• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Recurring Stains

DrPaulLee

DrPaulLee

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
2,019
Hi,
I'm wracking my brains for examples of this, but I can't think any even though I'm sure I've read of at least one:

In ghostly legends, there are stories of flooring, walls, whatever being replaced to remove a stain, usually the dried marks of a pool of blood. Then, at some point later, the mark returns on the new surface.

I'm sure I've read of this but can't think of a single instance!

PS and yes, I know such stories are probably balderdash!
 
DrPaulLee said:
Hi,
I'm wracking my brains for examples of this, but I can't think any even though I'm sure I've read of at least one:

In ghostly legends, there are stories of flooring, walls, whatever being replaced to remove a stain, usually the dried marks of a pool of blood. Then, at some point later, the mark returns on the new surface.

I'm sure I've read of this but can't think of a single instance!

PS and yes, I know such stories are probably balderdash!
Click to expand...
As s painter and decorator i would say that most recurring stains are down to people not understanding the properties and reactions of paint and water, this obviously doesnt account for stains that have reappeared after plaster has been replaced, unless the leak that caused the stain remains, or recurring stains on floorboards. If you have a water leak and it leaves a stain on your wall/ceiling, just painting over it with emulsion will only temporarily solve the problem, the stain will return, you need to seal the stain, watered down PVA works best, then paint over it, it can seem spooky if a stain keeps coming back but in most (if not all) cases its not paranormal.
 
Last edited:
Souleater said:
As s painter and decorator i would say that most recurring stains are down to people not understanding the properties and reactions of paint and water, this obviously account for stains that have reappeared after plaster has been replaced, unless the leak that caused the stain remains, or recurring stains on floorboards. If you have a water leak and it leaves a stain on your wall/ceiling, just painting over it with emulsion will only temporarily solve the problem, the stain will return, you need to seal the stain, watered down PVA works best, then paint over it, it can seem spooky if a stain keeps coming back but in most (if not all) cases its not paranormal.
Click to expand...

Which is why I'm interested in marks appearing on brand new surfaces, not gloop seeping through from old flooring etc.
 
Apologies in advance for the vagueness of this post, but as a child I had a book of true ghost stories that mentioned a phantom blood stain in the apartments of the lover of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was assassinated by a political rival.

Apparently multiple deep cleans and licks of paint failed to eliminate the stain, which would re-emerge like clockwork after being removed.

I’ll do some digging to see if I can find anymore info online… it’s been years since I read that book and your post brought to mine something I’ve not thought about in ages.

EDIT

That was surprisingly simple! It’s the blood of David Rizzio and can still be seen at Holyrood Palace. According to this article, they haven’t just cleaned and repainted the floorboards, they’ve wholesale replaced them several times - and still the stain persists.

https://royalcentral.co.uk/features...house-and-its-royal-ghostly-residents-151717/
 
" On the threshold of one of the doors of Smithills Hall there is a bloody footstep impressed into the door-step, and ruddy as if the bloody foot had just trodden there; and it is averred that, on a certain night of the year, and at a certain hour of the night, if you go and look at the door-step you will see the mark wet with fresh blood. Some have pretended to say that this appearance of blood was but dew; but can dew redden a cambric handkerchief? Will it crimson the fingertips when you touch it ? And that is what the bloody footstep will surely do when the appointed night and hour come round . . . " From Septimius Felton by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1872

The Bolton News on the Bleeding Footprint.

This older photograph, dated around 1970? looks like a different flagstone! :thought:
 
The Fleece Inn in Elland supposedly has an ineradicable stain on the staircase from a brawl which caused the death of a man. A good friend of mine used to run a few pubs over that way, I'll have a word with her, too: I'm sure she mentioned a similar thing in a different pub.
 
JamesWhitehead said:
" On the threshold of one of the doors of Smithills Hall there is a bloody footstep impressed into the door-step, and ruddy as if the bloody foot had just trodden there; and it is averred that, on a certain night of the year, and at a certain hour of the night, if you go and look at the door-step you will see the mark wet with fresh blood. Some have pretended to say that this appearance of blood was but dew; but can dew redden a cambric handkerchief? Will it crimson the fingertips when you touch it ? And that is what the bloody footstep will surely do when the appointed night and hour come round . . . " From Septimius Felton by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1872

The Bolton News on the Bleeding Footprint.

This older photograph, dated around 1970? looks like a different flagstone! :thought:
Click to expand...
Although they look different, there are notable similarities too. It looks to me that it got broken and was relaid. If you can manage to follow my arrows and boxes, I think they're the same, from different angles.

prints.jpg
 
Thank you, this is perfect!

NomDeGuerre said:
Apologies in advance for the vagueness of this post, but as a child I had a book of true ghost stories that mentioned a phantom blood stain in the apartments of the lover of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was assassinated by a political rival.

