Mysterious Britain & Ireland

The John Snow, Soho

The John Snow public house at 39 Broadwick Street was named after Dr John Snow (Born 15 March 1813 – Died 16 June 1858), who traced the source of the Soho cholera outbreak of 31 August 1854 to contaminated water from a pump on Broadwick Street (known as Broad Street prior to 1936).

Broadwick Street, London

Broadwick Street was originally known as Broad Street and apart from being the site of a major outbreak of Cholera on 31 August 1854, about a hundred years earlier an apparitional experience was reported here. The following account of the experience was published in ‘The Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain’ (1897) by John Ingram.

Lochmaben Castle

Dating from the 13th century, Lochmaben Castle, which is now a ruin, was built by King Edward I of England (Born 17 June 1239 – Died 7 July 1307) replacing the earlier 12th century Bruce motte and bailey castle. The de Brus or Bruce family, the Lords of Annandale, moved to Lochmaben following the ruination of Annan Castle.

The Dule Upo’ Dun

‘A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 6’(1911) mentions that ‘On the road from Clitheroe to Waddington, near Brungerley Bridge, once stood an inn known as the ‘Dule upo’ Dun’, from its sign representing the Devil galloping madly along upon a dun horse.

Unsworth Dragon

According to ‘Lancashire Legends’ (1873) by John Harland & T T Wilkinson, ‘One of the most noted dragon stories of Lancashire has its locality assigned to Unsworth, a small village or hamlet about three miles from Bury.

Ferry Road, Barrow-in-Furness

The following article appeared in the News & Star on 28 April 2006 and was entitled ‘Shipyard Calls In Vicar To Expel Ghost’. I don’t currently know what the outcome of the exorcism was.

The Written Stone, Dilworth

A large inscribed stone measuring eight feet long, two feet wide and one and a half feet deep was placed beside a old road (now known as Written Stone Lane) in Dilworth during the 17th century. The reason why the stone was placed is unknown, though several stories have grown up around it. The following account was published in ‘Lancashire Legends’ (1873) by John Harland & T T Wilkinson.

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Haunted Carlisle by Darren W. Ritson

Discover the darker side of Carlisle in this book from the Haunted series. With over 2000 years of history in the City there is bound to be an odd ghost or three tucked away somewhere and Darren W. Ritson certainly makes some gruesome discoveries along the way in this book.