What folklore and ghosts are there in Norfolk

 Norfolk is known for its stunning countryside, beautiful coast and charming villages. It’s a destination for tranquillity and peace. But there’s another side to Norfolk. Beneath that idyllic façade there’s mystery, ghosts and tragedy.

Ghost of Anne Boleyn at Blickling Hall

One of the most notorious ghostly tales about Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, involves headless horsemen at Blickling Hall. As the tale goes, she’s seen arriving at Blickling Hall, headless, her spectre clutching her severed head, seated on a carriage that is drawn by four spectral horses and a headless horseman.

Once Anne arrives at the Hall, she’s said to glide through the corridors from dusk until sunrise, still clutching her blood-dripping head. This manifestation occurs each year on the date of her execution, May 19th.

The hanging monk of St Benet’s Abbey

The only monastery not to have been officially dissolved by Henry VIII, St Benet’s Abbey has been without monks since 1545, but the Bishop of Norwich still holds a service here every summer. But it’s at dusk, when darkness falls and mist rolls in from the River Bure, that the ruins of St Benet’s Abbey look foreboding and the atmosphere changes.

It’s then you remember the terrible story of Brother Veritas…

When the Norman knights of William the Conqueror came to St Benet’s Abbey, the monks refused to give them entry. Later that night, Brother Veritas slipped out of the Abbey and said he would leave a door open for the Normans… on the promise they made him abbot.

The Normans seized the abbey and prepared a ceremony for Veritas. As he bowed his head to receive his reward, the Normans slipped a noose onto his neck and hanged him from the tower a punishment for his treachery.

If you happen to be in the vicinity at dusk, you might see the Abbey reappear in its glory and then see the dreadful scene replayed, ending with Veritas being hanged and left dangling, emitting a blood-curdling scream.

Black Shuck: inspiration for Hound of the Baskervilles

In 1901 while staying at Cromer Hall on the Norfolk coast, Sherlock Holmes author Arthur Conan Doyle heard the story of a black hellhound with burning red eyes who emerged from the marsh around Beeston Regis and terrorised the local populace and livestock. The hellhound had a name, Black Shuck, and Conan Doyle would take it as inspiration for the Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Sheringham Yow Yows

If you stand on Beeston Bump above Sheringham on a squally day, you might hear the eerie howling of the Yow Yows. Local folklore says the ominous sound is that of sailors, drowned when their boat got into trouble on a dark and stormy night but nobody from the town, now famed for the bravery of their RNLI crews, came to their aid. The victims probably knew the fishermen didn’t help because they intended to salvage the boat’s cargo for profit.

The doomed mariners cursed Sheringham and its townsfolk. Many’s a time that fishermen have reported hearing cries, the Yow Yows, from the sea, but when they go to the spot where they thought the noise came from, it mysteriously moves to another part of the sea.

The Elveden Creature

The largest lowland pine forest in the British Isles at 47,000 acres, Thetford Forest in the Brecks is the perfect place for Norfolk’s equivalent of Bigfoot or Sasquatch to hide.

The Elveden Creature usually stay away from humans, but there have been numerous sightings on the A1075 between Thetford and Wretham of a strange creature. A large, long-haired beast with a grey shaggy coat, it has been seen on its hind legs like a human but also standing on four legs like a dog.

One observer said, ‘I saw this jet black large furry creature just disappear into the wooded area over the road – it must have been about 20ft away from me, but I saw it as clear as day, running on all fours, jet black, big, with a very furry, fluffy thick coat. I stopped and – I won’t lie – I was pretty terrified as I was on the stretch of road alone.’

The creature sounds as if it could have been around at the time of the Ice Age Pingo ponds or perhaps when Neolithic man was mining flint at Grimes Graves.

Spooky sightings at Roman Burgh Castle

Burch Castle is the site of a 2,000-year-old Roman fort. It’s said that on quiet, moonlit nights on the narrow lane to Burgh Castle, close to the church of St Peter and St Paul, you will see ghostly apparitions of Roman legionnaires, but only from the knees up.

Why are they cut off at the knee? Because the road would have been much lower when the Romans were here.

The screaming ghost of Nancy the cockle picker

The saltmarshes of Stiffkey near Wells-next-the-Sea are famed for their blue-tinged cockles, called Stewkey Blues. But if you’re cockling yourself, make sure you keep your eye on the weather… and look out for the ghost of Nancy.

In the early 19th century Stiffkey was a village of fishermen and women cocklers. One such was Nancy, who was determined to fill a bag of the shellfish to ensure she got paid to feed her family after the other women had called it a day.

Nancy, working on Blacknock mudflat, didn’t notice the rising tide filling up the creeks. With the rising water came creeping night and a rolling sea fret. By the time Nancy realised she was in danger, it was too late – the mist obscured the lights of the village. Disorientated and caught in the cloying mud, her screams could be heard in the community… but there was no way of reaching Nancy. Her body was found the next day, and she was buried in the churchyard.

But on the occasions when frets roll in off the North Sea, Nancy’s scream ring out. Worse still, some have reported seeing a ghostly apparition on the marshes, seaweed in its hair, water pouring from her mouth as she screams.

The Green Lady of Gressenhall

Now a vibrant museum and farm and dating back to 1777, Gressenhall became a workhouse following the Poor Law of 1834. Life was harsh for the men, women and children incarcerated there, so it’s unsurprising strange things have been reported here.

Stretching back fifty years, staff have reported lights turning themselves on, boxes moving, and windows opening without warning, a clock removing itself from its wall overnight and being found submerged in a sink.

Once a wall clock was discovered submerged in a sink overnight, having somehow crossed the room by itself. Some believe the spirits of former inmates made themselves known by the sound of children laughing and an overwhelming sense of being watched.

Then there were sightings of a Green Lady, accompanied by the sound of footsteps echoing along empty corridors and doors opening and closing on their own.

The most haunted pub in the East of England

The Adam and Eve pub in Norwich, dating back to the 13th century, is said to be the most haunted pub in the region, not least with the ghost of Lord Sheffield, who was killed during Kett's Rebellion in 1549, possibly at the pub.

It's said there are sudden cold and hot spots, the last calls bell ringing itself, footsteps heard with nobody being there, but also visitors being touched by an unseen person, hands felt on shoulders and even people feeling fingers go through their hair.

The woman in black at Norwich Castle

It’s no surprise Norwich Castle is haunted by several ghosts. It was once a prison and the scene of public hangings and executions, not least rebel leader Robert Kett whose ghostly rotten corpse is often seen floating outside the castle at night.

However, the most seen apparition is the Lady in Black, whose ghostly presence has been seen around the castle, sometimes floating in the air.