I’m pleased to welcome guest blogger Psychic Investigator Paul Fitz-George to Haunt Jaunts. I met Paul on one of the LinkedIn groups we both belong to. He shared some information about his book, The Whitby Ghost Book, that caught my eye. Specifically, how many famous writers had found inspiration in Whitby, such Bram Stoker, Wilkie Collins, Lewis Carroll, and Charles Dickens.
I thought that would make a great guest post and asked him if he’d like to submit something. He said he would, and he presented me with “Whitby’s Fascination for the Literati, or How Dracula Met the Jabberwocky.”
I’ve broken it up into a series of six posts, the first of which gives a background of Whitby and its haunted history. Enjoy!
Whitby, as you approach it from the high cliff-top on which lies that ancient 13th century Benedictine Abbey and stately Abbey House, appears to the observer to be a typical eighteenth century seaport. In appearance, it’s too big for a village, but just a bit too small for what could be called a town.
At one point in time though, it was one of the biggest ship building ports in England and it was here that Captain Cook’s famous ship Endeavour was built. It was also once a major east coast whaling port, until both these industries (fortunately for our beloved whales) died out.
Whitby’s narrow streets have paid host to the Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxons, Viking raiders and finally the conquering Normans. Viking raiders from Denmark named the town ‘Whitby’ (literally ‘the white town’) and gave it a parliament, or Thingwala, just like the one in Iceland, at which point in time the town’s name was stabilised much to the relief of yea ancient mapmakers.
Gradually, the town began to prosper in both the ship building and whaling industries. The wealth from which gradually dried up in the nineteenth century, leaving fishing and tourism as the town’s main source of income…and ghosts and the supernatural of course!
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I’ve just finished your excellent series, sir! I was particularly fascinated with your mention of the Bargheist . In my study of ghosts of the American South I’ve encountered a few stories of hellhounds and one story in particular involving a “Barghest.” Evidently one of these frightening creatures made an appearance on The Hill on the campus of The University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Thank you for your series and if I have a chance to return to Britain I’ll certainly add Whitby to my list of places to visit.
Many thanks for your comments Lewis, much appreciated and I’m sure you’ll be fascinated by Whitby when you get a chance to go there. I recommend a visit to the museum in Pannet Park, where you can see some fascinating artefacts including the ‘hand of glory’, a dead man’s hand carried by burgulars that was meant to put the inhabitants of a house being burgled to sleep whilst the burgular carried out his nefarious work!
Cheers Lewis,
Paul