Within the fortress usually dubbed the Windsor of the North, the Alnwick fortress additionally homes some darkish legends. One among them being that there as soon as was a vampire demon lurking in the dead of night corners of the fortress.
Alnwick Fort in Northumberland, England has been known as the Windsor of the North and has been the house for the Percy household since 1309, together with the present Twelfth Duke of Northumberland. It has performed an important function within the historical past of England, as a stronghold within the border wars with Scotland in addition to the ability battle within the Wars of Roses.
Lengthy earlier than Alnwick Fort gained trendy renown as a filming location for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts or Downton Abbey, it was residence to far darker, bloodier folklore. Within the Twelfth century, this formidable Northumbrian stronghold was on the heart of one among Britain’s most unnerving medieval vampire tales — chronicled by the historian William of Newburgh.
The Story as Informed by William of Newburgh
William, writing round 1196, recounted the terrifying legend in his Historia Rerum Anglicarum, documenting the story of a long-deceased servant to the Lord de Vesci of Alnwick within the eleventh century who refused to remain buried. It was stated he got here from Yorkshire to flee the regulation. Or was it the grasp of the fortress himself who stayed beneath his fortress after his demise? In keeping with native accounts, after his demise this malevolent soul rose nightly from his grave to prowl the encircling village.
He was stated to be a horrid man, though his misdeeds aren’t all the time specified. He was additionally a really jealous man and suspected his spouse had taken a lover and needed to caught her within the act. He instructed her he was going out on a journey for a lot of days, however in secret snuck again after darkish. He went to spy on her and climbed to the roof of his home to look in her window. Some say that he was hiding on a beam overhanging her room.
Whether or not his spouse cheated or not is debated. Some say {that a} man actually did enter her room, inflicting him to lose his steadiness and fall down. He fell by means of the roof or off the beam and crashed to the ground and injured himself badly. As he lay dying on her ground, he refused to repent his sins, and died with the cursing phrases of his spouse looming over him.
The creature, usually referred to easily because the Alnwick Vampire, introduced with it a pestilent air of demise. Villagers spoke of a sickening stench and oppressive ambiance each time the stressed corpse stalked the streets. It’s also stated {that a} pack of hounds howling was following him. Within the unique supply, it’s not usually talked about they feared for his or her blood to be sucked out of them, however being “crushed black and blue by this vagrant monster.”
The villagers had been so afraid they began to lock themselves inside their houses at night time. It’s also stated that the fortress was near being deserted and that individuals began to maneuver away. Quickly after the nightly disturbances started, a dreadful plague outbreak swept by means of the village, and the struggling townsfolk laid blame squarely on the toes of the wandering revenant.
A Grim Resolution: Dismemberment and Burning
Native clergymen and terrified townsfolk, determined to finish the curse, gathered on Palm Sunday at two brothers who had misplaced their father to the plague and needed to cease it earlier than it consumed them as nicely. and determined upon a grim however time-honored medieval treatment: they’d exhume the vampire’s corpse and destroy it.
A band of courageous males dug up the grave. He was not discovered six toes underneath as he had been buried the primary time, however proper underneath the floor with only a little bit of soil barely overlaying him.
His physique was naturally preserved and bloated. It was stated it had swollen to virtually twice its measurement and his flesh was extra pink than lethal white. Though the stench of flesh was overwhelming.
To place an finish to the horrors, they dragged the physique from the earth, hacked it to items as gallons of recent sizzling blood poured out of him, pure proof of him being a bloodsucking monster. The physique items had been taken outdoors of the city and burned the stays to ash.
William of Newburgh recorded the occasion in chilling element, remarking on how the decay and pestilence lifted virtually instantly after the physique’s destruction.
Vampire or Revenant? A Medieval Worry
This account from Alnwick is likely one of the earliest written vampire legends in England. Even to at the present time, William de Newburgh is claimed to have been a severe historian who relied on good and reliable sources.
Within the story although, he does name the fortress Anantis, and it has since then been affiliated with the Alnwick Fort. This kind of turned canon lore after Montague Summers printed The Vampire in Europe in 1929 the place he known as the legend the Alnwick Vampire.
There have been some which have speculated that the fortress from the story was really Annan Fort of the Bruce household in South West Scotland. Nonetheless, the construction of the story does remind numerous an Irish vampire story about an evil lord jealous of his spouse and dies when spying on her and her suspected lover.
Learn Extra: The Legend of Eire’s Vampire King Abhartach and the Haunted Large’s Grave
It’s also stated that William heard the story from an outdated monk who lived when the story occurred, that means it should have been someday within the late eleventh, early Twelfth century like most of his vampire tales. It wasn’t known as vampire although, however some kind of bloodsucker or sanguine, the latin phrase for it.
Within the medieval thoughts, such revenants had been usually thought of a cross between a ghost and a vampire who had been bodily corpses that left their tombs to contaminate the dwelling, inflicting plagues, demise, and despair. The reason for their resurrection was usually attributed to sin, improper burial rites, or a cursed nature in life.
Different Ghosts at Alnwick Fort
Along with a legend of a bloodsucking undead, additionally it is stated that the ghost of a Gray Girl is haunting the fortress grounds. It’s stated {that a} younger teenage lady was working as a maid within the fortress within the Victorian time. In the future she was working in one of many kitchens. She fell down a chute to the tunnels beneath the fortress. The dumb waiter used to boost and decrease meals between the fortress flooring and broke and fell on high of her. It crushed her to demise.
It’s stated that she is strolling within the tunnels and darkish corridors deep beneath the fortress.
As we speak, Alnwick Fort embraces its eerie historical past, and there may be even a gin impressed by the legend. Ghost excursions and native folklore evenings recount not solely the vampire of the Twelfth century but additionally tales of spectral knights, weeping girls, and shadowy figures that stalk the fortress halls and grounds after darkish.
And although centuries have handed because the outdated grasp’s physique was consigned to the flames, some declare that on misty nights, an odd stench lingers within the outdated graveyard, and figures are glimpsed the place nobody needs to be.
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References:
Vampire and Ghost of Alnwick Fort
The Secrets and techniques of Alnwick Fort’s Haunting Previous
1196 (ca.): Vampire of Anantis | Anomalies: the Unusual & Unexplained
