Durham Ghost Walks

10/06/2024

Today marks the anniversary of the death of another controversial figure in the history of Durham Cathedral, Dean William Whittingham. From Geordie Diary :

June 10th 1579 Dean William Whittingham of Durham died today. He was married to Catherine Jaquemans, sister to the wife of John Calvin. She burned St Cuthbert’s Banner which had been carried at the battle of Flodden . The Dean destroyed all traces of St Cuthbert, the saint’s statue was “defaced and broken all in pieces”. Revenge came in 1569 when the northern rebels “ did wholly spoil from Mr Dean of Durham all his household cattle and corn and so they did from the rest and residue of the churchmen of Durham”
He was buried in Durham Cathedral, where his tomb was destroyed by the Scots in 1640.”

Whittingham was appointed during the troubled times of the Reformation. His job seems to have been to destroy the belief among the Catholic population of Durham concerning the supernatural powers of St Cuthbert. At this time Cuthbert was believed to be a powerful but capricious spirit who could harm as well as heal, and intervene in the course of a battle. The cathedral was earning considerable amounts of revenue by hiring out the banner to armies in the hope of supernatural protection from it. When Whittingham personally took a hammer and beheaded the statue of Cuthbert many were surprised that the saint did not strike him dead on the spot.

Whittingham’s wife Catherine took an active part in the operation. It was she who mustered the reluctant monks out onto Palace Green to watch the ceremonial burning of Cuthbert’s banner. The banner had contained the sacred Corporax Cloth, the cloth Cuthbert used to cover the chalice during Mass since the Battle of Neville’s Cross in the 14th century. Common belief was that the banner was not only inflammable, it also held the power to extinguish fire: Catherine proved them wrong. She seems to have taken a fancy to a lot of the marble items in the cathedral, including a washbasin at the cathedral’s entrance used by pilgrims to purify their hands on entry. These were removed to Catherine’s kitchen. She had the tombs of monks disinterred, their bodies burnt and the stone coffins used as pig troughs on their farm. An ancient cross, used to mark the entrance of an underground tunnel to the castle disappeared around this time.

Her husband William was fanatical in his Puritan beliefs, so much so that he refused to wear anything other than his everyday clothing during his work in the Cathedral. This precipitated what was essentially an employment tribunal which looked at all aspects of his behaviour. When the tribunal found “Drunkenness, proved. Adultery, part proved” he was forced modify his behaviour and by the early 17th century the Whittinghams were living in Holmside Hall near Burnhope, which had an enclosed area almost as big as Lumley Castle. Local Catholics hated the family, and there was a widespread belief that their son, Sir Timothy Whittingham, murdered three wives.

The pictures are from my PowerPoint presentation “The First Banner of St Cuthbert” which is being well received by local history groups.

08/06/2024

Warning!!! I am getting a lot of Facebook posts about microdosing as a possible remedy for anxiety and depression. The problem is that it does not tell you what you are microdosing. There is a considerable amount of evidence that taking small doses of psilocybin under medically controlled conditions can be beneficial, but please do not take this as a recommendation to try it.

When you look closer at these adverts, some are supplying you with tiny amounts of Lions Mane, Chaga and similar mushrooms at enormous cost, despite the fact that they are on sale at Aldi for 1% of that price!

Others are trying to sell you psilocybin products like truffles and perhaps genuine dried 'magic' mushrooms: however, if they simply take your money and send you nothing, good luck at getting your money back. You also run the risk of the Forces of Law & Order knocking on the door of course.

The reason I am taking the time to write this is because I have just had someone on my page trying to sell me microdoses of Amanita mushrooms, including, believe it or not Amanita pantherina, aka the Panther Cap! By all means do your own research about Panther Cap, but here is the Wikipedia entry:

Amanita. pantherina contains the psychoactive compounds ibotenic acid and muscimol,[7] two psychoactive constituents which can cause effects such as hallucinations, synaesthesia, euphoria, dysphoria and retrograde amnesia. The effects of muscimol and ibotenic acid most closely resemble that of a Z drug, like Ambien at high doses, and not a classical psychedelic, e.g. psilocybin.

A. pantherina is used as an entheogen much less often than its much more distinguishable relative A. muscaria, largely due to being less recognizable and far more potent. A. muscaria contains a higher concentration of ibotenic acid.[9] While ibotenic acid is mostly broken down by the body into muscimol, what remains of the ibotenic acid is believed to cause the majority of dysphoric effects of consuming psychedelic Amanita species. Ibotenic acid is also a scientifically important neurotoxin used in lab research as a brain-lesioning agent in mice."

