St Crispin’s church in Church Stenton, in the Vale of York, is one of the most haunted churchyards in England. Dozens of sightings of a lone spectral figure stalking the starlit graveyard have been reported over the decades. Superstition has it that the last person buried is responsible for watching over and protecting St Crispin’s churchyard, and it is this figure that can is seen stalking the lonely churchyard by night.
The superstition originates from the trial and execution in 1644 of Maggie Green. Maggie Green was accused, tried and executed by legendary Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins and at her trial she cursed the community, the church and specifically the priest who turned her in to Hopkins.
Maggie Green was then buried face-down in an unmarked grave outside the churchyard. It's exact location is no longer known.
Once Hopkins had left the villagers, called upon noted alchemist Hector Speight to protect them from the curse. Speight used powerful magics to ensure that the last person buried would watch over the churchyard and keep Church Stenton safe from Maggie Green’s curse.
Possibilities
1 The southern corner of St Crispin’s churchyard is set aside for the Whitstable family plot. The Whitstables are minor aristocrats and can trace their history in Church Stenton back to the fifteenth century.
In 1650, six years after Maggie Green was executed, Sir Horace Whistable’s daughter died. Sightings of the spectral watcher had already been reported, and Sir Horace quickly reached the conclusion that while it was acceptable for a commoner to watch over St Crispin’s churchyard, it was quite unacceptable behaviour for a member of the aristocracy. So he contracted the family solicitor, Silas Nettle, to ensure that whenever a Whitstable was buried in St Crispin’s churchyard, the service and burial would take place in the morning. And in the afternoon, a second burial would take place – that of someone lower born.
The contract has been in place ever since.
Whenever there is a Whitstable burial in their family plot, their solicitors (now Creep and Nettle Solicitors, based in York) arrange for a second burial that same day. Usually their contacts in the hospitals and funeral parlours of Yorkshire ensures that no laws are broken. Sometimes, however, their contacts fail them – and then they resort to murder.
2 In 1706, as he lay on his deathbed, John Chobham made the Church Stenton community leaders an offer that they found it hard to refuse. In return for an annual fee (to be paid to his family and amounting to 10% of each year’s burial costs), he offered to be the ghost-watch. Forever. The agreement was made and papers drawn up.
Following each funeral, Chobham’s body is exhumed and then re-buried in a new plot - thus ensuring that he continues the ghost-watch and relieves the parishioners of Church Stenton from that particular burden. This continues to this day – and Chobham’s descendants are amongst the wealthiest in Church Stenton.
3 Church Stenton has started experiencing a series of troubles. The village pond has suddenly turned stagnant, killing the fish. A dog has gone missing. A barn has burned down. There have been a spate of mechanical and electrical failures. The church roof has developed a leak. So far, while these incidents are annoying, none of them have caused injury. So far.
The incidents are the result of Maggie Green’s slow return to power. A few weeks before the incidents started, the body of the last person buried in the churchyard was exhumed by the authorities following the re-opening of a murder investigation. The body will be kept until the case is closed.
However, removing the body also meant removing the spectral watcher and without her ghostly jailer, Maggie’s power has slowly built unchecked. Her strength is now growing rapidly, and it will not be long before she is able to dig herself out of her unmarked grave. Until then, Maggie is vulnerable and another burial at the church (or the return of the exhumed body) will create another spectral watcher and check her recent growth.
© Steve Hatherley
The superstition originates from the trial and execution in 1644 of Maggie Green. Maggie Green was accused, tried and executed by legendary Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins and at her trial she cursed the community, the church and specifically the priest who turned her in to Hopkins.
Maggie Green was then buried face-down in an unmarked grave outside the churchyard. It's exact location is no longer known.
Once Hopkins had left the villagers, called upon noted alchemist Hector Speight to protect them from the curse. Speight used powerful magics to ensure that the last person buried would watch over the churchyard and keep Church Stenton safe from Maggie Green’s curse.
Possibilities
1 The southern corner of St Crispin’s churchyard is set aside for the Whitstable family plot. The Whitstables are minor aristocrats and can trace their history in Church Stenton back to the fifteenth century.
In 1650, six years after Maggie Green was executed, Sir Horace Whistable’s daughter died. Sightings of the spectral watcher had already been reported, and Sir Horace quickly reached the conclusion that while it was acceptable for a commoner to watch over St Crispin’s churchyard, it was quite unacceptable behaviour for a member of the aristocracy. So he contracted the family solicitor, Silas Nettle, to ensure that whenever a Whitstable was buried in St Crispin’s churchyard, the service and burial would take place in the morning. And in the afternoon, a second burial would take place – that of someone lower born.
The contract has been in place ever since.
Whenever there is a Whitstable burial in their family plot, their solicitors (now Creep and Nettle Solicitors, based in York) arrange for a second burial that same day. Usually their contacts in the hospitals and funeral parlours of Yorkshire ensures that no laws are broken. Sometimes, however, their contacts fail them – and then they resort to murder.
2 In 1706, as he lay on his deathbed, John Chobham made the Church Stenton community leaders an offer that they found it hard to refuse. In return for an annual fee (to be paid to his family and amounting to 10% of each year’s burial costs), he offered to be the ghost-watch. Forever. The agreement was made and papers drawn up.
Following each funeral, Chobham’s body is exhumed and then re-buried in a new plot - thus ensuring that he continues the ghost-watch and relieves the parishioners of Church Stenton from that particular burden. This continues to this day – and Chobham’s descendants are amongst the wealthiest in Church Stenton.
3 Church Stenton has started experiencing a series of troubles. The village pond has suddenly turned stagnant, killing the fish. A dog has gone missing. A barn has burned down. There have been a spate of mechanical and electrical failures. The church roof has developed a leak. So far, while these incidents are annoying, none of them have caused injury. So far.
The incidents are the result of Maggie Green’s slow return to power. A few weeks before the incidents started, the body of the last person buried in the churchyard was exhumed by the authorities following the re-opening of a murder investigation. The body will be kept until the case is closed.
However, removing the body also meant removing the spectral watcher and without her ghostly jailer, Maggie’s power has slowly built unchecked. Her strength is now growing rapidly, and it will not be long before she is able to dig herself out of her unmarked grave. Until then, Maggie is vulnerable and another burial at the church (or the return of the exhumed body) will create another spectral watcher and check her recent growth.
© Steve Hatherley
No comments:
Post a Comment