A fabulous collection of ghost hauntings in Suffolk, from the infamous
Black Dog of Bungay to the headless Anne Boleyn stalking visitors at
Blickling Hall. The serene, low-lying countryside of Suffolk, with its
scattered farms, water-meadows and extensive coastline, seems an
unlikely area to be associated with ghosts and demons. Yet, a motley
array are said to haunt the region. The most famous is the Black Dog, a
spectral hound, which in the year 1577 terrorised and killed
parishioners in the churches of Bungay and Blythburgh, and continues to
exert a strong presence today. Other strange phenomena include phantom
coaches, rattling through the countryside at night, drawn by spectral
horses and driven by a headless coachman, and the freshwater mermaids
who lure young children to their deaths in pools and rivers. Tobias Gill
the black drummer haunts the crossroads near Blythburgh where he was
hanged for the murder of a servant girl, and Mrs. Short, the 'Queen of
Hell', can still raise the hairs on your neck if you wander in the
region of Boulge Hall near Woodbridge. Famous characters such as Anne
Boleyn, Earl Hugh Bigod, and St. Edmund add an additional lustre to folk
tales of the area, and strange happenings occur in many of the
churchyards, Suffolk having more churches per acre than almost any other
county. This fascinating account of local 'sightings' deals with all the
traditional historical legends as well as modern day sightings, and
investigates their relevance and significance for the modern age.
