May ghosts

 May starts off with May Day celebrations that includes maypole dancing, May Queen parades and fairy festivals. Over on the continent, they celebrate the paranormal on Walpurgis Night including ghosts, demons, werewolves and witches, very much centred on spring at the beginning of the month. It's blended with Christian and Pagan folklore, feasts and fires. So much popularity across different locations from Sweden, Germany, Estonia and Finland, that Walpurgis Night is called the "other Halloween", one during spring. 

In Ireland, drinking water from St Bridget's Well on the first nine days of the month was believed to cure diseases.  Over in Lough Leane in County Kerry, every seven years a ghost of a warrior riding on a white horse appears from the lake, and this is believed to be O'Donoghue. In the same location during fog at night, a shadowy person is seen walking a spectral dog. 

On 1st May in South Walsham Broad in Norfolk, a recurring phantom always appears of a Viking longboat on fire out in the lake. This is believed to be a Viking funeral boat that keeps haunting the waters. It was the exact location that experienced Viking raids multiple times.

May Day celebrations really do have fairy legends. The Strid is a dangerous part of River Wharfe in North Yorkshire, but it's mystical too. It's the location of a powerful fairy queen and her pale horse that emerge on 1st May and drowns anyone who gets too near the water.

Phantoms are also heard too on May Day. Beautiful female singing voices can be heard from the ruins of Godstow Nunnery in early morning on first of May. You may catch a glimpse of a pretty ghost lady wearing Medieval dress, believed to be Rosamund Clifford, the famous mistress of king Henry II. 

In Wales, at the Brecon Beacons is a small lake called Llyn Cwm Llwch, is full of strange stories about a woman who uses magic to drown people and restore her youth. There's a magic portal, located on an islet. A secret door on a rock that opens on 1st May and leads to the fairy realm. Once a man stole a flower and was cursed. The flower belonged to the fairies. Rules are that they can offer you fruit, play you music and tell prophetic stories but you must never take anything from the fairies or a curse will happen to you.

Now forward a bit. On the third Tuesday of May, a loud Medieval, or Roman, ghost party occurs at the salt marshes at Salthouse Pool in Norfolk. This happens late at night and witnesses saw scenes of small fires, singing, dancing phantoms, eating and drinking. Don't be lured to that party.

In Lewes, Susses, at Offham Hill are sounds of an ancient battle. It's a recurring haunting on 25th May that happens each year. It's believed to be a replay of the Battle of Lewes in 1264 where 3,000 people died. People have reported seeing ghostly knights fighting.

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On Maple Hill

This is a very old place in Huntsville, Alabama. Maple Hill is a cemetery founded in 1822 although there is evidence that some graves might be even older. During the American Civil War, hundreds of soldiers of Confederate and Union were buried there. It's one of the largest cemeteries in Alabama since it grew and developed, overlapping former playing fields, picnic park and a playground. The playground rides still remain there to amuse kids when families go and visit graves. It's become known as an infamous haunted location, "Dead Children's Playground".

In the daytime when people pay respects and visit the cemetery, laying flowers on the graves of loved ones, they notice an eerie atmosphere within the playground. Swings often move on their own, while there wasn't even a small breeze. Then there's creepy sounds of laughter when no one else is there. It seems as if spirits of children like playing on the rides! 

People have seen full apparitions as well as floating orbs and spectral lights. The playground is surrounded by a large limestone rocks that make creepy cold shadows. Others can remember when they were kids, and seeing spirits of children playing in the haunted playground. Others have shared multiple experiences of their own online about when they visited the haunted site. To read more on the Maple Hill cemetery Dead Children's Playground, and see some experiences shared by online users, visit this link on Alabama's Haunted Houses.

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Mystique of a sea chapel

Portugal is filled with mysterious places. I wanted to focus on a small enchanted place which is like a pearl. A chapel in the middle of the ocean! Only during high tide and located on Miramar Beach in Gulpilhares, District of Porto in Portugal. 

The chapel faces the mainland, and visible all the time, during the day from sunrise until sunset. Sometimes it looks unique on top of steps. Other times it seems surrounded by the sea. 

Hexagon shaped, double sided alter within, statues of religious icons, the interior is a baroque style and includes a spiral staircase. It was built in 1686 and looks very much like a sand castle. It's survived menacing storms and huge waves beating around the rocks. One of the legends about deciding to build a chapel there was a vision of divine light leading a ship to safety. 

The connection with magic comes from stories and legends of Pagan rituals. The exact site was a location of ancient Celtic peoples worshipped on there for thousands of years. During the full moon, it's a significant place for modern Pagans who bring candles. 

Behind the chapel is a stone with a mysterious hoof print, called "Mark of the Ox" believed to be from a legend of an ox warming baby Jesus and also could be a horseshoe print belonging to a horse ridden by King Sebastian. 

During Feast of the Lord of the Stone, which lasts three days, a procession of mysterious hooded women lead the festivities. This blends food from Christian faith as well as from local cuisine. Christians and Pagans both value the sacred site. 

She Wolf Night