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HALLOWEEN HORROR TOUR
Halloween...it’s all a bit of harmless fun, isn’t it? Dressing up as
witches, ghosts, ghouls and vampires… but the origins of this distinctly
un-Christian festival go back to pagan times and it’s not that long ago that
a belief in the evil power of witches and of ‘things that go bump in the
night’ was all too common. So, we dare you to join us on this mixture of
fun, fantasy and fright. Seven days during which we will visit haunted
castles, pubs and houses, hear gruesome tales of witch hunts and burnings,
visit Dracula’s lair and the home of the Hell Fire Club! We’ll be staying in
some haunted pubs and, as a highlight, joining some modern day witches on
Halloween evening… Of course, you’re also going to be visiting some of
England’s most historic cities, castles and cathedrals and seeing some
splendid Fall scenery into the bargain.
This tour is probably not for those of a nervous
disposition but go on, we dare you! Tour participants are limited to 13...
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DEPARTURE DATES & PRICES FOR 2008
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Prices: £930 pp
twin share / £120 single supplement |
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
NIGHTSTOP
Day One - Sunday
Our first
day is spent touring one of England bloodiest and scariest regions.
To the north east of London lie the counties collectively known as
East Anglia. Witch fever gripped East Anglia for 14 terrible months
between 1645 - 1646. The people of these eastern counties were
solidly Puritan and rabid anti-Catholics and easily swayed by
bigoted preachers whose mission was to seek out the slightest whiff
of heresy. A man called Matthew Hopkins became known as the 'Witchfinder
General' and had 68 people put to death in Bury St. Edmunds alone,
and 19 hanged at Chelmsford in a single day.
We’ll begin
our terrifying week with a visit to Bury Saint Edmunds where we’ll
also try to detect ghostly monks in the ruins of what was once a
magnificent Abbey, now mouldering in decay but known to be one the
most spiritually charged locations in England. Nearby is the
mediaeval village of Woolpit where we’ll hear about the legend of
the ‘Green Children’, possible alien visitors in the 1200s! Nearby,
there’s Brolet Rectory, once dubbed the most haunted house in
England. The house burnt down in the 1300s but the adjoining church
and its graveyard are still there and no one steps out this turf
without a feeling of great foreboding…
Finally, to King’s Lynn, our night stop where a heart carved on a
wall in the market place at No. 15 is supposed to mark the spot
where the heart of Margaret Read, a condemned witch who was being
burnt at the stake, leapt from the flames and struck the wall.
Nearby, in a chilling alley way is said to be the mark of Satan’s
hook, and the public library hosts a ghostly monk. Who will dare
join our evening walk through this spook place on a chill, fall
night... Perhaps a spirit of a different kind will revive ours at
the haunted inn, The White Hart?
Kings
Lynn
Day Two - Monday
The spooky
and to some terrifying gatehouse of Thornton Abbey, our first stop,
is haunted by Thomas de Gretham, the 14th Abbot of Thornton. A
practitioner of the Black Arts, a dabbler in witchcraft and seeker
after the pleasures of the flesh, his crimes were such, that he was
subjected to a particularly harsh and brutal punishment. Taken down
to a dark room in the depths of the monastery he was bricked up
alive and left to die in the subterranean, airless dungeon. Little
wonder that his sinister figure, has been seen on several occasions,
flitting around the grounds of Thornton Abbey, or staring with evil
intent at surprised visitors who notice him standing in the shadowy
corners of the towering gatehouse.
Next to
another religious house to send the shivers up your spine and have
the hairs on your neck bristle! In the remarkably pretty town of
Beverly, Yorkshire, we find the Dominican Friary. Built in the 13th
century, the current custodians have reported numerous instances of
unexplained activity. A Dominican Friar has appeared in the kitchen
doorway and wandering around the dining hall. There has also been
the figure of a young man sighted in one of the bedrooms. Loud
footsteps are often heard without explanation and on one occasion
three workmates witnessed a ghostly figure in white walking along
the top floor of the building.
Leaving Beverly (after some time in the city itself)
we drive to our night stop at York.
York
Day Three - Tuesday
It’s time to
investigate a few more witch locations, starting with Mother Shipton,
England’s most famous Prophetess. Living some 500 years ago during
the reigns of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, her Prophetic
visions became known and feared throughout England. The Cave, her
legendary birthplace is near to the famous, unique, geological
phenomenon - The Petrifying Well – where you’ll see its magical
cascading waters turn items into stone!
Next to Skipton Castle, home of the ‘water witch’.
Here among the beautiful and somewhat romantic ruins of what was
once the wealthiest Cistercian house in the country the occasional
evening visitor is, it seems, likely to hear the melodious chanting
of a male choir.
Yet another
religious house is ready to potentially scare the living daylights
out of you. Bolton Abbey - standing among soft green meadows
bordered by woods and the River Wharfe and its delightful
waterfalls, this picturesque twelfth century ruin provides a perfect
setting for any artist but it is the old grounds of the abbey and
the area near the current rectory which is haunted. The Reverend F.G.
