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A Ghostly Trial

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Anonymous

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i have just been trawling Ebay for those hard to find books. and i found this auction the book for sale has a story in it, detailing a murder trial were the victim's ghost gave eveidence and it was used in the trial. does anyone know the trial or the stroy behind it so i can look into it a bit more.
 
Sorry to take so long to reply.

I have some details of this back home (yes I post from work - naughty Auntie!!) Its quite a famous case, a man is supposed to have killed his lover when she got pregnant, and she haunted a neighbour till he contacted the authorities, and, if I remember rightly, she appeared in court as well!

I will look it up tonight and post tomorrow.
 
Auntie Peach said:
Sorry to take so long to reply.

I have some details of this back home (yes I post from work - naughty Auntie!!) Its quite a famous case, a man is supposed to have killed his lover when she got pregnant, and she haunted a neighbour till he contacted the authorities, and, if I remember rightly, she appeared in court as well!

I will look it up tonight and post tomorrow.
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thanks auntie peach. i thought id never get a repliy and some smegg beat me to the auction. so i cant even buy the book:(
 
Actually, I'm now wondering if this is the same case, my book doesn't say anything about the ghost appearing at the trial, but in other versions, I've read that she did, and was questioned by the magistrate. But its quite interesting anyway, so here's a summary:

In 1631, a trial of two men (Sharp and Walker) was held for the murder of Anne Walker (a distant relation of the accused) in Durham. The prosecution's case was based on the evidence of a miller, James Graham, who had been haunted three times by a disfigured phantom, covered in blood and with open wounds to the face. She told him that Sharp had killed her with a pick-axe, acting on Walker's orders who wanted to hush up her pregancy by him. The miller ignored it at first but eventually couldn't stand the hauntings any longer, and contacted the magistrate. Anne Walker's body was found in a coal pit on a moor, exactly as the ghost had related. Both Sharp and Walker were hanged on this evidence.

Sounds a bit iffy to me, but in those days you could get drowned for keeping a cat and having a funny wart on your nose, so I suppose its not that surprising.
 
Auntie Peach said:
In 1631, a trial of two men (Sharp and Walker) was held for the murder of Anne Walker (a distant relation of the accused) in Durham. The prosecution's case was based on the evidence of a miller, James Graham, who had been haunted three times by a disfigured phantom, covered in blood and with open wounds to the face. She told him that Sharp had killed her with a pick-axe, acting on Walker's orders who wanted to hush up her pregancy by him. The miller ignored it at first but eventually couldn't stand the hauntings any longer, and contacted the magistrate. Anne Walker's body was found in a coal pit on a moor, exactly as the ghost had related. Both Sharp and Walker were hanged on this evidence.
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I've read about this case too.. Although it was just a little snippet about the whole thing.
 
Found a bit more about this here:
Rhys, Ernest, ed. (1859–1946). The Haunters and the Haunted. 1921.

XLVIII. Anne Walker

Local Records

IN the year 1680, at Lumley, a hamlet near Chester-le-Street in the county of Durham, there lived one Walker, a man well to do in the world, and a widower. A young relation of his, whose name was Anne Walker, kept his house, to the great scandal of the neighbourhood, and that with but too good cause. A few weeks before this young woman expected to become a mother, Walker placed her with her aunt, one Dame Clare, in Chester-le-Street, and promised to take care both of her and her future child. One evening in the end of November, this man, in company with Mark Sharp, an acquaintance of his, came to Dame Clare’s door, and told her that they had made arrangements for removing her niece to a place where she could remain in safety till her confinement was over. They would not say where it was; but as Walker bore, in most respects, an excellent character, she was allowed to go with him; and he professed to have sent her off with Sharp into Lancashire. Fourteen days after, one Graeme, a fuller, who lived about six miles from Lumley, had been engaged till past midnight in his mill; and on going downstairs to go home, in the middle of the ground floor he saw a woman, with dishevelled hair, covered with blood, and having five large wounds on her head. Graeme, on recovering a little from his first terror, demanded what the spectre wanted. “I,” said the apparition, “am the spirit of Anne Walker”; and proceeded accordingly to tell Graeme the particulars which I have already related to you. “When I was sent away with Mark Sharp, he slew me on such a moor,” naming one that Graeme knew, “with a collier’s pick, threw my body into a coal-pit, and hid the pick under the bank; and his shoes and stockings, which were covered with blood, he left in a stream.” The apparition proceeded to tell Graeme that he must give information of this to the nearest justice of peace, and that till this was done, he must look to be continually haunted. Graeme went home very sad; he dared not bring such a charge against a man of so unimpeachable a character as Walker; and yet he as little dared to incur the anger of the spirit that had appeared to him. So, as all weak minds will do, he went on procrastinating; only he took care to leave his mill early, and while in it never to be alone. Notwithstanding this caution on his part, one night, just as it began to be dark, the apparition met him again in a more terrible shape, and with every circumstance of indignation. Yet he did not even then fulfil its injunction; till on St Thomas’s eve, as he was walking in his garden just after sunset, it threatened him so effectually that in the morning he went to a magistrate and revealed the whole thing. The place was examined; the body and the pickaxe found; and a warrant was granted against Walker and Sharp. They were, however, admitted to bail; but in August, 1681, their trial came on before Judge Davenport at Durham. Meanwhile the whole circumstances were known over all the north of England, and the greatest interest was excited by the case. Against Sharp the fact was strong, that his shoes and stockings, covered with blood, were found in the place where the murder had been committed; but against Walker, except the account received from the ghost, there seemed not a shadow of evidence. Nevertheless the judge summed up strongly against the prisoners, the jury found them guilty, and the judge pronounced sentence upon them that night, a thing which was unknown in Durham, either before or after. The prisoners were executed, and both died professing their innocence to the last. Judge Davenport was much agitated during the trial; and it was believed, says the historian, that the spirit had also appeared to him, as if to supply in his mind the want of legal evidence. This case is certainly a solemn illustration of the mal-administration of justice in an ancient court; yet the circumstantial evidence, arising from the appearance of the spirit, appears very strong—the finding of the body, and the boots and stockings. Yet we need perhaps to live more immediately within the circle of the circumstance to pronounce upon it. None of us, however, reading this book, would like to take upon ourselves the responsibility of those daring jurymen, who durst venture to throw away life upon evidence which, strong as it appears to have been, did not come to them, but only to one who had borne witness to them.
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There’s a variant on this theme in the story of Cornish folk ‘hero’ Jan Tregeagle. In this case he himself committed crimes and after his death was jokingly called to stand in the dock; apparently he dutifully obliged, kicking off a chain of events in which the local clergy had to set him various impossible tasks to keep him away from the Hounds of Hell which were constantly on his tail.