Please be careful. I cannot recommend consuming Amanita mushrooms, and certainly not paying huge amounts of money for tiny amounts of the stuff to some anonymous source on the internet.

05/06/2024

After last night's Horrid History of Kepier Woods expedition with Belmont Cubs and Beavers I have got to say I have immense admiration for the people who volunteer to run these groups every week.

It is very rewarding having thirty children all wanting to tell you something really important, that just cannot wait, and someone has just found what they think is a T Rex footprint in the stone, and.......

We did find an old quern stone as a result of this last year but it is really tiring. My eardrums are still hurting and I'm getting too old for this. I hope I will have recovered by July or August when we are going to do an all-day expedition to Kepier Viaduct. Michael Watson of Friends of Kepier Woods is the person to contact if you would like your group involved.

03/06/2024

Just as Inuit (aka Eskimos) supposedly have lots of names for snow because they live in a snow- dominated environment, sea-going Vikings had lots of names for ships, and here are some of them. Many of these are what are known as skaldic kennings. A skald is a Viking poet, and a kenning (knowing) is a sort of nickname that only those ‘in the know’ would understand and appreciate. For instance, a vessel could be affectionately known as a ‘sea-swan.’

Some of these are still used, but most of these are very rare and have most likely just been used in poetry. Some refer to a part of the boat and some to the method of travelling. The vessel most associated with the Norse, the longship is there, langskip. However, an interesting one is Naglfar.
In Norse mythology, Naglfar or Naglfari (Old Norse "nail farer") is a boat made entirely from the fingernails and toenails of the dead. During the events of Ragnarök, Naglfar is foretold to sail to Vígríðr, ferrying hordes of monsters that will do battle with the gods. Tolkien seems to have one of these in his final battle of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Why not try to pronounce these names? Remember that ‘ þ ‘ is a hard ‘th’ as in thorn, and ‘ ð ’ is a soft ‘th’ as in ether. Here is the list:

Örk (ark), árakló, askur, sessrúmnir, skeið, skúta, skip, skíðblaðnir, nór, naglfar, nökkvi, snekkja, byrðingur, búsa, barðkaldur, hreinn, bakki, hömlungur, hélugbarði, röst, bátur, regg, röð, hringhornir, lung, kjóll, langskip, leifnir, karfi, hringur, gnoð, freki, hrauð, móðrói, hemlir, barði, hybauti, ugla, leðja, askvitull, kæna, ketla, kati, reið, skálpur, knörr, kuggur, knúi, keipull, eikja, dreki, elliði, drómundur, prámur, fura, vigg, galeið, ferja, skála, fley flaust, þekkur, fartíður, lið, segl, skör, sigla, sviðvís, stýri, syjur, saumför, súð, skrautreip, stag, stafn, stjórnvip, stuðill, sikulgjörð, snotra, sólborð, sess, skutur, strengur, söx, stæðingar, svipting, skaupt, spíkur, silgutré, saumur, leikstólpar, laukur, siglutoppur, lína, eyru, flaug, flaugarskegg, farnagli, Húnn, húnbora, hjálmunvölur, húfur, hlýr, hrefni, hálsstefni, hefill, háls, hanki, höfuðbendur, háir, hæll, hamar, hjálpgreip, lík, rá, rakki, rif, rengur, hömlur, vindás, vengi, vöndur langnefjur, völt, beitiás, varta, brandar, bitar, bóglína, búlkastokkar, barð, kné, byggði, belti kinnungur, kjölborð, keili, kjölsýja, kraftar, kerling, klær, þóftur, kjalreip, þrimir, klofar, þiljur, drengir, dragreip, dæla, árar, aktaumar, rær, arinn, nálar, aurborð, kjalrhæll, akkeri, hnakkmiði, austker, húnspænir.

This list was compiled for me by Viking expert Bjorn Vernhardsson, who is a direct descendant of Viking berserker Egil Skallagrimsson,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egil%27s_Saga

31/05/2024

Today’s Geordie Diary highlights the beginning of one of the most controversial incidents in the history, which in turn resulted in the discovery of the symbol that now represents Durham: the Cross of St Cuthbert.

