Tamworth Castle

"The Black Lady of Tamworth," a phantom Benedictine nun is said to appear here, in "The Ghost Room." It was said that the first time she appeared was when Robert de Marmion, soon after the Norman conquest, acted to oust the nuns from the nearby convent at Polesworth which apparently enraged their late founder St Editha (or Edith). She appeared to Robert as an apparition and threatened him if her nuns were not allowed to return and then struck him across the head. Robert relented in his plans and the nuns returned. A slightly different version is that the bad wound on his head would not heal until he repented; yet another variant says that his whole right side was paralyzed after he was struck in the ribs. The black lady is said to have returned centuries later when King Henry VIII wanted the convent closed down but her manifestation was limited to walking around the grounds. A "White Lady" has been seen on the battlements; she is said to be the lover of Sir Tarquin, who was killed in a jousting competition against Sir Lancelot. She witnessed this and became disconsolate, returning to the castle in a state of grief after she died. She might be the source of the cries heard in Lady Meadow. There is also a "Green Lady", reputed to be Lady Elizabeth Drury who was imprisoned here for taking part in the Babington Plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Other phantoms are a civil war soldier, a figure walking into a wall where a door used to be and the "grey shadow" of a female figure on the stairs. In addition to this, a white shadow on the CCTV, footsteps, voices and screams and shouts, the feeling of someone walking by a staircase, a crushing sensation, a blue misty swirl, temperature drops, slamming doors and the sound of furniture being moved have also been reported.

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