Griffiths confirmed in 1975 that the apparition of an Augustinian
monk in a brown hassock has been seen walking through the wall of
the rectory towards the ruined abbey. The figure of the monk has
also been witnessed on a number of occasions near the rectory by
visitors to the ruins.
After a day’s ghost and witch hunting, we finally reach our
nightstop for the next two nights at the Viking city of York. And it
just happens to be the world’s ‘most haunted city’ according to the
Ghost Research Foundation International, with a rumoured 140 ghosts
within its city walls. York is one of the most densely haunted
cities in England. York
Day Four -
Wednesday
No driving
today. We are on foot and discovering this amazing city of York.
This is a walled city and arguably one of the UK’s prettiest cities
with an ancient and lovely cathedral (York Minster), medieval
shopping streets (‘the shambles’), a castle and several fine
museums. We’ll spend the day visiting all of the city’s major
attractions but what brings us here, however, is ghost finding! And,
once we’ve toured the Minster, we’ll start with the Treasurer’s
House – home to York’s most famous ghost story. This beautiful
house, with attractive gardens, and home to a magnificent antiques
collection also has ghosts. A company of Roman foot soldiers, appear
through a cellar wall and experts confirmed that the house is built
over a Roman road.
Next, to York Dungeons. A scary adventure through York’s darker past
and certainly not for the faint hearted. The visitor is taken on a
spine-tingling tour around plague ravaged streets of 14th century
York, meets the ghostly roman legionnaires and follows Dick Turpin
on his way to the gallows. In this most haunted city in Europe,
other gruesome highlights include the horrifying realities of the
plague of 1348, the mystery of the Labyrinth of the Lost, the
twisted mind of the resident torturer in the torture chambers and
more ‘orrible goings on besides.
This afternoon you’re free to explore and shop at leisure but be
prepared for tonight when we will participate in a Haunted Walk of
York! Ghosts ‘appearing' tonight might include the
Grey Lady, laughing gargoyles and the drunken airman, or maybe it’ll
just be screams – perhaps yours!
York
Day Five - Thursday
A change of
scenery as we’ll be back in our mini-coach and traveling across the
wild Yorkshire moors to the coastal town of Whitby where our main
focus will be on the abbey ruins and Whitby’s strange connection
with the Prince of all Vampires – Dracula! It was here that Bram
Stoker wrote his famous novel while staying at the Royal Hotel. And
from the hotel the graveyard of St Mary’s church is just a short
glide away... You’ll be taking a walk through Dracula’s Whitby,
seeing the sites that stimulated Stoker’s mind, or was it perhaps
where he saw what he was to write about... Our visit also includes
the entertaining “Dracula Experience” - an interactive journey
through the novel. With the help of live actors, animation, special
lighting and sound effects, this well-designed house of horror tells
the story of the most famous vampire of them all.
We’ll have several other nasty surprises in store for you today but
to tell you them now would spoil it!
York
Day Six - Friday
‘Tis
Halloween. And we tour across from Yorkshire to Lancashire stopping
first at Spofforth Castle. Haunted by an indistinguishable `half
human` shape, this ruined fortified manor was originally the home of
the Percy family who arrived in this country from Normandy in 1069.
The bluish-white apparition is seen `standing` on the tiny parapet
at the top of the eighteenth century tower for a few seconds and
then falling rapidly to the grass path below. A group of
schoolchildren and their teacher saw the phenomena in 1969 and two
picnickers also witnessed `the ghostly suicide` in 1973.
 Beautiful
hilly countryside lightens our journey to the ancient capital of the
county, Lancaster. Lancaster Castle has been the centre of
dispensing criminal justice for over 700 years. Justice in times
past of course meant hanging, burning at the stake, branding with
hot irons and transportation… many of the hangings and burnings were
done in public. The castle still functions today as a working court
and in between sittings we’ll tour this grisly place seeing the
dungeons, the shiveringly named, ‘drop room’ and other macabre
sites. Most important, as it will prepare us for this evening’s
events, will be an introduction to the story of the Pendle Witches,
all of whom were put to death here in 1612...
And so to our main event, the celebration of Halloween itself with
the witches of Pendle Hill! For a self respecting witch, Halloween
is Samhain, the festival of the dead and every year it is celebrated
on Pendle Hill. This year, you’ll join them. Lancashire
Day Seven -
Saturday
A late
start, in case the night has been long and you’re short of sleep for
whatever reason… We drive south and cross the Peak District. We have
two final ghastly locations to visit today to complete our
nightmarish journey. First, to visit a village that was completely
wiped out during the great plague. Today Eyam is simply known as the
‘plague village’. As with many of our sites, the location is set
amidst simply stunning scenery. Then, continuing south, we soon find
ourselves in West Wycombe where we find the Hell Fire Caves, site of
a mysterious sect that gathered here, reputedly sacrificing young
virgins, in the mid 1700s.
Our tour completes in London where you’ll be dropped at a hotel of
your choice. Of course, if you haven’t already had enough of a
frightening experience you could always complete the tour with our
evening
Jack the Ripper tour
of London’s East End.
London,
not included in your,tour
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