Welcome to the Hypnogoria Ghosts of Christmas advent calendar! December is the traditional month for telling tales of spooks and spectres, and many a Christmas party has been entertained with chilling stories of hauntings and horrors. However a great many ghosts have been sighted in this month, and indeed many hauntings are said to recur during the festive season. So then, every day, behind every door, you will find an allegedly true account of a December ghost or a Christmas haunting, and where possible, one that it claimed to have occurred on that very day!
Our first door brings us to West Sussex, where just outside the town of Steyning lies the ruins of Bramber Castle. Like many castles it has several ghosts - a spectral white stallion is often seen galloping around the moat, while it's said the castle itself is haunted by the wailing of a former lady of the manor, Maud of Ditchling, whose ghost laments her lover being walled up alive in the dungeon.
Built in Norman times, Bramber Castle is listed in the Domesday Book as being the baronial hall of one William de Braose. His family held the castle for many generations, and became a very powerful family. William IV of Braose was very wealthy, and very popular but also very ruthless. In 1175 he settled a dispute with three Welsh princes and their lords in a most brutal fashion.
He invited them to a Christmas feast at Abergavenny Castle to establish peace between them. However the invitation was a trap, and William slaughtered them all. Later on he was implicated in the disappearance of Arthur of Brittany. This French noble was captured by William and King John at the battle of Mirebeau, and it was rumoured that Arthur met the same fate as the Welsh princes.
For a time, William was a favourite of the King, being awarded vast estates - which some folk alleged were bribes to buy his silence over Arthur's fate. But the capricious John later turned against him. Quite what the issue was has never been firmly established - John cited owed monies, but his actions are considered somewhat extreme for settling a debt. John laid siege to William's castles and estates, and attempted to hunt down William who fled across Ireland and Wales, before eventually escaping to France.
However, while William escaped never to return to England, King John did manage to capture his wife and children. They were imprisoned in a tower and starved to death. And it is said, should you visit Bramber Castle, in December, among the ruins you may see the spectres of ragged children holding out thin hands begging for food…
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