Edlingham Castle at Halloween
Visited 30 October 2004
Edlingham Castle, the site of my biggest successes to date during my paranormal investigations over the last two years, seemed the perfect place to carry out yet another vigil on a very special evening, as when the clocks strike midnight we will be entering Hallowe’en. This was the ultimate warm up for the big one the following night. This will be the third visit to the castle and on the previous two we most certainly weren’t welcome by whatever lurks within. We’re back!
Harry Dalton will be the Robin to my Batman this evening, there was meant to be six of us but everyone else dropped out for various reasons. Harry had been to the castle on both previous visits and on both occasions he had seen something inexplicable. Harry was literally chased away on our first visit here. Credit where credit is due though, when I suggested returning here he couldn’t wait to see what we would experience this time. With our equipment loaded into my car we hit the road and took the short journey up the A697 to Edlingham Castle.
On the drive to the castle it was very foggy and a very dark night. However when we arrived at the castle we were both stunned by how light it was, I actually checked I’d turned the car lights off as it was so light. The moon, directly above the castle, lit up the sky like nothing I’d ever seen before, it was almost 11pm but it was lighter now that it had been at 7pm earlier this evening. It wasn’t a particularly cold evening either, if I didn’t know that it was nearly November I’d have been convinced we were in July or August.
We listened for the ‘dragon noise’ that we had heard on both previous investigations but heard nothing. I got my camera out of the car and we got our torches (although we didn’t really need them) and rather that head straight for the castle we had a look around the churchyard. The church of St John the Baptist is mainly 11th and 12th century but the large tower with slit windows was built in the 14th century. The slit windows indicate that this will have been a place of refuge during raids by the Scots. The Lords from the castle will have been buried here. I felt calm and unafraid in the churchyard, I took some photos of the church with my camera and all of a sudden the lithium battery died even though it had registered as being full moments earlier, before I even had chance to tell Harry he shouted over to tell me his brand new torch batteries had died as well. We stayed in the churchyard a little while longer before leaving and heading for the castle.
We listened for the ‘dragon noise’ that we had heard on both previous investigations but heard nothing. I got my camera out of the car and we got our torches (although we didn’t really need them) and rather that head straight for the castle we had a look around the churchyard. The church of St John the Baptist is mainly 11th and 12th century but the large tower with slit windows was built in the 14th century. The slit windows indicate that this will have been a place of refuge during raids by the Scots. The Lords from the castle will have been buried here. I felt calm and unafraid in the churchyard, I took some photos of the church with my camera and all of a sudden the lithium battery died even though it had registered as being full moments earlier, before I even had chance to tell Harry he shouted over to tell me his brand new torch batteries had died as well. We stayed in the churchyard a little while longer before leaving and heading for the castle.
As we walked to the castle Harry told me that he was convinced something had been in the churchyard with us earlier, the simultaneous draining of our batteries would back that up. He went on to say that he didn’t think whatever was there with us minded us being there, as it knew we came with respect and didn’t have any bad intentions.
We reached the castle and Harry said he felt a shiver go up his spine. The moon was directly above the castle bathing it in light, however, it didn’t make it any less threatening. We wandered amongst the ruins first looking for shadows, utilising all of our senses, seeing what we could pick up. A police car came screaming down the road behind the castle and out of sight. Over near the church a few minutes later I saw a light, had someone rang the police to complain about two suspicious looking people wandering around the churchyard? We decided to head back up to the car just in case. Harry was a little concerned, the original venue for this evening was to beBolam Lake until a last minute change of plan, so in the boot of my car he had a baseball bat and a machete nicknamed The Ma-yeti, just in case he came face to face with a eight foot hairy beast. We needn’t have worried though as it was just a bloke walking his dog. We headed back to the castle and passed the bloke again on his way back up, “Evening” I said, “Are you looking for ghosts?” came the reply. We talked briefly for a few minutes and it turned out he was a member of the parish and looks after the church and also keeps an eye on the castle for English Heritage. “There’s no ghosts here, you won’t see anything here” he insisted, we knew otherwise so he wished us a good evening and we carried on.
We reached the castle, again, and headed straight for the Solar Tower, which is the main part that still stands and the place where we had so much luck on the earlier visits. “John Edwards” Harry said. He couldn’t explain how or why but he felt for some reason that was the name of a person who haunts this area, he also said that he felt that this was the person who didn’t like us being there. This was a first for Harry, he’d never came out with names before, he seems to have a gift for knowing when things are going to happen, the night at Woodhorn Church was proof of that so I had no reason to doubt him. I will do my utmost to see if there are any records of anyone called John Edwards having any connection to the castle. All of a sudden the temperature dropped, it was a mild evening and fairly warm for this time of year but now it was so cold that I could see my breath. Harry said he thought that the spirits of children play here, a few minutes later we both heard the voice of a young female come from just behind the castle, maybe two or three metres away, it was so clear and if this was the daytime you’d think nothing of it as you’d think it was a young girl. There was no one there, the castle is in the middle of nowhere and at this time of night there is no way that a child would be out here alone.