1827 “May 31. The new Catholic chapel, at the east end of Old Elvet, in the city of Durham, and dedicated to St. Cuthbert, was opened with great ceremony. High-mass was performed by the rev. Dr. Smith, bishop of Bolino, and vicar apostolic of the northern district, assisted by the rev. K. Gillow, of Ushaw College, the rev. Thomas Gillow, of North Shields, and others ; and an appropriate sermon was delivered by the rev. James Wheeler. A band of about fifteen musicians from Madame Tussaud's exhibition and the theatre, executed one of Mozart's grand masses with great effect. About 400 persons were present, and a collection made in aid of the building, amounting to upwards of £49, which was ultimately increased, before the close of the day, by private contributions, to upwards of £90.”

This seems to have caused a certain amount of controversy in the City. David Willem, in his book “ St Cuthbert’s Co**se – A Life after Death” pg 59 states “ In 1827, a new Roman Catholic church was built in Durham, the first of its kind since the establishment of a separate Church of England in the middle of the 16th century. Although architecturally modest and discrete, the church’s location in the shadow of the Cathedral excited some local Protestant opinion. The controversy prompted the Cathedral librarian, the Reverend James Raine, to take it upon himself to demonstrate that the incorrupt co**se had always been a myth. In a gleeful o**y of rationalism and puerile enthusiasm he broke open the grave and subjected its contents to a sceptical examination.”

At that time Raine was living in Crook Hall, and the five hundred page report of his findings was stored in the basement of the Hancock Museum and it makes interesting reading. Some have suggested that it is by no means certain that he had sought the correct permission to open the tomb, and that it was not done with the sort of diligence and consideration that the situation deserved. Raine himself admits “that this part of the investigation was very hastily gone through.” Some observers even suggested that at one stage he had his feet in the coffin, trampling the remains.

However it was on this day, 17th May 1827, that the Cross of St Cuthbert was discovered, hidden in the shroud of the saint, fortunately ignored by Henry VIII’s commissioners when the tomb was opened previously in December 1539. In fact there is no previous mention of this relic before Raine’s report, something the general public fail to realise. Gary Bankhead’s discovery of medieval lead replicas of the cross, discovered in the river near Framwellgate bridge confirm the authenticity of the symbol, which others had previously doubted. Hopefully his new book, to be published later this year will contain more information about this.

There are a lot of Cuthbert treasures from Raine’s investigation in the Cathedral’s Open Treasures collection, and David Willem’s book in available in the Cathedral bookshop. Highly recommended, both of them.

30/05/2024

WTF! So a vet gives a horse a mixture of nitric acid and tar and the mixture explodes. Why am I not surprised? Today's Geordie Diary

1833 “May 30. Thursday, an accident happened to Mr. Adamson, of the city of Durham, veterinary surgeon. He was in the act of preparing some medicine for a horse, and had put a quantity of nitric acid and oil of tar into a quart bottle, when, from the accumulation of gas, the latter exploded, and wounded Mr. Adamson in the side; a large piece of glass was afterwards extracted. Two horses belonging to the Hon. and Rev. Dr. Wellesley were leaving the shop at the time of the accident ; one of them received a deep wound in the thigh from the broken glass, and the servant was thrown against the wall by the force of the explosion.”

30/05/2024

This is the third in my series of workshops at Durham Spiritualist Church. As well as talking about the science behind spiritualist beliefs, we will be doing some experiments about how a medium's unconscious mind influences their messages.

24/05/2024

I am busy looking at circumstances surrounding Mary Ann Cotton's life. One of the things that comes across is the fear of a pauper's funeral, which was not a funeral at all. As often as not anyone dying without enough money to pay for a funeral was sold for 'medical research, in other words dissection by medical students. Because of this fear a group of organisations called Burial Clubs were instituted, and it was the burial club system that Mary Ann was claiming from after her murders.

