If you like ghost stories, Bury St Edmunds has more than its fair share. Read on for some spine-tingling tales about the town’s eerie happenings.
The Grey Lady
Bury St Edmunds most famous ghost, the Grey Lady, has been sighted in the Abbey ruins, the former St Saviours Hospital site, the Priory Hotel, Theatre Royal, in shops on Abbeygate Street, in buildings on Angel Hill and in the cellars of the 16th century Cupola House on The Traverse. She is also said to appear in St Edmundsbury Cathedral Great Churchyard annually on 24 February at 11pm.
Some believe the ghost is a nun linked to the death of the Duke of Gloucester, who was allegedly murdered in St Saviours Hospital in 1447. According to local tales, it was this nun, named Maude Carew, who killed Gloucester (and not the Duke of Suffolk, as portrayed in Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part II) but this was recently debunked by historian Dr Francis Young. Other tales suggest she is a medieval nun who was punished with execution for a liaison with a monk at the Abbey. Whoever our Grey Lady is, she is the town’s most frequently spotted spirit.
Medieval monks
Apparitions of the Abbey’s Benedictine monks are also said to be frequently seen. walking around the Abbey’s grounds and through surrounding buildings.
In 1961, two men claim to have seen a monk drift down Angel Lane before disappearing through a wall; a year later, a monk was reportedly seen ‘hovering’ in Churchgate Street. A resident of the houses built into the Abbey’s West Front claimed a monk appeared in her bedroom several times. Staff in shops on Abbeygate Street have also made claims about sightings of ghostly monks.
A doomed love affair
Visitors to the town in October should keep their eyes peeled for a soldier and a nurse in Victorian dress. The first reports were made in 1935 by two girls and their mother, who felt a chill as a man and a woman rushed past them on Eastgate Street. A gunshot and a scream were then heard.
Legend has it the woman was a 19th century nurse called Mary Treese, returning from the Crimean War with a wounded soldier she had tended and fallen in love with. Her father, however, disapproved of their relationship and shot the man dead. Their fateful end is said to be played out every year on 20 October on Eastgate Street.
Troubled souls at Moyse’s Hall Museum
Once a workhouse, police station and gaol, Moyse’s Hall Museum has been the focus of ghost tales for centuries. The oldest of these stories dates back to 1328, when a woman is recorded as saying she saw ‘a most horrible devil’ in the building’s cellar.
Rougham Airfield
With its rich war time history, it is no wonder that the Rougham Airfield is said to be haunted. Originally known as RAF Bury St Edmunds, and Station 469 to USAAF, the airfield welcomed 3,000 GIs during WWII as well as the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Bob Hope and Clark Gable, who visited to entertain the troops.
Several paranormal groups have visited Rougham Airfield and museum, many with amazing results, including sightings of a young spirit boy, who is said to have owned one of the bikes that are on display in the Nissen huts.
Article kindly provided by www.burystedmundsandbeyond.co.uk
