Sunday, January 24, 2016

The Haunted Corfe Castle in England

In 978AD King Edward's stepmother murdered him at Corfe Castle because she wanted to put her son in power. He was called Etheired “the Unready.”

It is said that while King Edward was hunting in Purbeck forest he went to Corfe where Elfryda, his stepmother, lived. They say she gave Edward a goblet of wine. While Edward was drinking the wine Elfryda had someone stab him in the back.

William the Conqueror started building the Corfe Castle. It was King John that made it into a royal residence. There was a Chapel, new Hall and out buildings added. One of King John's favorite castles was the Corfe Castle. From 1190AD to 1216AD King John added a lot to the castles defenses. When John was King, the castle was used as a prison and may prisoners died at Corfe Castle.

In 1572AD Elizabeth I sold Corfe Castle to Sir Christopher Hatton, her dance master. Sir John Banes the Lord Chief Justice became the owner of the Corfe Castle in 1572.

The Castle was defended by Lady Bankes during the English Civil War until February 1646AD when one of her men betrayed her to Cromwell. When Cromwell’s army took over the castle, they destroyed it. It took them very little time to turn the castle into a pile of ruins.

After this happened stories started being told about a headless “White Lady” who would appear and cause shivers to go down most people's spines.

Corfe Castle is now a tourist attraction even though it is in ruins.

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Sources and credits: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corfe-castle Photo from Pixabay

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