In Newcastle public dissections would have taken place at the Surgeon's Hall, which was sited where the Centre of Life is now . During the building of the Centre of Life hundreds of dissected bodies were found in the basement of the old Infirmary during its demolition. One of the unfortunates who ended up there was an unfortunate young man called Ewan McDonald, and his story has gone down in history as "Half-hanged McDonald. " From Geordie Diary :

1752 “May 23. About ten o'clock at night, some company went into Mr. Pinkney's, a publican, in the Bigg Market, Newcastle, when words arose between them and Ewan Macdonald. a recruit in General Guise's regiment of Highlanders, then quartered in that town. From words they came to blows, which caused some of the company to leave the room, but Macdonald followed them out, laid hold on one Mr. Robert Parker, a cooper, in the entry of the above house, and wickedly stabbed him, with a knife, in the neck in so desperate a manner that he died immediately. When he returned to the house he abused several, and broke another man's arm. A file of musqueteers was sent for, who conducted the murderer to the guard-house, where he was confined till next day, when he was committed to Newgate. The coroner's inquest returned a verdict of wilful murder. September 28th, Ewan Macdonald was executed on the town-moor, Newcastle, pursuant to his sentence at the assizes. This most unfortunate young man, who was only 1 9 years of age, appeared all the time of his confinement deeply affected with a true sense of his guilt, and regretted much the murdered person, whom he declared to be no cause of the quarrel between him and another man named Parker, and who was also a cooper ; but, at the gallows, his behaviour in endeavouring to throw the executioner from off the ladder, was unbecoming one just on the brink of eternity. However, as it was generally and justly believed that he had been grossly irritated to the perpetration of the crime for which he suffered, his unhappy end was pitied by every one. His body was taken to the Surgeon's Hall,* and there dissected and anatomised. The body, after dissection, was lectured upon by Mr. Hallowell, Mr. Stodart, Mr. Greenwell, and Mr. Lambert, surgeons.”
“* It was said that after the body was taken to the Surgeons' Hall, and placed ready for dissection, that the surgeons were called to attend a case at the Infirmary, who, on their return, found Macdonald so far recovered as to be sitting up ; he immediately begged for mercy, but a young surgeon not wishing to be disappointed of the dissection, seized a wooden mall with which he deprived him of life. It was further reported, as the just vengeance of God, that this young man was soon after killed in the stable by his own horse They used to show a mall at the Surgeons' Hall as the identical one used by the surgeon. I have thrown this note together from the report current some years ago, but which is now fast dying away.”

22/05/2024

An amazing group of natural psychics

18/05/2024

This is one of the best documented paranormal investigations I have seen. Christopher Huff has qualifications in archaeology from both York and Durham Universities. Like me he believes that past events can leave a trace on the surroundings. Check out, for instance, the Principle of Conservation of Quantum Information, something I am talking about at local spiritualist churches.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ehZLLat29WTMn6rDlFQg6-PcoHd6i-wT/view?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3MSttvimtVmbejPHwRFhz-h7lHyymwTFUbDb3FKoFgWHTJ38DhiaZoHY4_aem_AU_XapR4zRAP8jSY5y38q9w7ZQ8JXEXv5SrPvp2e98iGqVKbpuDzIGmydVmmUy4mWim9mlXFb9N2YzDuDJYUtjDe

11/05/2024

For those of you busy posting pictures of the lovely Northern Lights last night, please find out about the Carrington Event. Potentially a solar flare of this size could destroy communications like mobile phone and internet, and fry electrical generators. Really bad news.

The Carrington Event was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, peaking from 1–2 September 1859 during solar cycle 10. It created strong auroral displays that were reported globally[1] and caused sparking and even fires in multiple telegraph stations. The geomagnetic storm was mos...

06/05/2024

Madness.

A newly created post aims to address 'Britain's colonial past and systemic racism' at two ancient forts on the wall - even though they were built by the ancient Romans who invaded Britain.

02/05/2024

I am really looking forward to doing my favourite PowerPoint, The First Banner of St Cuthbert, at Lanchester Community Centre next Friday. It is the story about how the banner was carried into battle fr5om the time of Alfred the Great up to Tudor times, followed by the destruction of Cuthbert's shrine during the Reformation.

It really is a story of battles, buried treasure and embroidery worth its weight in gold: the strange and magical connection between intricate needlework and violent death.

02/05/2024

02/05/2024

I have had these photos sent to me. Taken from a security camera. Any ideas what they might be?

01/05/2024

This is an interesting article about the early coal mining in Sherburn. A while back I came across this phot of the Sherburn Viaduct in Durham University's Bibby photo archive. Any idea where this viaduct was? The Blue Stone of Sherburn is also interesting. It is almost certainly a meteorite, it has such a high iron content a magnet sticks to it. If it landed in pre-Christian times it would have been an object of worship, a gift from the gods.

