Haunted Carlisle – Tales from the Crypt

• Books
• 27th September 2019
• Stephen Murphy

Halloween is just around the corner and we asked the author of Supernatural Cumbria, H. C. Ivison, what ghouls and ghosts call Carlisle their home. 

Carlisle is the capital of Cumbria and is a true defensive city. It has been occupied by the Romans, burnt by the Scotts, seen Roman re-occupation and destruction. Re-built by the King of Northumbria, it was pillaged by the Danes and then left in a state of semi-ruin until 1092.

As you can imagine there are plenty of unexplained apparitions and eerie occurrences in our Border City that hark back to its brutal past.

In common with long occupied sites, when layer upon layer of building, destruction and re-building sit one above the other, many indeterminate shadows, footsteps and sinister things have been reported. Some have stories and plausible explanations but in many cases, we are left to wonder.

I was given a relatively recent first-hand account of two joiners working in a tall old house in the streets between the by-pass and the Cathedral. One went to the ground floor to get tea and on his way back he saw a figure in one of the bathrooms so he called out, thinking it was his friend.

In his fright, he almost dropped the mugs when a reply came… from behind him.

There was no one around, his workmate had disappeared to another floor for more wood and the ghostly bathroom figure faded.  The workers were informed that the house was full of footsteps, banging doors and moving shadows.  The house is a commercially occupied building and we won’t give anything away in case we scare off the poor owners’ customers.

Buildings in the city’s main street, mask the remnants of fine townhouses.  On the first floor of one, a figure of a man in eighteenth-century dress is often seen strolling across what was probably his drawing-room to gaze from the windows.

In Carlisle’s ancient heart, there is reputed to be the ruinous remains of cellars from a tavern that were incorporated into a much later building.  That’s not unusual for an old structure … but not many have caught creeping Monk-like shapes on the security camera.

It is also claimed that the building had, indeed still has, a secret passage which would be considered normal in a city that has seen so much conflict and trauma

A secret passage has been rumoured to exist within the Cathedral for centuries.  Its entrance is now a long lost secret or was built over long ago. It was said to come out within the city walls but speculation has been rife as to its final destination.  Could it be this same passage that’s haunted by the ghosts of monks fleeing some unimaginable terror?  Is this passage the scene of some enduring haunting and why seal the exit, if not to keep the nightmares inside?

The Cathedral is a beautiful building that has at least one gentle, if not determined ghost. The effigy of a prelate was moved to another location and each night thereafter, he was seen to rise from the floor and float over the original location. The effigy was moved back shortly after.

A smiling Cavalier walks the ramparts of Carlisle Castle, he is one of several spectres that walk the walls that also include a white lady.  Perhaps this is the same woman who haunts the Captains Tower?

She is said to be the Castle Captain’s mistress and the legend claims she was walled up to prevent a scandal when she became pregnant. Fascinatingly, a woman’s body was found walled up in the tower sometime in the 1800s. The corpse was dressed in silk plaid and her feet rested on a square of similar materiel.  There were jewelled rings on her fingers and we are left to wonder why she was so luxuriously adorned, was she part of a Reiver feud or the Captains pregnant lover?

Whether living or dead, her entombment appears harsh.

 Helen Ivison is a local history author with several books covering Cumbrian topics, visit www.amberley-books.com and search for H. C. Ivison to find more.