#Colchester Castle #Boudicca 💙

These are segments of the history and remains of the oldest recorded Town in Britain ..#Colchester & jst the few places featured in this video .. Hollytrees Museum and East Lodge are two buildings that lie very close to Colchester Castle.  Both of the buildings are said to be haunted by the same female ghost – a white lady who is believed to be the spirit of Miss Anne Lisle. The woman’s portrait actually hangs in The Hollytrees Museum. Visitors believe that when they look at the portrait, they can feel a strange presence lingering behind them! In addition to the White Lady, East Lodge also plays host to a second female ghost – a grey lady. Her apparition is said to be accompanied by the scent of a very old fashioned flowery perfume. Visitors have also reported hearing running footsteps coming from the gun room of the museum and also beautiful piano music being played despite the fact that there is no piano anywhere in the museum. Colchester Castle was built back in 1069 by William the Conqueror. It is now a Grade I listed building and is said to be haunted by the ghost of Quaker James Parnell. He was arrested in 1656 and imprisoned in the castle following an incident in the nearby Coggleshall Church. The story goes that James Parnell was in the church praying when some form of commotion ensued. This resulted in Parnell being arrested for blasphemy among other offences. The magistrate fined him £40, but he refused to pay and as a result was imprisoned in Colchester Castle. He was treated very cruelly by his captors and was made to climb a rope to retrieve what little food they provided him with. On one occasion he fell while climbing the rope and was badly injured. He was left in considerable pain and his health began to deteriorate quite rapidly. He eventually died but that was by no means the end of his tale. These days visitors to Colchester Castle say that his ghost walks to castle moaning in pain. When it comes to choosing the most haunted places in Colchester, there is one place that always seems to crop up – The Red Lion Hotel. The building has a long and colourful paranormal history that dates ally the way back to 1465! This is one of the oldest buildings in Colchester and it is home two 3 different Colchester ghosts. The first of the ghosts is believed to be Alice Catherine Millar and she is mostly seen in rooms five, six and ten or in the kitchen. On occasion, she is seen walking back to what once would have been her bedroom via a wall which would have originally had a door in it! In fact, the door was bricked up because of Alice’s ghost! Reports of her presence date back to the 1800s and the owner back then was so terrified of Alice’s spirit that he ordered her bedroom to be bricked up in an attempt to stop her haunting his inn. However, as evidenced by the fact that she now simply walks through the wall, this was not at all effective! Alice does not normally interact with people, she is just seen walking, but on one occasion the hotel’s assistant manager was asleep in his room when he awoke feeling like a bolt of electricity had passed through his body. As he sat up he saw a rocking chair in the corner begin to move and a woman slowly appeared in the chair. She asked if he was alright and on his reply that he was, she vanished into thin air! It is believed that Alice was actually murdered in the hotel in 1638 which is why her spirit is still tied to the property. The next ghost that guests report seeing on a regular basis is a little boy who tends to hang around in the parliament room. It is usually other children who catch a glimpse of him leading many people to believe that he is just looking for a playmate. The little boy ghost has also been known to make an appearance in photographs taken by people who stay at the hotel. Last, but by no means least is the ghost of a hooded monk who is believed to have perished in a fire at The Red Lion Hotel several hundred years ago. He tends to materialise in the early hours of the morning and is most often seen in the reception area or walking along the corridors. It is believed that on the night of the fire, the monk was attempting to rescue children that were in his care. Perhaps he is still checking in to make sure all of the children are safe when he roams to corridors .. One of the many Colchester ghosts which have startled residents of the town for years is one that is linked to St Botolph’s Priory. The ruins of the Grade I listed building sin in a cemetery where some of the local children like to play! However, in 1993 a young local girl was playing in the ruins with her friends when she suddenly spotted a dark figure standing next to one of the tombs watching her and her friends! She was understandably startled, but said that the figure simply smiled at her and then vanished into thin air right in front of her eyes! There have been a handful of similar accounts over the years!