Hypnogoria: THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDAR - Door 24

In the 1100s, the earl of Essex was a fellow called Sir Geoffrey de Mandeville. He was hugely wealthy and owned a great deal of land. He also wielded considerable influence at court, and was a major force in royal politics at the time. However, in 1140 there was a contest for the throne of England, a civil war known as The Anarchy, and Sir Geoffrey chose to support Stephen of Blois against the rival claimant Matilda of Normandy.

The dispute raged for nearly two decades, from 1135-1153, and over the course of conflict Sir Geoffrey changed sides several times, with the end result being that he fell from favour with both Matilda and Stephen, and was stripped of many of his assets and excommunicated from the church.

Geoffrey became a rebel and a bandit in the fen-country, using the Isle of Ely and Ramsey Abbey as his headquarters. He was besieged by King Stephen and met his death attacking Burwell Castle in September 1144. However because of his excommunication, Sir Geoffrey was not allowed a proper Christian burial, which many believe left his spirit trapped within the earthly realm.

Furthermore, it is said that Sir Geoffrey also left a curse on the properties he owned, stating that, should they ever be taken away from him, ruin would befall his betrayer, and every six years on Christmas Eve, he and a headless dog would haunt the lands draped in a red cloak.

And ever since his demise, visitors to the estates he once owned have reported hearing strange sounds, and some claim to have seen a spectral headless hound accompanied by a huge knight in full armour and a billowing red cloak.

One of Sir Geoffrey’s dwellings was a fortress in what is now East Barnet. And an old house called the Grange was allegedly built on the de Mandeville’s old fortress. When excavations disturbed the foundations of the old building, a haunting started, including the stamping of footsteps and clanking of spurs.

A party of local people spending the night in Church Hill Road reported hearing a rumbling like that of many hoof beats and the ground shaking. But nothing was seen on that occasion. However in 1926, a Mr Gibson, a night watchman guarding roadworks in Church Hill Road, was not so fortunate. He saw the ghost of Sir Geoffrey as a skeleton clad in a breastplate and black cape coming up the road towards him.

Sir Geoffrey’s spirit is next due to walk in 2028. So, if you’re somewhere on his old lands on the night of Christmas Eve that year, you might just get a glimpse of the headless hound and the Red-Cloaked Knight.