young girl who was recognised in Whitby for her beautiful long golden locks which she made 'shine like the sun' by taking extra care of it. The tale differs between using Whale oil and a special hair oil by Dr Firth, but the tale we heard was the former. She brushed her hair 100 times every morning and every night and applied her oil of choice.
Now the tale differs again regarding the tragic event, some say Mary went into her local bakery to keep warm, warm her fathers dinner in the oven, or like the tale we heard she went to get her daily bread but the baker was busy so asked her to pop it in the oven herself. Regardless of this fact, somehow when Mary lent toward that oven her hair brushed a naked flame and caught alight!
The oil which she lovingly coated her hair in of course encouraged the flame and in seconds her head was aflame. She ran to the street, completely engulfed by this point, the baker at her heels attempting to put out the flame. It was too late, she was burnt beyond recognition, and yet impossibly still alive. Mary was walked to the infirmary, pieces of her charred flesh falling to the street below, she died shortly afterward.
It is said that poor Mary Clarke still haunts Grape Lane to this day. Some people have reported seeing flames or a light, upon closer look a little girl within. Some have reported the smell of charred flesh in the area of where she died. Did we see her? No, nor did we smell her, but our hearts certainly mourned for little Mary Clarke.
#Dracula's Bench
This one wasn't really a spooky story at all, much to our disappointment as of course the name of the bench encourages all sorts of speculation. Not far from the Whale Bone Arch there is a set of benches looking out to sea, in the distance is the bones of Whitby Abbey. It is said that Bram Stoker himself got the inspiration for Dracula while sitting on one particular bench. This glimpse of the Abbey, which at a certain point of day will have windows that glow red like eyes, is what inspired Dracula crossing the waters on the Demeter, crashing into Whitby Docks to flee to St Mary's Church.
The bench itself now holds a plaque stating its importance to Whitby's history, although we didn't have a chance to get up close and personal to see for ourselves. Of course no aspect of this bench is the original due to damage over the years, bits have simply been replaced, but you will notice it is slightly different from the others.
We were also taken past the guesthouse where Stoker stayed during his time in Whitby, but we could not hear what was said here as the drunk man was getting too brash with poor Yogi and we had to step away. We were also taken past a second church which may have played a part in Bram's inspirations, but the man had set his sights on Lauren at this point so again we had to step away from the group and could not hear the story.
#The Whitby Witches
According to Dr Crank these witches are the reason why there are no cats in Whitby.
From what we heard, this tale is of two sisters, witches, whom were able to turn into cats and terrorized the town. These cats were evil, causing mayhem wherever they went, until one day a group of men got together to put a stop to it.
One night they managed to trap one of these cats and set upon it with a large dog. It was safe to say that this cat lost one of its 9 lives that night.
The other was again hunted by these men and set upon, beaten, until it scampered away severely hurt.
The next morning it was found that the two sisters were in a terrible way, ones leg was broken and covered in bruising, when asked where her sister was the enquirer was told upstairs with a broken spine. It was at this point that the town had found the connection between the cats and the women. It is said that there are no other cats in the town, but if you see one, then you've seen one of the now-wellish-behaved witches!
#The Barghest/Barguest Hound
The hound, devoid of its spelling, is a spirit of a large black dog. It is the omen of death, much like the Grim (also a large black hound indicating death, Harry Potter fans rejoice), and its terrifying form with deep red (or on occasion its been reported green) eyes is seen when fate cuts the cord.
A popular omen, much of England, especially in the Northern region has some form of large deathly dog. This particular one stalks the Snickleways and it is said that anyone who sees it or hears its screams or growls will be next to die.
#The Hand of Glory
This was another tale that we were forced to dip in and out of. Several members of our party had decided to leave due to the fellow causing such a disturbance and it was during the tale of The Hand of Glory that things really began to grate on us as the drunkard decided to wind Yogi up and then tell him off aggressively. Yogi is a rescue and was beaten before he came to us, this encounter made Yogi have a small relapse and meant that he was terrified around people for the remainder of the trip. The man nearly came to blows with Jamie in this moment, decided to get in Lauren's face and far too close for comfort and meant that we missed a chunk of this tale.
Google came to the rescue here and filled in the blanks. The Hand of Glory resides in the Whitby Museum and is the last of its kind known to still exist. Potter fans will know of it from Borgin & Berks in the second movie (it closes around Harry's wrist), but the real thing was a pickled hand cut from the hand of a felon who still dangled from the gallows. It was used by burglars to send those sleeping into a coma by the lighting of its fingertips. If a finger refused to light it meant that a person within the home was still awake and the flames could only be extinguished using blood or milk.
Dr Crank took us to a street nearby the pub it was said to have been last used, evidence to this fact is still here apparently. The story goes that a beggar withdrew from his pocket the hand and lit its fingers, all but the thumb were in flame as the maid was still awake witnessing the scene. She could not wake her masters due to the enchantment, and tried her hardest to put out the ghastly candle, using milk as a last resort. This worked and the house was roused leading to the capture and death of the beggar. The hand was recovered and is still available to view in the museum, as we had Yogi and wasn't sure if it was dog friendly we gave this gruesome artefact a miss.
#The Grey Lady
There isn't a place that doesn't have a grey lady nowadays, so we were not surprised to hear of Whitby's one within minutes of the walk. We were just in between the Arch and Dracula's Bench when the tale was told, and we all looked out to the unquiet sea hoping to catch a glimpse of her.
This particular grey lady is dressed in Victorian clothing and often materialises in full wringing her hands or shaking her head angrily. On occasion she is even a wisp of grey smoke floating past encouraging a strong feeling of fear and dread to those nearby.
There are a few different encounters or entities regarding this lady, one of which is a spirit dressed in grey rags who's hands are covered in welts or burns. She torments a primary school and was more of a poltergeist.
The tale we were told regarded a well to do lady who's skirts were caught in the wind when she angrily walked along the cliff after being jilted by her lover/husband for another. She was lifted into the sea and drowned, some say you can still see her drowning or being thrown from the cliff.
#The Screaming Tunnel
Otherwise known as Dracula's tunnel or Khyber Pass, this tunnel is a spooky little hot spot as witnesses have heard screams when passing through the small pass way.
Some blame Dracula and the screams are the ghosts of his victims, some have mentioned a dark figure lurking at the end of the tunnel, one from the depths of hell and the only way to ensure safety is to scream to scare them away. Screaming has since been encouraged as you cross through, something of a little superstitious tradition for locals and tourists alike, and we heard many a joyful scream as we approached Dracula's Bench. We didn't get to visit the tunnel on this occasion but will make sure we do next time!
Unfortunately, we missed the tale of the Headless Horseman entirely as the drunk man had grabbed Lauren's arm to talk to her, but we did hear about the headless horses and the carriage which brought dead mourners to the grave of a sailor lost at sea at St Marys. We did decide we had enough of the man harassing us and the other around 10 minutes before the end and so parted ways, it was a shame and we do feel sorry for Dr Crank who tried his hardest to continue on despite the interruptions from this man and the loss of customers because of him. Hopefully during our next trip we will be able to try another tour!
We would also like to apologise for the disturbance of Yogi, but he was made to feel very uncomfortable by this man, so his special Chow Chow honking noises during inappropriate moments was justified. No one seemed to mind our little bear and his noises aside from the bloke winding him up. As a taster "can you guess what the hand was for?" *honk honk honk*, thank you Yogi.
In summary:
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