Ghost Tales by the Fireside - True Ghost Stories Podcast

In 1956, the owner of Priors Court in Callow End told a valuation court that the house's haunted reputation was making it difficult to find staff.
But the stories went back much further.
Archive records from 1905–1907 preserve accounts of a luminous human figure moving through the house, a woman appearing beside a honeymooner's bed, the rustling of an unseen silk dress and a disturbing monk-like apparition accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of anger.

Then came an attempt to rid Priors Court of its haunting and an extraordinary story involving a false monk, murder and a woman searching for her daughter.

But how much of that story was true?

In this Dark Folklore episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we travel to Callow End in Worcestershire to investigate the strange history of Priors Court and the identity of its mysterious Grey Lady.

Music featured in this episode
Among The Graves — Clem Dallaway
ISRC: QZNWR2463170

The Dark One — Clem Dallaway
ISRC: QZWFS2504572

Ghost Tales by the Fireside

More ghost stories, folklore and haunted history:
ghosttales.co.uk

Support the podcast and find exclusive content:
buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales

In the early hours of 6 July 1685, the quiet fields near Westonzoyland, Somerset became the scene of the bloody final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion.

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, had challenged his uncle King James II for the English throne. His rebel army marched silently across Sedgemoor under cover of darkness, hoping to surprise the Royal forces. Instead, drainage ditches, confusion and a single alarm helped turn the attack into disaster.

Hundreds were killed. Survivors faced imprisonment, execution, transportation and the notorious Bloody Assizes under Judge Jeffreys.
But Sedgemoor has another history.

Phantom horsemen are said to cross the fields. Ghostly soldiers have been reported around King’s Sedgemoor Drain. Voices call through the darkness, while an old Somerset legend tells of a murdered runner and the White Lady who still follows the route of his final race.

In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore the history, archaeology, ghost stories and folklore surrounding the Battle of Sedgemoor — and ask what might still linger on the Somerset Levels.

Music featured in this episode
Among The Graves — Clem Dallaway
ISRC: QZNWR2463170

The Dark One — Clem Dallaway
ISRC: QZWFS2504572

More Ghost Tales by the Fireside:
ghosttales.co.uk

Support Ghost Tales by the Fireside on Buy Me a Coffee:
buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales

In the summer of 1873 or 1874, Charlotte Goodhall and her daughter May were travelling by pony carriage along a quiet road between Wilden and Ravensden in Bedfordshire when they saw a woman dressed entirely in black.
She wasn't walking.
She appeared to glide across the grass.
As their carriage passed within only a few feet of her, the woman turned towards them, revealing what Charlotte later described as a terrifying “fiendish” face. May looked back and saw the mysterious figure staring after them.
Seconds later, she had vanished.
Nearly twenty years later, the extraordinary encounter was investigated by Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research and preserved among its studies of apparitions and collective hallucinations.

But there was another disturbing detail.
When Charlotte tried to discover who they had seen, she learned that the road was already said to be haunted.

Over the following century, the mysterious Woman in Black became part of Bedfordshire folklore, eventually acquiring another identity, the Witch of Wilden.

But was the witch story ever true?

In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside: Dark Folklore, we return to the original Victorian testimony and follow the strange evolution of one of Bedfordshire's most intriguing roadside ghost stories.

Ghost Tales by the Fireside

Ghost stories, haunted places, British folklore, dark history and unexplained encounters from across the UK.

Website: https://ghosttales.co.uk

Support Ghost Tales by the Fireside:
https://buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales

Blackness Castle has stood on the Firth of Forth for nearly 600 years. Known as “The Ship That Never Sailed,” this extraordinary Scottish castle has been a royal stronghold, artillery fortress and state prison.

In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we uncover the real history behind Blackness Castle — from its medieval origins and Cromwell’s devastating siege to the Covenanters and political prisoners confined within its walls.

We also explore the archaeology still hidden beneath the castle, the legend of a secret underground tunnel and the paranormal stories that followed — including unexplained noises in empty rooms and the woman who claimed she was chased from the Prison Tower by the ghost of an armoured knight.

Is Blackness Castle really haunted, or have nearly six centuries of history created one of Scotland’s most atmospheric ghost stories?

Ghost Tales by the Fireside
True ghost stories, haunted places, folklore and the history behind the legends.

Website:
https://ghosttales.co.uk

Support Ghost Tales on Buy Me a Coffee:
https://buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales

In early 1975, a signalman working at OA&GB Junction near Ashton Moss heard footsteps climbing the stairs to his signal box. He saw an unfamiliar man carrying a bag reach the top — but when he opened the door, nobody was there.

One week later, a mysterious figure appeared beside the railway. This time, two signalmen saw him from separate locations and approached from opposite directions. The man should have been trapped between them.
Instead, he vanished.

In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore the history of the Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway and one of Greater Manchester's quietly disturbing railway ghost stories.

Was the mysterious visitor simply a trespasser who somehow escaped unnoticed, or had an old railwayman returned to a place he once knew?