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21 Jan 07 - 11:21 AM (#1943255) Subject: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST,Goldcrest 307955 Does anyone have ghost stories related to the English canal system? I've spent ages looking for some but all i get is a couple of brief notes at the bottom of webpages saying the equivelent of 'well, theres a rumour...' |
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21 Jan 07 - 12:05 PM (#1943290) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Willie-O Paging Greg Stephens...for an on-topic answer unlike mine. I know a couple of ghost stories relating to the Rideau Canal of eastern Ontario (construction supervised by the English Colonel John By, it was designed as a 19th-century shipping/transportation route that would be secure from American depredations). Rumour has it By's ghost still hangs around the final set of locks where the canal enters the Ottawa River: http://hauntedontario.netfirms.com/ottawa.html Also, there was a mill on the Rideau whose owner's young bride came for a tour of the shop. Tragically her cumbersome garments got caught in machinery, causing her death. (This is verified history). Naturally some say her ghost still haunts the old building. The Rideau was built by Irish and French-Canadian labourers under terrible conditions, at least 500 perished from accidents and malaria as they dug through swampy portions of the route. I've paddled through one of those low-lying sections, a narrow dig near the village of Newboro, and I'd swear it was haunted--quiet, private and spooky, whereas most of the canal is now full of powerboats and fancy cottages. The ugliest story of the Rideau predates the canal. At the current hamlet of Rideau Ferry there is now a graceful concrete bridge over the fairly wide river channel between Big Rideau and Lower Rideau Lakes. Before the bridge was built, it was called Oliver's Landing, starting in the early 1800's, named after an unsavoury innkeeper/ferryman there. It had an unsavoury reputation for disappearing travellers. Years later when the old inn was torn down, many human skeletal remains were found beneath the basement, giving credence to tales of travellers murdered for their possessions, and possible cannibalism. "Don't eat the soup at Oliver's Inn". Perhaps irrelevant to your query, but one could argue that the Rideau is a British canal since it was built and funded by British subjects in the colonial era. W-O |
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21 Jan 07 - 12:29 PM (#1943323) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Ruth Archer Try this: http://www.rugeleyonline.co.uk/people/collins.htm no ghost as such, but the steps are said to ooze blood. Have alook at this: http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/newsroom/stories/spectres_spooks_and_things_that_go_splosh_in_the_night.html |
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21 Jan 07 - 01:37 PM (#1943395) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Zany Mouse Tony O'Neill (The Admiral on Mudcat) wrote a fantastic song about a ghost coal boat in Worksop. I don't know if it is based on a local story though. I suggest you PM The Admiral, who I'm sure will be very helpful. Great song Rhiannon |
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21 Jan 07 - 04:52 PM (#1943584) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: The Vulgar Boatman I'm pretty sure there are a number of tales, including one about Blisworth tunnel. It would be worth contacting the museum at Stoke Bruerne, which has some very helpful staff who are clued up on folklore of the canals. KYBTTS |
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21 Jan 07 - 06:45 PM (#1943654) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: bubblyrat I just finished reading an excellent canal book called "Journey into England"---Can"t remember the author, sorry ! Anyway,there were a couple of references to ghosts---One ,a headless woman who shrieks at boaters as they enter a tunnel ( Blisworth ??) and also a haunted stretch of canal cutting where the old-time boatmen & their families were too terrified to moor for the night !! Sometime in the last 2 or 3 years, I read,either in "Waterways World" or "Canal Boat" ,an article about a live-aboard couple,where the wife is ,in fact, a professional medium specialising in inland waterways ghosts !!! --if you contact either of those magazines,they would probably let you have the article---it"s fascinating !! |
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21 Jan 07 - 08:03 PM (#1943711) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Susanne (skw) The Rosemary |
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21 Jan 07 - 09:38 PM (#1943776) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST,Jim Martin David Blagrove (Vice President, Commercial Boat Owners Assoc, Tel: 01604 862174) may be able to help here. He's an ex working boatman, canal author and singer/songwriter and has numerous contacts. |
