Ghost Hunting in Cornwall
Join us for a hair-raising tour of Cornwall’s most haunted places
From the bleak bogs and lonely paths of Bodmin Moor to the creaking corridors and secret passages of Pendennis Castle, nothing gets the goosebumps raised more than a Cornish ghost story.
With the nights drawing in and Autumn tightening its grip, we thought we’d help get you in the mood for All Hallows’ Eve with a creepy and spin-chilling tour of some of Cornwall’s most haunted locations.
Lock the doors, dim the lights and peep from beneath the blanket as we serve up some spooky tales from deepest, darkest Kernow…
The dingy passages of Bodmin Jail
The first of our spooky stories takes us to the historic stannary town of Bodmin in the heart of Cornwall and the towering stone walls of the town’s former jail house. Built in the 18th Century, the gaol was considered ‘a milestone in prison design’ encompassing separate areas for ‘felons, misdemeanants and debtors.’ Some inmates would never leave this foreboding institution, eventually taking the solemn walk down the narrow passageways to the drop gallows. In all, sixty executions took place within the confines of the prison, including eight females, often watched by hundreds of spectators who would gather in the neighbouring fields to view the grim proceedings.
View this post on Instagram
Today, the jail is a popular tourist attraction, offering guided tours round the maze of winding corridors, courtyards and dimly lit cells. It’s not uncommon for visitors to be overcome by feelings of despair as they experience the often cramped and claustrophobic conditions. One of the jail’s most hair-raising ghost stories tells of a distressed phantom woman, holding a white handkerchief, who appears in the presence of children offering out her hands as if to beckon them closer. It’s believed that the apparition is former inmate, Selina Wadge, who was arrested for the murder of her youngest son, an attack considered totally out of character with suspicions raised during her trial about the possible coercions of her lover. A heartbroken Selina is said to have been clutching a white handkerchief as she took her final walk to the gallows which remained in her grasp even after the trapdoor fell open.
Paranormal patrons at the Jamaica Inn
Our next haunted location is perhaps one of Cornwall’s most famous, also used as both title and setting for one of novelist Daphne du Maurier’s most celebrated works. Surrounded by the roaming heathlands of Bodmin Moor, the Jamaica Inn was once a staging post for horse-drawn carriages following the turnpike from Launceston, its distant glow a welcome sight on those dark and stormy nights. It was also a den for smugglers, wreckers and rogues, which might help explain its name which is believed to derive from the once thriving – but illicit – trade in Jamaican rum.
View this post on Instagram
The Inn is riddled with ghost stories, hardly surprising considering some of the blaggards and strays who once regularly crossed its threshold. Countless landlords have reported strange and unexplained goings on, anything from footsteps in the night to phantom patrons who vanish in a blink. One such sinister account tells of a lone man who is believed to have been brutally murdered upon the heathland after he had left the inn on a moonlit night filled with enough Dutch courage to take his chances navigating a treacherous stretch of the moor. Legend has it that he left his half-drunk tankard at the bar, and now returns from the spirit realm to wash down the remainder. That’s why on the night of a full moon the incumbent landlord leaves half a tankard of ale on the bar, after closing time, to keep his ghostly patron satisfied and unprovoked.
The screaming spectre of Pendennis Castle
Built by the royal decree of King Henry VIII to defend the waters around Falmouth from the threat of French and Spanish marauders, Pendennis Castle has stood sentinel upon the headland for nearly 500 years. The fortress was one of a pair of gun forts constructed on either side of the Fal Estuary, overlooking the Carrick Roads waterway. It was further fortified during the tail end of the 16th Century when a high rampart, a ditch, bastions and heavy artillery were built and staged to surround the circular keep.
View this post on Instagram
During the English Civil War, Pendennis was defended by a 1,000-strong Royalist garrison who endured a torrid three-month siege. As food stocks dwindled, the soldiers resorted to eating their horses and dogs before finally surrendering on the brink of starvation. It’s said that during the siege a kitchen maid fell to her death from the ramparts as she hauled aloft a pot of gruel to help nourish the beleaguered troop. Current custodians of the castle have reported hearing a ‘piercing’ scream believed to resonate from the ghost of the flailing maid as she falls to her tragic demise, and some even claim to have seen her broken body lying contorted upon the landings.
