Tucked away in a steep wooded valley, Berry Pomeroy seems on first sighting the perfect romantic ruin. The castle was originally built as the family home of the de Pomeroys, an ancient baronial family who settled in Devon, following the Norman conquest of England.

Around 1547 the castle was bought by the Seymour family, who began to update the medieval buildings into a more fashionable design, and the castle then passed from heir to heir until it was abandoned, still incomplete around 1700.

As the decades passed the building fell into ruin and began to acquire a sinster reputation for being haunted.

The ghosts at Berry Pomeroy are not only nocturnal. Most of the spooky occurences happen in day light hours and they range from ice-cold patches of air, sounds, touching, strong odours, voices and physical sightings of ghostly images. The only real exception is the ghost of a ‘White Lady’ that has only been witnessed at night time. She has been described as being clothed totally in white and to have her hair streaming wildly behind her. She is said to be the spirit of Margaret the sad sister of the Lady Eleanor de Pomeroy. The two women were said to be in love with the same man so Eleanor had her imprisoned in a dungeon in the castle – where she eventually died of starvation. The ghost is said to be Margaret’s vengeful spirit and is the most famous of the ghost sightings.

However,the ghost of Margaret is not likely to cause an unsuspecting visitor harm, unlike the sinster phantom of the Blue Lady. She is thought to be the ghost of a former Baron of Berry Pomeroy who gave birth to her own father’s child. In her distress she is said to have killed the child by strangling it. The Blue Lady is a well documented ghost and since the castle was abandoned there have been many reports of her. She has been described her as ‘Ringing her hands as if in anguish and with a look on her face of pure agony and remorse’.

It is a common belief in the area that if you should be unlucky enough to sight her that death is sure to follow in the family. Apparently as a local doctor who had seen her reported that a death of a loved one followed soon after, as many other people have too.

If this wasn’t unpleasant enough the Blue Lady is said to dislike visitors so much that she has on occasions tried to cause them harm! In l913 a young army officer visited the castle whilst on leave. He saw a young woman bathed in a mysterious blue light, perched precariously on the ivy clad walls. She appeared to be beckoning him for help. He assumed she was afraid to move for fear of falling and he raced to her aid. No sooner had he stepped out on the wall than it began to fall away beneath his feet and the Blue Lady laughed and disappeared. Only by great effort did he avoid falling to his death.

Since then her ghost has become renowned for luring those of foolish nature to follow her onto the dangerous castle walls. Her unhappy spirit even centuries after her death seems determined to cause harm and perhaps eventually death to those unwise enough to fall under her spell!

About the Author

LINDA PRESTON WORKS AS A PROFESSIONAL PSYCHIC & WRITER OF PARANORMAL ARTICLES. SHE LIVES IN THE N.W. OF THE UK & CAN BE CONTACTED VIA HER WEBSITE AT http://www.psychicreadingsbylinda.co.uk