3 Great Places of Folk Horror

It is safe to say that there are many different places that implore us to investigate further. For example, places such as Salem in the U.S.A which has a history concerning witch hunts and the Tower of London which is probably haunted by everyone and their second cousin. But, when we investigate folk horror, we look at the urban legends that surround places, however particular and the stories that have inspired and changed them over the years.

Nearly every single place on earth has a folk horror tale of creepy woods and weird rituals with ghosts and violence or sacrifice of some kind. For me, the city in which I live has a legend called "Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?" - a legend of the skeletal remains of an unknown woman that was found within a tree in the 1940s. There have been a number of these but that has to be the most famous one - practically everyone has heard of it in one form or another.

For Halloween, I would like to share with you three different places in my home country of the UK that have a weird folkloric horror attached to them. It may not be a definitive list, but it is a list of places that I think are really interesting and I will also tell you whether I have personally visited these places or not.

Remember: to be a real folk horror of our times, these have to have an urban legend surrounding them or some kind of weirdness that can't be backed up by facts. It must also be some sort of culture where may people believe it to be haunted and, with the strange nature - it should be well-documented and have many different pieces of information rather than just one particular haunting mentioned by one person

3 Great Places of Folk Horror

3. Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm? (Hagley, Birmingham)

I'm not going to lie to you but I've not only been to the Hagley Woods, but I went to university only about 15-20 minutes away. I also live only about half an hour away from it and have been past it many times with the cinema I regularly visit only about ten minutes from the woods. Can I say that there is a haunting presence there? No. But I can say that there is something to respect of the lore that comes from it.

2. Pluckley, Kent

I remember going here and most of what I felt was just a bit cold. Now, just because there are lots of cold spots in places doesn't mean that there's anything supernatural going on. But it's hard not to think so. I went to fields and woods, I trundled through grass and mud and I took photographs and recordings but unfortunately, I was unable to stir the spirits. As one of the most haunted locations in Britain, Pluckley is a common site for ghost hunters and internet sleuths alike. Weirdly enough for me, I didn't actually know about these stories when I went. I just went to take photographs of the wide open spaces that I could use on a nature writing project I was doing. I would like to go back knowing what I know now and I wonder if knowing about it may bring them about.

Honorable Mention:

Ancient Ram Inn, Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucester

Called 'The Most Haunted Place in Britain', this Gloucester Pub is practically teeming with history, folktales and local stories of terror. I have only visited the Ancient Ram Inn once and regret I did not stay overnight and if I am being perfectly honest, I only went for a drink. After which, I left. I knew the history of it and I knew it was supposed to be haunted but I guess I had somewhere I needed to be and didn't care as much as I do now.

1. Borley Rectory, Essex

Though I have been in the vacinity, I have never actually been inside Borley Rectory with my day's errands getting the better of me at the time. Interesting most at night time, this place seems to have ghosts of everyone from children to grown human beings. Whispers and figures, shadows and oddities can be seen on the site at different times and, as you can imagine, the surrounding area is coated in tales about various hauntings that come from beneath the historical findings of the rectory. Films, shows and ghost hunts have been performed there and I hope to visit it someday.

Conclusion

So there are three different places with an extra one that you might be interested in. If you are in England then I suggest you check them out because there are so many different locations of folk horror due to England's history with different ages. From the Anglo-Saxons all the way down to the ghosts of Westminster Abbey and the stories that litter the London Underground, England happens to be one of the greatest places for folk horror as tales are passed from generation to generation.