There’s also the charging horseman who has been seen upon his galloping horse in Shaw Green Lane and the Burgage; and the Headless Horseman who, according to local legend, was a royal dispatch rider who was beheaded after interrogation of the Roundheads of Prestbury. Dean confronts the Witch, " An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: The Wonder of the 19th Century, and Unexplained Phenomenon of the Christian Era" (1894) by M. V. Ingram, Library Collection. Dubbed as one of the most haunted buildings in the country, if not the world, The Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge, is home to a whole host of paranormal activity. A popular legend surrounding the Inn is that of a witch burned at the stake in the 1500s after taking refuge in one of the rooms. In a beautiful rural setting beside the River Windrush lie the picturesque ruins of Minster Lovell Hall, a former 15th century Oxfordshire manor house. Built in the 1430s, after several changes of hands the hall was abandoned and eventually demolished in the 18th century, leaving the remains that stand today. Gloucester’s former prison has a long history of death, executions and burials, and the cells have held some of the country’s most notorious criminals.

Clean the house - Burn sage or incense. Mop the floors with pine and camphor, and place salt across doors and windows, and in corners. Gate to Savannah's haunted Bonaventure Cemetery. Fine art photograph by Keith Dotson. Buy a print here. The first time I heard the word, “Haint”, was in 1969, while hunting in Mt. Olive, NC. It was a tradition on my father’s side of the family to small game hunt in Mt. Olive and surrounding areas. This time, I drove with my father and my hunting dog, Duke. A German Shorthaired Pointer. We My father loved to quail hunt. On this trip, my favorite, Uncle Ed, took the rabbit and coon dogs in his trailer. We departed Chester, PA at 10:00PM on Thanksgiving Eve to arrive at my Uncle Alonzo’s house at 7:00AM on Thanksgiving, the start of small game season. From the Appalachians to the Ozarks, and from Savannah to Alabama, haints, hanks, booger men, boohags, and boodaddies still haunt the woods, foggy hills and hollers, and darkened doorways of the southern imagination. Tennessee and the Bell Witch Haunting Echoing Jonathan McMillan’s comment regarding the tradition of keeping cash on hand to “keep the haints off of you”. My grandfather (who was raised in central Georgia in the late 1800s) would also make the statement when slipping us a couple of dollars.

We recommend visiting The Littledean Jail to peruse the fascinating Crime Through Time Collection and the huge array of bonkers memorabilia that can be found there. Woodchester Mansion, a 19th century Victorian gothic masterpiece, lies hidden in a secluded Cotswolds valley. An architectural dream, the Grade I listed building was mysteriously abandoned mid-construction. Other sources claim the word actually originated from the Welsh word haint, meaning infection, plague, or pestilence. In the 2019 Netflix documentary " ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads - A Robert Johnson Story" it's suggested that the origination of blues guitar legend Robert Johnson's story of selling his soul to the devil at a crossroads may have morphed from his habit of practicing in a graveyard. According to the documentary, Johnson (a very mediocre guitarist at the time) sought help from Ike Zimmerman who was known as one of the best guitarists in Mississippi. Zimmerman instructed Johnson to practice in the graveyard where no one would complain about his terrible noise, and to sit on a gravestone and let the haints teach him how to play. Whatever Johnson did, it worked! The word ‘Haints’ in the 1941 movie King of the Zombies Haint blue, which can also be found on door and window frames as well as porch ceilings, is intended to protect the homeowner from being 'taken' or influenced by haints. It is said to protect the house and the occupants of the house from evil." (1)

One online dictionary defines the word "haint" simply as a ghost. The tradition is more complex than that. It has been claimed that the Inn is haunted by the ghosts of ex-landlord Bill Claver’s wife and child. Guests have heard strange noises in the hotel, and on occasion there have been sightings of two ghostly apparitions.The most frequent reports are of the ‘Grey Lady’ who has been spotted walking the corridors of the hotel on several occasions, and then vanishing. She is believed to be a ghost of a maid who once worked there and upon cruel treatment by her mistress, became severely depressed and jumped out of a window on the top floor before plunging to her death in the garden below. Guests have also woken up to the banging of a kettle drum thought to by a small drummer boy. Haints are restless spirits of the dead who, for whatever reason, have not moved on from their physical world,' says (Lori) Sawaya.