All Hallows Eve – A Thame Perspective

DON’T look now but there?s something very spooky creeping up on you?.and its called October 31st.
Devotees will soon be congregating outside Woolworth?s, gathered around their cauldron; witches and ghouls planning their evening. It will be a night of spooky tales, ghosts and trick-or-treaters, or as shoppers to Woolworth may call it, ? Pic?n?Mix?!! We seem to have seriously adopted the Halloween tradition from the US. We certainly didn?t celebrate like this when I was a child, but what we would do was tell a good ghost story.
Now, we know that Thame is an old town so I expected that it would be jam-packed with ghosts. I mean, you don?t find buildings as old as many of ours here in Thame, in just any old place. So you can imagine that I was bitterly disappointed to only be able to rustle up a hand full. Any way, settle down on this cold, grisly night but make sure your windows are locked because here we go???
The next time you drive to Aylesbury from Thame on the A418, at night, beware when you approach the village of Gibralta. 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 travelers about the danger ahead. 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!
Around St Mary?s Church, in Thame, 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 last century. As he approached a lady dressed in Elizabethan costume who was kneeling at the alter rail, she 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 loose 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 is from the very lovely Bird Cage. Its one of the oldest and most well known buildings in Thame and there are many accounts of strange happenings. With moving objects and strange knocking sounds, it all sounds a bit creepy! More so when you?re told that the ghost is that of 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 that I just have not had the time to come across, but for now I?ll leave you with these to ponder.
Right now I?m just about to double-check that I did actually lock that door??