Specific Location: Taunton

Monkton Heathfield Ghost (1923)

The following article entitled ‘Lively Christmas “Ghost”’ was published in the Dundee Courier on Monday 24 December 1923. ‘Occupants Driven From Their New Home. Owner Struck On The Neck With Orange.

Taunton Castle

Many places in Somerset have traditions and legends relating back to the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, locally known as the ‘Duking Days’. Many Somerset people were to suffer at the hands of the authorities after the failed uprising, and Taunton Castle was the scene for some of the trails of the Bloody Assizes, when hundreds of people were sent to the Gallows by Judge Jeffries.

Norton Fitzwarren Dragon

Here the Roman general Ostorius was said to have killed hundreds of ancient Britons. Over the centuries a dragon is said to have grown from the corruption of the rotting bodies (this spontaneous growth of creatures from rotting matter was a common belief in Medieval times).

Kingston St Mary Dragon

A savage fire-breathing dragon terrorized this area until a champion came forth to tackle it. The hero rolled a boulder up a hill opposite to the dragon’s lair and shouted out to the monster. As the dragon emerged, jaws agape, the champion rolled the boulder down into its open maw, choking it before it could roast him with a jet of flame.