Cathedral Ghosts
Peterborough Cathedral has been in
existence in one form or another since 655AD. Originally founded as
an abbey, occupied during the Middle Ages by the Benedictine
order, since the reign of Henry VIII it has been the
centre of Christian worship for the people of
Peterborough as the city Cathedral. It is also home to
the grave of Catherine of Aragon and the empty tomb of Mary Queen
of Scots.It is still the spiritual heart of the city of Peterborough as
it has been for the last 1400 years.
The history of the Cathedral has not always been
peaceful... it was sacked by Vikings twice and burnt down by
fire. The precincts were the scene of a riot and
subsequent massacre during the Peasants revolt in 1381, whilst
a Lancastrian army again sacked the abbey during the Wars of the
Roses.
Given the long, and sometimes bloody, history of this
magnificent building, it is perhaps not surprising that it is
reputed to be haunted by a number of ghosts, including...
- Visitors have heard the sounds of a phantom choir have been heard inside the building, the chanting of long-dead monks...
- Ghostly monks have been seen in and around the Cathedral graveyard
- Another apparition of a monk is seen in the cloisters, appearing from a blocked doorway, walking across the courtyard and disappearing into a doorway on the side of the Cathedral.
- The spirit of a young, tired monk has been seen walking down the middle of the Cathedral, then suddenly running in terror from an unseen threat, but his feet appear to disappear into the floor. Was he a monk slaughtered in one of the Viking raids?
- A ghostly candlelight appears in one of the top windows in the West front of the Cathedral, said to be marking the ghost of a workman who fell to his death whilst building the church 800 years ago.