Great Britain has long been a playground for the paranormal, and the 17th century was especially ripe with uncanny occurrences. Here are 10 bizarre supernatural stories that emerged from the islands during that era, each more astonishing than the last.
10. The Ghost Of Dunty Porteous
Sometime in the late 1600s, a miller called Dunty Porteous found himself locked away in Sir Alexander Jardine’s tower in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on suspicion of arson. One day Jardine had to dash to Edinburgh on urgent business and completely forgot his prisoner.
When Jardine finally returned, he discovered Porteous had starved to death in his cell. The dead miller’s spirit erupted from the walls, screaming about his endless hunger. To end the nightly torment, Jardine summoned an exorcist; the rite succeeded, imprisoning the ghost in the dungeon—but only while a particular Bible remained on the premises.
Eventually that Bible fell to pieces and was sent to Edinburgh for rebinding. With the holy book gone, the spirit broke free, prowling the Jardine family’s new home and attacking them in their sleep. As soon as the original Bible was restored to the tower, the haunting ceased.
9. The Coffin Of Robert Baty
Robert Baty, a young Englishman, was adamant that he be laid to rest in his ancestors’ vault at the church of Arthuret. On 12 August 1680, at just 23 years old, he drowned by accident and was instead interred in the ordinary churchyard.
The night after his funeral, Robert appeared in a vivid dream to his sister Mary, furious that his burial site was wrong and vowing to haunt those responsible until he was moved to the family vault. The following morning his coffin was discovered dug up outside his grave, though his body remained untouched and the casket was perfectly preserved.
After the coffin mysteriously resurfaced twice more, Mary finally relayed the dream to the family. At last the corpse was transferred to the intended vault, where it stayed undisturbed for good.
8. The Powers Of Dr. John Lambe
Known infamously as “the Duke’s Devil,” Dr. John Lambe was a dubious magician who served as adviser to George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham. Lambe’s shady reputation earned him a pardon for the rape of a little girl, and he met a violent end at the hands of a mob a few months before his patron was assassinated.
One of his most talked‑about tricks involved two guests, Barbor and Sands, who were invited to drink at his home. While they chatted about sorcery, Lambe conjured a tree out of thin air, then summoned three tiny men with axes to fell it. After the dwarfs chopped it down and carried the timber away, Barbor secretly pocketed a stray chip.
That night, every door and window in Barbor’s house slammed open and shut on its own. He confessed to his wife about the stolen chip, and after she forced him to toss it outside, the house finally fell silent.
7. The Ghost Of Dorothy Durant
In 1665, a bright 16‑year‑old schoolboy named Bligh became suddenly withdrawn and depressed. He confided to his brother that a specter was haunting him, and twice each day while walking to and from school through a field in Launceston, the ghost of a late neighbour, Dorothy Durant, would silently trail him.
Bligh’s family scoffed at his tale, but his headmaster, Mr Ruddle, gave the boy a hearing. The next morning, walking together through the field, Ruddle saw Durant glide past them. He would encounter her several more times thereafter.
One late July morning, Ruddle tried to converse with the apparition. Though her voice was faint and her words garbled, they managed a fifteen‑minute dialogue. That evening Durant’s ghost met Ruddle on his way home, exchanged a few words, and vanished forever.
6. The Merideth Children
In January 1675, the four Merideth children of Bristol fell into violent convulsions. Initially they complained of sharp pains in their heads and sides, then their limbs began to twitch, and the siblings would burst into simultaneous laughter or tears for an hour at a time.
Witnesses claimed the youngsters could crawl across the floor like cats, and one observer swore they perched on ceilings and walls as if they were spiders. One daughter asserted she could foresee the future, while another habitually vomited tiny pins. Strangely, the fits only occurred during daylight; at night the children slept peacefully.
No physician could explain the phenomenon. Ministers prayed over the family daily, and the fits persisted for months. By May the episodes inexplicably ceased, and the children returned to normal health.
5. Ann Jefferies And Her Fairies
In 1645, Ann Jefferies, a 19‑year‑old servant for the Pitt family in Cornwall, claimed to have seen six tiny fairies dancing in her master’s garden. The sight terrified her so profoundly that she collapsed on the spot.
For months she suffered debilitating fits and became too weak to stand. During this period she developed a reputation as a healer, saying the invisible fairies constantly accompanied her, feeding her with mysterious “fairy food” that granted her extraordinary powers.
Her growing fame attracted the attention of local magistrates and clergymen, who accused the fairies of being demonic. Jefferies was briefly imprisoned, but eventually released, married, and lived to an old age.
4. The Poltergeist Of Isabel Heriot
Isabel Heriot served as a domestic worker for a minister in Ormiston, Scotland, until the minister dismissed her for showing little interest in religion. In the winter of 1680 she fell ill and died, after which her ghost began appearing near the minister’s residence.
A few nights later, stones began hurling themselves at the house from nowhere, a barrage that continued for eight or nine weeks, sometimes striking the minister’s servants. Objects shifted mysteriously, and strange noises echoed through the rooms.
When the poltergeist activity finally ended, a witness—who had seen the apparition earlier—spotted Heriot gathering stones in the minister’s yard. Before fleeing in terror, the spirit declared the Devil wanted her to destroy her former master.
3. The Doppelganger Of Mary Goffe
On 3 June 1691, Mary Goffe lay on her deathbed at her father’s home in West Malling, England. She begged her husband for a horse so she could reach her children, who were nine miles away in Rochester, but she was too weak to leave the bed.
At 1 a.m. her breathing halted, yet she entered a trance‑like state. Simultaneously, in Rochester, the children’s nurse was startled to see Mary appear in the older daughter’s bedroom. For fifteen minutes Mary stood silently beside the nurse, while the younger daughter slept.
When the clock struck two, Mary left the Rochester house, returned to West Malling, and emerged from her trance. Before dying that day, she told her mother she had visited her children in sleep. The nurse reported the incident to neighbours, who corroborated the story.
2. The Demon Of Spreyton
In November 1682, a servant named Francis Fey encountered the ghost of his master’s deceased father in a field near Spreyton, England. The apparition asked Fey to settle an unfinished matter concerning the will, which he dutifully completed before heading home the next day.
On his return to Spreyton, Fey faced another spectre: the ghost of his master’s dead stepmother, later dubbed “the Demon of Spreyton.” She knocked him off his horse and seemed intent on making his life a living nightmare.
Her torments ranged from strangling him with his own handkerchiefs to ripping his wigs, flinging him into the air, animating his shoelaces, and even sending a bird wielding a stone to batter his head.
1. The Ghost Of Anne Walker
William Walker, a wealthy widower residing in Lumley, England, employed a relative named Anne as his housekeeper. Their closeness sparked gossip, and when Anne became pregnant, villagers whispered about the possible father.
In March 1632, William sent Anne away to let the scandal fade, first placing her with an aunt and then supposedly moving her to Durham. Two weeks later, a miller named James Graham in Lumley encountered a drenched, blood‑covered woman who claimed to be Anne and that she was dead.
Anne explained that William had hired a man named Mark Sharp to murder her with a pickaxe and dump her corpse in a coal‑mine pool. She begged Graham to inform the authorities. Though hesitant at first, Graham finally reported the murder after Anne reappeared, swearing to haunt him forever.
The authorities searched the mine, found Anne’s body exactly where she said, and arrested both Sharp and Walker. Sharp confessed, and both men were hanged in November.