DON’T look now but there’s something very spooky creeping up on you…All Hallows Eve or Halloween as it’s more popularly known these days, October 31st.
The local witches, werewolves, ghouls and ghosts are no doubt planning their evening and we’re all lamenting the loss of Woolworth’s pick n’mix counter to keep the eggs… I mean evil spirits, away from our doors. It will be a night of spooky tales, unexplained happenings, myths and legends for which we’re all suckers. But what of Thame itself? Where lurk our town’s apparitions and other supernatural presences?
Now, we know that Thame is an old town with a lot of history, so I expected that it would be jam-packed with ghosts. I mean, you don’t find buildings as old as many of ours in every Oxfordshire town, so you can imagine that I was a bit disappointed only to be able to rustle up a hand full. Anyway, settle down on this cold, grisly night but make sure your windows are locked because here we go???
Robin Gibb and his wife Dwina have often spoken affectionately about the many guests that they apparently share their home, the Prebendal, with. Dwina is quoted as telling one visitor: “When we first moved in here, the house wouldn’t accept anything new. Washing machines would break down, televisions, video machines, telephone systems. They wouldn’t function properly. An engineer from BT came out and said, “It’s not us, it’s the house.”
Lord Williams’s school has its own legend too. It is said that George Plummer, a housemaster in the early 19th century, murdered the Matron and disposed of her body in the vast Main House attic. It is said that once a year her ghost rings the old assembly bell which is on top of Main House which is now rarely used.
The next time you drive to Aylesbury from Thame on the A418, at night, beware when you approach the village of Gibraltar. Try not to be alone as it is at this spot that the ghost of a Thame man, known as the Noble Edden who apparently appears to warn travellers about the danger ahead, might appear. What danger you may ask? Well, it was here that Noble Edden was murdered, and he wants to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else! (He’s buried in St Mary’s churchyard by the way)
Around St Mary’s itself, stories of the lady in grey have been rife for many years. The story goes that a lady in grey appeared to the vicar of St Mary’s just before the turn of the 19th century. As he approached, a lady dressed in Elizabethan costume who was kneeling at the altar rail, vanished right before his very eyes. During World War II, members of the Home Guard often claimed to have seen her while climbing to their lookouts on the church tower.
Interestingly, whilst doing this research, I noticed that Long Crendon also boasts a lady in grey whose ghost haunts their church. Could it be the same lady? Did she perhaps marry her true love at Thame only to lose him and see him buried at Long Crendon, and now her unhappy spirit walks them both in grief? It could be, or maybe someone local knows the true story of our lady in grey? Please do get in touch and let us know.
The last story that I’m going to tell concerns the Bird Cage in Cornmarket, Thame. It’s one of the oldest and most well-known buildings in Thame and there are many accounts of strange happenings. The source of the loud nocturnal footsteps has never been traced, but One story says the entity is a leper that was once imprisoned there. Legend has it that he met a horrible end, being stoned to death by the local people of Thame! And I thought we were such nice people! Apparently, there is a secret underground passage that runs from the Bird Cage to St Mary’s Church and it was along here that his battered, bruised and broken body was carried for the last time.
I’m sure there’s a lot more spooky history to be uncovered in Thame, so if you know of any local ghosts or other unexplained goings-on, do share it with us.