February ghosts

While February is most all about sending love letters, Valentine's gifts and romance, it's got hauntings too with some of the most tragic stories attached to them. I will list a few of these here.

A 17 year old girl was executed by beheading and her ghost haunts the Tower of London, always on the anniversary of death, the 12th February. Her name was Lady Jane Grey and she was also known as the "Nine Days Queen". She became queen of England because her brother, Edward VI, passed away and he wrote in his will that he chose Jane to succeed him to the throne and not his older sister Mary. After he died, Jane succeeded to the throne. She was reluctant to take the crown as it was, but due to such political pressure she gave up the throne to her popular and ambitious sister Mary. This led to Jane's arrest and imprisonment in the Tower of London. Jane's father led a rebellion against Queen Mary, which resulted in Lady Jane's end. Her spirit has been witnessed multiple times, especially by tower guards during the 1950's who reported the royal apparition.

More tragedy as slaughter of about 38 members of the same family in 1692 still haunt the area of Glencoe on 13th February. These hauntings recur every February and they're the shades of slaughtered people from Clan MacDonald. They were murdered by Scottish forces in what is now known as the Glencoe Massacre. Screaming, wailing pale ghosts witnessed in the ruins of Inverigan and Coire Gabhail of the Hidden Valley. It's also believed that a local witch named Corrag predicted the massacre before it happened.

A strange hole in the ground makes otherworldly screams. The Shrieking Pit is found in the area of Hungry Hill in Northrepps, Norfolk. Every 24th February near a lane, sounds of screams come from the pit and is believed to be the ghost of a woman that took her own life. Others think it's something darker and hopes to lure people down there. 

It's believed the spirit of Charlotte Bronte appears as the ghostly white lady spectre in a vicarage, located in Hathersage, Derbyshire. It's a regular haunting every late February on the 28th. A white spirit seen around opening a door, and once reported in a 1927 newspaper that a family dog was upset by the ghost. Why her return? It's believed she stayed there a little while and was in love with a Reverend Henry Nussey, inspiring her to write Jane Eyre. However the vicar J H Brookbank at the time of the news report denied such things as ghosts.

Back to royalty, Mary Queen of Scots haunts the Talbot Hotel in Oundle, Northamptonshire. This occurs every February, only because the staircase in the hotel was what was used by Mary during her execution at the Great Hall of Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire in 1587. The refurbishment happened in 1626 and this carried traces of Mary's energy, as her ghost brought along from the stairs to wander the hotel, appear in bedrooms and look out of windows. Her portrait on the wall often falls down on the anniversary. 

Now to finish with a nice tale. Magical waters of the Loch Monar in the Highlands is believed to have healing powers. First Monday of February is to enter the water three times at midnight, then sip some of the water and throw in a coin as payment for healing. The sick should leave the water before sunrise or the magic would wear off. Is this true? There is a lot of legends and therapies around healing waters so yes this might be very true.

She Wolf Night