I saw a ghost!
Ok, so first off I’ve abandoned the tumblr blog. One, I like WordPress better. Two, I gots a new URL. I’m hoping you’ve noticed this, considering you are on a completely different site.
Secondly, I’ve also abandoned hope of catching everyone up to where I am now. Therefore, posts will be far more recent, which means I can stop making up the things I’ve been doing. I will cover the things I have done, but shall do so over time.
This is because I have seen a ghost.*
A real ghost.
Well… kind of.
Between Christmas and New Year, Emily and I wanted to test out the new English Heritage membership (of which I am now also a proud owner). We packed up our thermals and headed on a day trip to Dover Castle. However, the day we chose was a rather unimpressive day. That is, very cold and very very wet.
Determined not to let the bad weather phase me, I cheerily sang my new song all the way to Dover Castle. My new song consists of the lyrics ‘Dover Castle’, repeated, to the tune of Beethoven’s ‘Hallelujah’. Emily thoroughly enjoyed the car ride and I’m almost certain that the ten or so car accidents we saw along the way weren’t a result of my new song.
Dover Castle is situated on a cliff in Dover. This seems simple enough, but as nothing else is named after its location, I thought it needed pointing out (Buckingham Palace is not in Buckingham. Leeds Castle is not in Leeds. Ham House is not made of Ham.). Dover Castle is, in fact, situated on the famous White Cliffs of Dover. What the tourist pamphlets don’t tell you is that Dover is actually a rather miserable town. It is full of cheap hotels, seedy looking drinking establishments and all sorts of unsavoury people.
Dover Castle, on the other hand, is quite nice. It’s big. It’s old. It’s a castle. There is also a network of tunnels beneath the castle that have been used for various wars, including the secret wartime tunnels of World War II. Unfortunately, we were informed at the gate that these tunnels were closed today. Also, there was no train to take us to the castle. Also, there was no hot food. Also, they had just had an outbreak of the plague.**
We meandered around the keep for a while, marveling at the IKEA children’s furniture (apparently Henry II liked flat-pack). We watched people reenact things and saw some holograms talking. Your typical castle, really. After having a look around the keep, we settled in the cafe (with no hot food) and discussed what else there was to see. On the map we noticed that whilst the Wartime Tunnels were closed, the Medieval Tunnels at the back of the castle were still open to visitors.
This is where I start to show you pictures…
These are the tunnels. This was at midday. These tunnels were dark. Also, considering it was pelting down with rain and a few days after Christmas, not many tourists were actually around. In summation, these tunnels were creepy.
Also, a lot of the tunnels weren’t lit. At all. We ended up using the camera flash to see if there actually was a tunnel ahead. This produced some interesting results…
Now, I thought the effect was quite cool and it was only when I looked at it days later that I realised it looks mighty creepy. However, thanks to google I found this picture:
That is, a picture taken from around the same place with a similar figure in it.
I shall let you decide what you will, but it promptly made my mind up as to whether I would be going back to Dover for one of their nighttime Ghost Tours. I just don’t particularly like being spooked.
Stupidly, we continued on deeper into the tunnels. Em was feeling more and more uneasy. We decided to turn around and leave after we came to a completely unlit tunnel that Em didn’t like at all. I took a photo with the flash and here is the result:
We seemed to cut our tour of the castle there.
We will go back and I’ll make sure I bring Bill Murray with me this time. He ain’t afraid of no ghosts.
*not the actual reason, but works for dramatic effect.
** slight exaggeration, but when you have been driving for two and a half hours this all seems a bit dire.
Posted on January 4, 2010
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