I think, anyway. My memory sucks at this time of day and don’t have time to google!
 
Jan Tregeagle
The legend of the torments of Jan Tregeagle stretch from the bleak moors of Bodmin, to the lonely beaches of Lands End. He has been identified by some as a forgotten Celtic god who still haunts the landscape. The story has many versions, and is one of the most interesting legends of Cornwall.

There can be little doubt that Jan Tregeagle actually existed, he was an early seventeenth century magistrate, known widely for his cruel ways. He is said to have made his fortune by robbing an orphan of his estate. His ghostly wails have been identified with the cries of the wild hunt over Bodmin moor, and there are many versions of how he came to haunt the area, in penance for his earthly crimes.

Some time after his death there was a dispute over some land, said to have been obtained illegally by Jan Tregeagle by forging some papers. The case was all but over, and the Judge was about to sum up, when one of the parties asked for a further witness to be called. Permission was granted and Jan Treageagle was summoned to the bench by the orderlies. There was raucous laughter among the court members, stilled when a shadowy figure began to manifest in the witness stand. The shade of Jan Tregeagle stood before the court, a translucent representation of his living form. Some people fled from the court in terror, but in a calm steady voice the judge began to question Tregeagle, who explained that in life he had deceived the defendant of his rightful possession.

The verdict went in the defendant's favour, but the ghost of Jan Tregeagle would not be dismissed so easily, not wishing to return to his earned place in some corner of hell. After some discussion it was decided that he should be set impossible tasks so as to keep him occupied for all eternity, and to keep him safe from the hell hounds, who would drag him down to their infernal region.

With ceremony and ritual Jan Tregeagle was bound to the task of emptying Dozmary pool (at that time believed to be bottomless) on windswept Bodmin Moor, with a leaking limpet shell. The hell hounds and a host of demons would always be waiting to drag him to back hell if he ceased in his task.

One night, many years after the court case, a terrible storm blew over Bodmin moor, whipping the still waters of Dozmary pool into huge waves. Jan Treageagle, either terrified or seizing an opportunity to escape, fled from the scene of his torment across the moor to Roche Rock. As soon as Jan Treageagle ceased in his toil, the demons were on his trail mingling, their ghastly cries with the rending roar of the storm.
Upon Roche Rock, thrusting skyward like part of the living rock, a fourteenth century chapel dedicated to St Michael stands. Jan Tregeagle saw this place of Christian refuge, and crashed into the East window in a bid to gain access to this place of sanctuary. His head became stuck in the stained glass, and his spirit shoulders would not pass through the arched window, in this way he hung, his head inside the church, and his body at the mercy of the clawing demons and the raging storm.

His howls of torment brought forth the local priest, who called on the aid of two saints to transport the wretched spirit of Tregeagle to Gwenvor Cove (or in some versions of the tale to Padstow). Here he was set the task of weaving a rope from the beach sand. When completed this rope had to be taken to Carn Olva. Of course the task set was meant to be impossible and to keep him occupied for eternity but one very cold night Jan completed his task by pouring icy water over the rope, so that it froze solid. His success was short lived, as a group of local exorcists and holy men gathered and bound him to the task of weaving the sand rope at Gwenvor, under the condition that this time he was not allowed to approach water. It is said that on dark nights, when the cold Northern winds scatter the sand far across Whitesand Bay, his howls of frustration can be heard mingling with the wind.

In the other version of the story the task of rope weaving is set in Padstow. After a period enduring his unearthly cries the local people called on the aid of St Petroc, who bound Tregeagle with a mighty chain and led him to Berepper. Here he was commanded to carry the sand from Berepper beach across the Loe estuary to Porthleven, until only rock remained at Berepper beach. This task was futile because the sand on the beach was replenished with every turning of the tide.

One night when Jan was busy in his task, some of the demons awaiting his soul tripped Tregeagle, so that he crashed to the ground and the sack of sand that he was carrying on his back fell in to the estuary, forming Loe Bar. This sand embankment cut of the harbour from the sea, and the local people and priest, angered by losing their harbour had him banished to Land's end. Here he is still engaged in the task of sweeping the sands from Porthcurno Cove into Mill Bay.

Archived Source:
https://web.archive.org/web/20061009221946/http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/legends/jantreg.html
 
Thanks! That's where I read it initially, as well.
 
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