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4265113.village-history-reaches-far-beyond-days-of-collieries/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0Kz_mCmkjFe3LIuDaT8mbUBu-D-baYXykglDvevCjhI6v6J3IgzcKZJVQ_aem_Ae_gCHqhKzxfdX10_0KAw41WXu0M50xW_Vk9GWypyShnB0opHxpcw8GZmN8dq6JiZzZys8bHcy1MnXwZErpObfiW

28/04/2024

Many thanks to everyone who came to my talk at Durham Spiritualist Church yesterday. I am doing the third in the series on 22nd June.

The results of the ESP tests was interesting, but I really want to test the theory that mind reading is strongest in couples who have an emotional bond. Rising stars of the spiritual worldlike Joanne Carr showed up strongly but I really like to able to test the well established mediums.

Best of all was the reception of the I Ching. There were lots of positive hits there. This is not just me standing up and talking for three hours, there is a lot of hands-on stuff to do.

25/04/2024

I am really looking forward to doing this workshop on Saturday. It is a real privilege to be invited to any Spiritualist Church, because they are where all the best mediums learn their skill.

On Saturday we are going to try to measure our ESP, the depth of our auras, and talk about the roots of spiritualism in the 19th century and how modern-day science seems to be proving these ideas true. Come along and share this experience with a friendly knowledgeable group.

13/04/2024

Here are a couple of possible spirit photos sent to me recently. What do you think? One was taken inside the Glass Centre at Sunderland.

30/03/2024

This is the second part of this workshop. Recently the Spiritualist National Union (SNU) has started doing a lot about the relationships between spiritualism and science. I did a workshop about this ten years ago!

In the first part of this workshop, Durham mediums proved their talents with the same kind of ESP tests that the SNU use, scoring twice as much as the average. This time we are going to look at the subject of EMPATHY, which is at the root of prayer, mediumship and spiritual healing.

13/03/2024

Another extraordinary Durham Ghost post from Christopher Huff

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gkAdI914sLsI45ZXHhDf7MIBk-sZd6Ls/view?fbclid=IwAR053HIay7MvlLDHy3sLl8ZnSa08Oznpzi4lnzV7B3VSFtaIgUc5NVDYXLg

13/03/2024

From my friend Christopher Huff who is a qualified archaeologist but also very psychic.

"From my Haunted NE files - Durham City, Vennels Cafe
Tucked away from the bustle of busy Saddler Street, through a small alleyway, which many walk past without noticing that it is there, is the tiny and quiet Saddler’s Yard. A few shops here have opened to the public, in the converted 16-17th century buildings.
The Owners the Powneys and their five-year-old daughter Taran were inspecting the building, which was to become Vennel’s Cafe. Being somewhat bored of the adults, Taran wandered off to explore the building, only re-emerging when called for sometime later by her parents. She claimed to them that she had been on the very top floor, playing with a little girl called Davinia, and calmly informed her parents that.
“Davinia’s dead you know, but she’s all right”.
No further sightings have been seen since the conversion of the building into the cafe, but workmen at the site, at night, claimed to have heard strange knockings as they worked.
A report of the haunting from one of the workmen, Richard McCulloch appeared in print on the Internet in 1996. In this article Mr McCulloch detailed the work that had to be achieved to convert the buildings into the businesses, which they are now. His detailed account differs from that given above in a few important details
On this occasion her parents could hear their daughter thumping about upstairs, and called her down saying "Don't make so much noise, dear, and received the reply
"It's not me, “it's Davvy making the noise"
Taran apparently had imaginary friends before, so her parents weren't too worried about the statement, and replied. "Well, ask her not to be so noisy"
Mr McCulloch states that the child then retorted “
"I will, but she likes making noise because she doesn't get to play much. She says she's been dead for such a long time that she can only come out to play with me"...
A few days later, Taran started holding funeral services for her Barbie dolls; putting them in boxes and surrounding them with flowers and saying prayers, Her parents insisted that they hadn't mentioned death to her in any particular way - all her grandparents were still alive and she'd never had any pets which might have expired.)
The staff at the cafe are reported as often having customers returning from the upstairs toilets saying that they can hear a child playing in the stockroom...

06/03/2024

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l3OUdnYXlUVWhobTGN0HJ0oOEifgDW68/view?fbclid=IwAR1OnFxVW2dH9oCcVaS_2B6A4SXMwFQK_TtUX4USzd4h6nUW-BEyw5-FQM0
If you are interested in the paranormal, please read this. It is written by a man who is a qualified archaeologist but also very psychic. He talks about the use of psychic ability as a research tool. Christopher Huff