Apparently multiple deep cleans and licks of paint failed to eliminate the stain, which would re-emerge like clockwork after being removed.

I’ll do some digging to see if I can find anymore info online… it’s been years since I read that book and your post brought to mine something I’ve not thought about in ages.

EDIT

That was surprisingly simple! It’s the blood of David Rizzio and can still be seen at Holyrood Palace. According to this article, they haven’t just cleaned and repainted the floorboards, they’ve wholesale replaced them several times - and still the stain persists.

https://royalcentral.co.uk/features...house-and-its-royal-ghostly-residents-151717/
Click to expand...
 
This is one of those occasions when I've been wracking my brains. I know I've seen at least one story where a mark reappeared on a brand new surface but after hours of searching I can't find it in any of my books!! I'm trying not to lose sleep - and hair - over this!
 
I thought that I remembered such a story from somewhere...

From "Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain", Reader's Digest Association Limited, 1973. page: 105

Religous Relics at Bosworth Hall

The aura of old religous strife still hangs over Bosworth Hall in Leicestershire, which has been the family home of the Maxwells and a stronghold of the Catholic Faith for well over 300 years. It is fitting then, that its ghost should be the damned spirit of a Protestant, and that the symbol of teh Maxwells' faith should be a stain, either of blood or wine, which has never dried out, though it was made centuries ago.
During Cromwell's Protectorate, when 'popery' was outlawed, a priest was celebrating Mass in the Hall's Chapel Room when he heard a band of soldiers riding towards the house. In his hurry to hide, he spilled the consecrated wine, or else (the true facts are uncertain) he cut his hand. In either event, the stain still marks the Chapel Room floor, and to this day it feels damp to the touch.

The Indelible Stain
Bosworth_1as.jpg
The stain of wime or blood on the floorboards of the Chapel Room is said to be over 300 years old. Certainly, it still feels damp to the touch, as if it was made only minutes ago, and no natural explanation has ever been given for it.

The Chapel Room
Bosworth_2as.jpg
In the room where the Maxwells secretly celebrated Mass during the Cromwellian period, there is a portrait of a woman long dead, yet whose presence is still reported in different parts of the house. In 1881, the Protestant Lady Lisgar married the head of the family and came to live at Bosworth Hall; she made many alterations to the building, but is chiefly remembered for having refused to admit a priest to administer the last rites to an old Catholic servant. For this, she was condemmed to haunt the house for ever.

Lady Lisgar
Bosworth_3as.jpg
The silent ghost of the bigoted Lady Lisgar haunts the Bow Room where she died, and drifts through the rambling corridors and up and down the stairs.
 
There's a house in Ramsbottom were blood seeps out of the cellar walls,
on investigation it was found the house next door had been a butchers shop
it was thought the shop cellar was used for butchery and the blood was still
seeping through.
There's a clock maybe on one of the London buildings or Palais that is white
with a dark stain round one of the numbers that is supposed to be something
to do with the black death

The clock is on Horse guards parade, and the stain round the number 2.

https://www.alamy.com/london-uk-hor...=1&vd=0&lb=&fi=2&edrf=&ispremium=1&flip=0&pl=
 
Last edited:
I just saw this story posted within a page that was referenced from the Time and Dimensional Slips thread (posted by Floyd1). It's from the Strange North-East Derbyshire website and refers to Mosborough Hall:

Mosborough Hall, originally the home of Henry Carey (alleged to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII) and now used as a hotel, used to have bloodstains trailing up the stairs and across the wooden floor of what is now the Bridal Suite. Despite all attempts, it was impossible to remove the stains. The origin of these stains dates back to 1692, when a serving wench was made pregnant by the local squire. She challenged him on the adjacent Hollow Lane to take responsibility but as he would not, she threatened to inform his wife about the matter. The squire then chased her back to the hall and murdered her in that upstairs bedroom.

During the First World War, soldiers billeted at Mosborough Hall heard, from the room with the bloodstained floor, an argument outside and also heard the crying of, and saw the image of, a young woman entering the room. The Medical Officer spent a night in the room and when he woke, he saw that the bed was dripping with blood. Various other witnesses have seen the image of a young woman (known as ‘The White Lady of Mosborough Hall’) inside or outside the hall or heard a couple arguing on Hollow Lane.

References:
Armitage, 2009a; Eyre, 2016.
Click to expand...
 
Sorry about the complete mangling of the English language that I managed to accomplish above. I just wanted to be clear that the link wasn't my own - I just spotted a relevant item within it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Sid
Not quite and indelible stain, there as a house in the village where I grew up that had and indelible cross on a window formed by the last breath of a dying woman.
 
Was going to make a joke about running out of washing powder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top