Dunstanburgh Castle 2008
Visited 6th March 2008
On a cold, windy March night the Ghosts of the North East team return once more to Dunstanburgh Castle in the first investigation for almost a year. Dunstanburgh is a truly amazing location, and oozes atmosphere. I visited several times during the writing of my book 'Ghostly Northumberland' and, although we've already visited before, I feel like we've only just scratched the surface of what this magnificent ruin has to offer.
I drove North on the A1 in the direction of Dunstanbugh accompanied by Tom, Brian, and Harry, a journey that Tom and Harry have taken before, almost four years ago on one of our first visits. We were all excited, full of anticipation to find out whether the ruined castle would deliver tonight.
By 9:30pm I was parking up my car at Craster harbour, and my companions and I put on our extra layers to protect from the cold, and got ourselves 'tooled up' with torches and cameras in readiness for what lay ahead. As we set off on the familar walk of over a mile to the castle, the streetlights, houses, and pubs gave way to total darkness, and miles, and miles, of open fields. I told the lads of the stories of the castle, and in particular the legend of Sir Guy the Seeker. I told them of the amazing sighting of Sir Guy one moonlit night at the castle that I was told about by a local when researching 'Ghostly Northumberland'.
By 9:30pm I was parking up my car at Craster harbour, and my companions and I put on our extra layers to protect from the cold, and got ourselves 'tooled up' with torches and cameras in readiness for what lay ahead. As we set off on the familar walk of over a mile to the castle, the streetlights, houses, and pubs gave way to total darkness, and miles, and miles, of open fields. I told the lads of the stories of the castle, and in particular the legend of Sir Guy the Seeker. I told them of the amazing sighting of Sir Guy one moonlit night at the castle that I was told about by a local when researching 'Ghostly Northumberland'.
As we neared the castle Harry exclaimed that he hoped that he didn't bump into a Warhawk tonight. It took me a few moments to figure out what he was talking about but then I realised that he was referring to the Warlock from the tale of Sir Guy. We neared the castle when I suddenly stopped in my tracks, as I shone my torch towards the castle I saw hundreds of glowing orbs, glowing bright green and moving back and forth in front of the castle. Then I suddenly realised that it was the light reflecting from the eyes of sheep grazing in the darkness in front of Dunstanburgh Castle. As we made light of the situation we all heard a scream come across the field, it seemed to come from further up the coast and sounded like the scream of a female.
We nervously entered the castle courtyard and had a look around, this was Brian's first visit to the castle and he was keen to explore. Harry walked over to the Well and looked down, he startled us all as he jumped back in panic. A dragonfly had flew up the Well and shot out towards him before flying off into the night.
Lilburn Tower was our next port of call, the atmospheric ruined tower said to be haunted by Margaret of Anjou. We stood silently, taking in our surroundings when Harry pointed behind me and said "what was that there?", we were unsure what he meant, "something just walked behind you" he continued. I couldn't see anything, and I didn't feel anything. That was followed soon after by Tom and Bri both claiming to have seen a bright flash of light in the tower.
Lilburn Tower was our next port of call, the atmospheric ruined tower said to be haunted by Margaret of Anjou. We stood silently, taking in our surroundings when Harry pointed behind me and said "what was that there?", we were unsure what he meant, "something just walked behind you" he continued. I couldn't see anything, and I didn't feel anything. That was followed soon after by Tom and Bri both claiming to have seen a bright flash of light in the tower.
We explored the remains of the castle keep, and although we all found it very eerie, it was uneventuful. As it neared midnight we decided to head home, disappointed by our latest visit to Dunstanburgh.
Conclusion
Tonight seemed like a quiet investigation, however reading back through this text we did experience a few remarkable happenings; Harry saw a dark shadow, followed by Tom and Bri seeing a flashing light in the same spot. We also heard a woman scream over the fields in the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere. This could have been a genuine scream from a living, breathing, person, or maybe not..............
