CASTLE SHADES Old castles are traditionally supposed to harbor hosts of historically- -oriented ghosts to haunt the premises and to make the area more interesting to the tourist traffic. I found only rumors of some rather worn, somewhat vague sightings in the first authentic castle I visited - the old Norman Castle in downtown Norwich, England.
Not that I was disappointed in any way at all. The fine old fortification structure is all that a fine Norman castle was built to be around the eleven hundreds or so, carefully constructed and intended to endure for a few centuries, at least . Today it still serve well as a museum and as a focal center for artistic and cultural activities for all of East Anglia which it was built protect.
The amazing pile of stone and precise masonry shaped upon a sturdy rising mound "Castle Hill" surrounded by bright and well-groomed "Castle Gardens." Seeing it, one gets a feeling that it has always been there since the very beginning of Time itself. It, somehow, has qualities which make it seem to be more than merely man made.
The only ghost I ever heard anyone talk about in Norwich Castle was that of a "skull" which was said is said to appear initially in the "keep" area of the castle and then to wander into what are now exhibit halls for art works. The skull lees assumed to have at least a bodily representation of a torso and perhaps limbs as well but they are never observed because that area below the neck draped in soft, cloth-like folds which are said to "flow" with every slow movement of the skull. Feet, too, are concealed and the image remains always well above the floor level which the flowing cloth occasionally brushes. The apparition gives no signs of an special preference for a particular style or type of art work; no nod of approval or scorn. The colorful drapes suggest the ghost may be feminine and she has one bad habit: moving along the exhibits, she suddenly seems to take a corner which is not there and disappears instantly and completely as if she had slid into a vertical slot in the air just ahead of her. I have never heard of any sound associated with the skull art critic at the Castle.
What about witches? All castles have dungeon areas deep within their walls yet I have never heard a story about any dungeon inmate being tortured and becoming as ghost to re-live it all there. Norwich Castle tale-tellers claim they never participated in the burning of witches and religious heretics. Concerning one such recorded incident 1656 it is noted that she was burned in a "ditch" outside the castle proper.
I was surprised years ago when working for a time in a morgue and in the preparation of bodies for burial or cremation to find that people who do such work develop a rather strange sense of warped humor. A Norwich resident has been quoted as having said: "We did not take an active part in the burning of witches, heretics and the like. By the time the decision had been made to do them in by burning at the stake, we had all ready hanged them!"
A.L.M. March 13, 2005 [c556wds]
