Every city or town seems to have it?s own legion of ghost stories or
legends, but Sheffield has more than it?s fair share, everything from
spooky spectres to hellish hobgoblins, Sheffield seems to have them
all...
Perhaps the famous and well known of all Sheffield ghosts has to be
the apparition of Mary Queen of Scots that haunts Manor Castle. Now
the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots has appeared all over the country,
but seems to be a regular inhabitant of the old Turret House of Manor
Castle.
In the 15th century the castle was the property of the Earl of
Shrewsbury and on the orders of Queen Elizabeth, the young Scottish
Queen was imprisoned there and so the Turret House became Mary?s
prison for fourteen long years.
The strange happenings were first recorded by the caretakers of the
building during the 1930?s and tales of a beautiful lady, dressed in
black, gliding across the floor and through walls were also
circulating. Although the people who lived in the house at the time
refused to discuss the ghost, it was reported to have been seen by
many people.
People who stayed at
the house often left in the middle of the night and refused to go
back again even in daylight. The dog that lived there would bark and
whimper frantically if left outside on its own and cower in a corner
if left inside.
Perhaps the strangest of all the
occurrences that happened at the Castle was the story of an old
extremely heavy incense burner kept on the top floor in the shape of
an imp used to keep evil spirits away. One night everyone in the
house was awakened by loud banging coming from upstairs. Upon
checking the entire house it was found nothing was amiss. A while
later the noises started again. Again nothing was found to be amiss,
but to be sure they marked a chalk circle around the burner and
again retired to bed. After a very sleepless night they awoke the
next morning and went to check the burner, which although far too
heavy to move by even four grown men was completely outside the
circle.
Maybe the ghost of Mary Queen of Scots will haunt the Turret House
for as long as it still stands and even when the Turret House is
long gone. Maybe it's just the over active imagination of the people
who have lived or stayed there that conjured up the spirit of a long
dead Scottish Queen.
Maybe we will never
know......