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21 Jan 07 - 10:24 PM (#1943817) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Rowan One of John (& Sue?) Kirkpatrick's LPs had a song mentioning the ghost of the character Webb who sought salvation in swimming, mostly in canals I gather. It's drifting around my memory, just out of sight, but I'm certain various 'Catters will fix you up. Cheers, Rowan |
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21 Jan 07 - 10:34 PM (#1943827) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Leadfingers Rowan - That John Betjemen's poem about Captain Webb from Darnley ! |
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21 Jan 07 - 10:55 PM (#1943847) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Rowan Thanks Leadfingers. It's starting to come back to me; I also gather he was the first to swim the Channel. CHeers, Rowan |
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22 Jan 07 - 06:45 AM (#1944074) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Moses Zorg knows the song ...it starts something like:- "The gas was up in the institute" -about the ghost of Capt Webb who drowned in the canal I think. |
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22 Jan 07 - 11:05 AM (#1944313) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts Anne Bradford and I created three books of West Midland ghost stories for Quercus/Walkways publications. There are canal ghost stories in those. In addition, I did three volumes of true murder stories for the same publisher, one of which contains the Rugeley haunting mentioned above. Try Quercus/Walkwaks website. |
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23 Jan 07 - 09:36 AM (#1945423) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST,Goldcrest 307955 Thanks! I'd already heard about a couple but its all good! |
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23 Jan 07 - 09:44 AM (#1945431) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Dave Roberts From Betjeman's 'Collected Poems': A Shropshire Lad The gas was on in the Institute, The flare was up in the gym, A man was running a mineral line, A lass was singing a hymn, When Captain Webb the Dawley man, Captain Webb from Dawley, Came swimming along the old canal That carried the bricks to Lawley. Swimming along – Swimming along – Swimming along from Severn, And paying a call at Dawley Bank while swimming along to Heaven. The sun shone low on the railway line And over the bricks and stacks, And in at the upstairs windows Of the Dawley houses' backs, When we saw the ghost of Captain Webb, Webb in a water sheeting, Come dripping along in a bathing dress To the Saturday evening meeting. Dripping along – Dripping along – To the Congregational Hall; Dripping and still he rose over the sill and faded away in a wall There wasn't a man in Oakengates That hadn't got hold of the tale, And over the valley in Ironbridge, And round by Coalbrookdale, How Captain Webb the Dawley man, Captain Webb from Dawley, Rose rigid and dead from the old canal That carries the bricks to Lawley. Rigid and dead – Rigid and dead – To the Saturday congregation, Paying a call at Dawley Bank on his way to his destination. JB used to perform this himself in what he admitted was a pretty woeful 'Midlands' accent. |
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23 Jan 07 - 03:34 PM (#1945827) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Michael When I were a lad we used to travel the canals for our holidays(late 60's/early 70's)and this thread has reminded me of Kit Crewbucket who haunts the Harecastle Tunnel. Can't do a blicky but she 's mentioned in Wikipedia. Mike |
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23 Jan 07 - 04:25 PM (#1945871) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Rowan Thanks for that, Dave |
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24 Jan 07 - 07:26 AM (#1946461) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Mr Fox Margaret Cornish's book 'Still Waters' is a collection of ghost stories set on the canals. Most of them are fiction, but at least one ('The Swimming Cat')is based on local legend. Still Waters Ms Cornish worked on the canals during the war and lived in a boat for many years afterwards. Her autobiography: Troubled Waters L T C Rolt also wrote canal-based ghost stories. |
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24 Jan 07 - 09:10 AM (#1946550) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: julian morbihan Captain Webb's was the first successful attempt to swim the English Channel. He then had a career talking about that exploit. When the novelty had worn thin, to boost his career he attempted to swim the rapids below Niagra Falls. John Betjeman's poem follows on from that exploit! I first heard the poem recited by John Betjeman with a brass band playing the tune in the background on the car radio whilst driving from Wiltshire to North Wales. And where was I at the time - Dawley! Spooky, or what... I later learnt the song from John K's excellent rendition. I think the album was "Jump at the Sun". Cheers julian |