We reached the castle and Harry said he felt a shiver go up his spine. The moon was directly above the castle bathing it in light, however, it didn’t make it any less threatening. We wandered amongst the ruins first looking for shadows, utilising all of our senses, seeing what we could pick up. A police car came screaming down the road behind the castle and out of sight. Over near the church a few minutes later I saw a light, had someone rang the police to complain about two suspicious looking people wandering around the churchyard? We decided to head back up to the car just in case. Harry was a little concerned, the original venue for this evening was to beBolam Lake until a last minute change of plan, so in the boot of my car he had a baseball bat and a machete nicknamed The Ma-yeti, just in case he came face to face with a eight foot hairy beast. We needn’t have worried though as it was just a bloke walking his dog. We headed back to the castle and passed the bloke again on his way back up, “Evening” I said, “Are you looking for ghosts?” came the reply. We talked briefly for a few minutes and it turned out he was a member of the parish and looks after the church and also keeps an eye on the castle for English Heritage. “There’s no ghosts here, you won’t see anything here” he insisted, we knew otherwise so he wished us a good evening and we carried on.
We reached the castle, again, and headed straight for the Solar Tower, which is the main part that still stands and the place where we had so much luck on the earlier visits. “John Edwards” Harry said. He couldn’t explain how or why but he felt for some reason that was the name of a person who haunts this area, he also said that he felt that this was the person who didn’t like us being there. This was a first for Harry, he’d never came out with names before, he seems to have a gift for knowing when things are going to happen, the night at Woodhorn Church was proof of that so I had no reason to doubt him. I will do my utmost to see if there are any records of anyone called John Edwards having any connection to the castle. All of a sudden the temperature dropped, it was a mild evening and fairly warm for this time of year but now it was so cold that I could see my breath. Harry said he thought that the spirits of children play here, a few minutes later we both heard the voice of a young female come from just behind the castle, maybe two or three metres away, it was so clear and if this was the daytime you’d think nothing of it as you’d think it was a young girl. There was no one there, the castle is in the middle of nowhere and at this time of night there is no way that a child would be out here alone.
I felt I was being watched, the same feeling I’ve had every time I’ve been here. If it was simply paranoia I wouldn’t feel like this again as I’ve been here so often. We spent another 45 minutes here, we knew there was something here but it didn’t want to show itself tonight. We tried to communicate asking for a sign, nothing happened.
We decided to call it a night and headed back to the car, as soon as we were out of the vicinity of the castle the temperature went back up and I could no longer see my breath. As we nearer the car two fellow ghost hunters passed us going the other way. I said hello and one of them asked if either of us were called Rob. I was a little apprehensive about saying yes as I couldn't work out how this guy could possibly know who we were, but tentatively said "Yeah, I am". Turns out he recognised us from this site, it was a lad called Alan who’s emailed me before about various haunted places. I have since emailed him to see if they had any luck at Edlingham and they didn’t unfortunately. They went to Bolam Lake afterwards however and experienced lots of growling noises, which they couldn’t identify, and shaking fences.
We decided to call it a night and headed back to the car, as soon as we were out of the vicinity of the castle the temperature went back up and I could no longer see my breath. As we nearer the car two fellow ghost hunters passed us going the other way. I said hello and one of them asked if either of us were called Rob. I was a little apprehensive about saying yes as I couldn't work out how this guy could possibly know who we were, but tentatively said "Yeah, I am". Turns out he recognised us from this site, it was a lad called Alan who’s emailed me before about various haunted places. I have since emailed him to see if they had any luck at Edlingham and they didn’t unfortunately. They went to Bolam Lake afterwards however and experienced lots of growling noises, which they couldn’t identify, and shaking fences.
Conclusion
Tonight was a strange one. I didn’t see a ghost but we had a lot of success in other ways. In the churchyard we experienced batteries draining for no reason. Harry picked up on spirits of children and then we both clearly heard a small girl shout something behind the castle. He also came up with the name John Edwards which is well worth looking into. There was the temperature changed, the constant feeling of being watched. There’s definitely something going on at this castle, if there’s any sceptics reading this now then Edlingham is the place to go to maybe go some way to opening your mind to the fact that there is more to this ghost lark that meets the eye. Roll on Hallowe’en!