Growls from the deep, down Poldark Mine
Poldark Mine is the only complete tin mine in Cornwall, a fascinating window into days gone by and what was an illustrious chapter in the county’s history. Visitors to the mine can enjoy ‘no-frills’ guided tours and experience first-hand what life was like for a hardy Cornish tin miner. The mine was a lucrative endeavour during the 1700s and is even believed to have medieval origins. It lies near the hamlet of Trenear, near Helston, in the heart of the parish of Wendron and is set amidst a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
View this post on Instagram
At its zenith, as many as nine hundred men and boys toiled underground in the dimly lit tunnels of what is thought to be the deepest mine in Britain. The work was often perilous and fraught with danger, and tragedy was never far away. Peculiar noises are frequently heard echoing through the warren of tunnels and strange fogs and swirling mists are said to appear on the photographs of unsuspecting sightseers. Also often captured through the camera lens is an outline of a distorted figure seen lurking in the shadows. Could this be the unrested spirit of a miner crushed in a collapsed shaft who’s regularly heard shouting obscenities in a gruff and grumbling voice, clearly upset by any intrusion, or perhaps warding people away from a bygone danger? Scary stuff indeed.
The chilling tale of the bucket of blood
A traditional country inn on the rugged coast of St Ives Bay provides the setting for our next chilling account. With a name like ‘The Bucket of Blood’ you’d be forgiven for thinking that something sinister might have occurred on the premises of this pretty little alehouse – and you’d be right! The grisly legend tells of a former landlord going out to the courtyard well to fill his bucket with spring water only to haul up a sloppy bucket of blood – much to his horror! The story goes that the gruesome spill emanated from the rotting corpse of an outed informant who had been tipping off local excise officers and namedropping suspected smugglers. One evening, he crossed paths with a gang of local villains who had caught wind of his betrayal and was promptly clubbed to death, his limp and battered body thrown down the nearest well.
View this post on Instagram
But the ghoulish stories don’t end there. The pub is also said to be haunted by an unhinged phantom monk who has a tendency to rearrange the furniture and is sometimes spotted sidling along in the shadows of the corridors and spying from the alcoves. The Bucket of Blood can be found tucked away in the charming village of Phillack not far from Hayle Sands.
Bumps in the night at the Crumplehorn Inn
From one haunted hostelry with creepy tales to tell, to another. The Crumplehorn Inn can be found in the picturesque parish of Polperro. This once former Elizabethan counting house and mill is now a popular rural pub serving up sumptuous local fayre. However, it’s not just the local patrons and merrymakers who wander the inn’s old passageways and corridors, as a number of supernatural beings have been momentarily glimpsed loitering in the snickets. Rather unusually, the water closets are said to be the most haunted avenues of this centuries-old building – former landlords claiming to have heard banging cubical doors and peculiar noises after closing time.
View this post on Instagram
One of the inn’s most recounted ghost stories involves the witnessing of a strange figure captured in the reflection of a bedroom mirror, while another (verified by a psychic) tells of a soldier fleeing from the Great War who hid up in the mill’s loft before being recaptured and sent to his death amidst the horrors of the front line. His mournful voice is sometimes heard crying out in middle of the night as he laments the loss of his ladylove.
Ghostly sightings at St Bartholomew’s Church
On a bright, sunny day, the quiet lanes and pretty, rose-adorned cottages of the village of Warleggan, set on the southern reaches of Bodmin Moor, is the last place you’d expect to encounter a spine-chilling tale. However, take a stroll around the leafy grounds that surround the 800-year old granite church – regarded as the loneliest church in the county – and you’ll uncover one of Cornwall’s most curious ghost stories.
View this post on Instagram
The eccentric character at the centre of this unusual episode is the Reverend F.W. Densham, whose unwaveringly orthodox preaching methods and strict obeyance to the word of God is said to have ruffled a few of his parishioners’ feathers, who in turn began to boycott his congregations. Unabashed, the maverick Rector would address the empty pews, deciding to fill them with cardboard cutouts and describing his gatherings as having: ‘No fog, no wind, no rain, no congregation’. Undeterred by a petition to the Bishop of Truro demanding his immediate transfer, he set about painting the church in a riot of colours, his flamboyant yet exacting standards inevitably attracting the attention of the media with his story even travelling ‘across the pond’.
Revere or ridicule, the characterful clergyman was for years the talk of the parish but died an isolated figure on the stairs of his vicarage, his death throes spent reaching out for the bell rope to muster some assistance. It’s said that, on certain evenings, when the clouds cloy the brooding skies, his ghost can be seen roaming the churchyard. His life and times continue to attract visitors to the village, and also became the subject of feature film entitled ‘A Congregation of Ghosts’ starring Edward Woodward. Despite the spookiness of his presence, many remember him fondly, describing him as a kindly man who would send flowers and milk to sick parishioners and who celebrated the teachings of Gandhi.
There’s nothing at all scary about Toad Hall Cottages’ long list of Cornish special offers…
Wishing everyone a fun-filled Halloween.