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24 Jan 07 - 11:18 AM (#1946651) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Dave Roberts The music used for many of the Betjeman recordings was by Jim Parker. Parker played the suggested tunes to JB on what he later described as 'a little harmonium'. A portable keyboard, probably. |
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11 Apr 15 - 03:31 PM (#3701237) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: FreddyHeadey Not a Jogger (& not a song) Location: Bosley - Macclesfield Canal, first bridge after top of Bosley lock flight on the permanent boat moorings Type: Unknown Ghost Type Date / Time: July 2007, circa 21:00h Further Comments: A ten year old girl pointed out a figure running across a nearby field to her mother, saying the word 'jogger'. The mother looked and could see the person in black moving towards them, but as it approached, realised that the 'jogger' actually wore a monk's habit and no face under his hood. The figure stopped a short distance away, as if paused in mid sprint, and when the woman turned to check her daughter was okay (she had run off back to the boat), the monk vanished. www.paranormaldatabase.com/cheshire/chesdata.php |
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11 Apr 15 - 03:38 PM (#3701238) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: FreddyHeadey : Dave Roberts - PM Date: 23 Jan 07 - 09:44 AM From Betjeman's 'Collected Poems': A Shropshire Lad John Kirkpatrick & Sue Harris - A Shropshire Lad |
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11 Apr 15 - 07:04 PM (#3701255) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST Bosley. No obvious monastic names there despite some intriguing humps and bumps in the fields to the east. To the west, we have Little and Big Dogbottom Woods. The "monk" figure had clothes but no face. That's a fightening thought- what if our ghosts wear flares? The "haunted stretch of canal cutting" mentioned by bubblyrat 8 years ago is probably Betton Cutting near Market Drayton on the Shroppie. If I'm not wrong (and I usually am), this is a "derivative" ghost. Monty James wrote a story, "A Neighbour's Landmark", which involved a screaming ghost in Betton Woods (fictional and not on the Shroppie). This seems to have been translocated to its namesake, but how and when is a mystery. It's known that Tom Rolt was a James fan- I wonder if he told tales on dark winters' evenings in boatmens' pubs, which got asociated with the namesake location. All speculation, as is the coincidental fact that there is another wood grubbed up because of a screaming ghost near another canal. Skratta Wood near Shireoak Hall on the Chesterfield Canal is supposed to have hosted just such a ghost. And a couple of miles from Shireoak Hall is the area called Walling Well... Monty James wrote a story called "Wailing Well"!! Spooky or what? |
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12 Apr 15 - 08:13 AM (#3701339) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Steve Gardham We have lots of rusting barges on the Aire and Calder that could be carrying cargo infinitely cheaper than road or rail. They might as well be ghosts! |
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12 Apr 15 - 10:22 AM (#3701368) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST,Dave Illingworth If you go onto the website SONGS OF THE INLAND WATERWAYS you will find the words of the song "There's Something In The Cutting" by my good friend Dusty Miller. To quote Dusty:- "This song was inspired by an old superstition that the cutting above Audlem Locks was haunted. No boaters used to tie overnight in that cutting." The song is also included in Dusty's songbook THE UNKNOWN BOATMAN and a recording can be found on DPN+1's CD MIST ON THE WATER. |
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12 Apr 15 - 11:40 AM (#3701387) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: GUEST,Desi C Please Note There are no such thing as Ghosts |
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12 Apr 15 - 12:02 PM (#3701390) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Bounty Hound Although Mrs Hound and I have a boat booked for the Macclesfield Canal later in the year, I should point out that I have no intention of going jogging, and have no bad 'habits' so if there are any sightings reported....... John(Bosley) |
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12 Apr 15 - 01:15 PM (#3701403) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Steve Gardham Desi, can you prove this? I looked in the dictionary and it said 'disembodied spirit of a dead person'. Are you telling me dead persons don't exist? |
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12 Apr 15 - 01:45 PM (#3701412) Subject: RE: Folklore: English canal system ghosts From: Snuffy Surely by definition dead persons don't exist any more. :-) |