The case in black and white for Tamworth Castle’s ghost stories

LIKE Tamworth’s famous porkers, the spectres of Tamworth’s ancient castle come in twos.

And they come surrounded by myth and legend going back to the days of King Arthur and his errant Sir Lancelot – and right up 50 years ago when a group of ghostbusters were virtually SCARED to death.

Both thee visions of ectoplasm are ladies and not surprisingly known as the Black Lady and White Lady respectively.

The White Lady is said to be the distraught lover of a knight named Sir Tarquin who was killed in battle on the meadow below the castle walls.

His assailant is thought to be none other than Sir Lancelot. The White Lady is said to walk along the terrace nightly weeping for her dead lover, whose death she witnessed.

ver the years there have been several attempts to obtain conclusive evidence of these hauntings.

In 1949 a team of four ghost hunters, including a press photographer on the trail of the castle's other ghost The Black Lady, set themselves up for an overnight vigil in the castle.

Their aim was to obtain photographic evidence of the phenomena. In order to rule out any trickery a comprehensive mesh of strings was set up across the door to the room that the team was to occupy for the night, this was to prevent anyone entering or leaving the room undetected.

This same precaution was taken at the top of the staircase next to the room. As a further precaution against any hoaxes within the group they were all tied together at the wrists or feet.

The photographer was obviously allowed to move his hands in order to operate his camera

The group established themselves in their chosen location and waited as the clock approached midnight they gave up the comfort of their torches and waited in the darkness. As the clock struck midnight they all felt a marked drop in temperature of the room in which they were seated. Moments later the four men heard the sound of the door in the room above them being pushed open, followed by a series of footsteps.

They then heard more soft footsteps as if someone were descending the staircase towards them. The photographer with the party fired off a flash in order to capture the source of the footsteps.

Later examination of the strings at the top of the staircase found everything in order and undisturbed. When the film taken during this event was developed, it showed a hooded figure on the staircase.

The ghost of the Black Lady is said to be St Editha who was a nun at Polesworth Abbey, near Tamworth.

These nuns were expelled from their Abbey and lands by Sir Roger le Marmion who was lord of Tamworth Castle from around 1101.

It was to Sir Roger's son, Sir Robert Marmion, that the ghost of St Editha later appeared in 1139. She warned him that unless he restored the Abbey and its lands to the nuns he would die a terrible death; she then struck him with her crosier and caused a horrific wound that it is said did not heal until he had restored the Abbey as St Editha had commanded.

There is a modern day re-enactment of this event for visitors to see within Tamworth Castle.