Su Williams investigates the spine of the Necropolis tour by Liverpool’s Haunted St James’s Cemetery
Stories from the Necropolis Review
It was the leaves that were wrong. Standing on the cemetery of St James, just a few meters away from the largest cathedral of the UK in Liverpool, I watched how two leaves fluttered manically. Every other leaf remained immobile. Yet it was at least Rowan leaves – a tree that tells us folklore against witchcraft. I found this strangely reassuring, especially since our small group had just entered a site, not only with witches, but much, much more.
In a city, many people only know for football and the Beatles, we had registered for stories from the Necropolis. Described as a “guided ghost walk”, the 90-minute experience offers a real party for connoisseurs of all things that are strange off-cilter. Now known as St James’s Mount and Gardens, the rich history of the site offers a fertile soil for a wealth of stories that are professionally told by our two guides. Dressed in Edwardian clothing and lanterns, these guides, Miss Llewellyn and Mr. Roberts, our small group took a journey full of pagan, folklore and the supernatural, all placed in a place where nearly 60,000 souls were laid to rest.
Our first stop was an impressive sandstone wall, where Anglo -Saxon runes are spread over the upper rock. These witnesses of the old roots of the site, including the ties with Jenny Greenteeth, the Lancashire River Hag, who drags inattenting children to rivers or lakes if they get too close. It is said that Jenny was part of an old pagan witch cult who once occupied the site. Followers of the old religion still visit, who often draw runs and leave the offer, especially by the Chalybeate Veer, described as the only natural spring of Liverpool.
As a former city cemetery, many of the great and the good of the old Liverpool have their final resting place here. The impressive memorial of former MP William Huskisson, the first person ever killed by a train, is just one of the different locations where our guides have experienced personally paranormal events. I will not spoil it for you, but what happened was recorded on tape during a professional ghost hunt and I would certainly have been afraid of it!
However, it was the stories of the common people, especially children, who turned out to be the most suggestive. Two small words-“small grace”-cut in a wall, a heartbreaking act of memory by a clairvoyant who tries to rest to rest the spirit of a four-year-old girl without a stone or ceremony by a rich father who was ashamed of his illegal offspring. And then there are the four ghost children, often seen by tombstones with a list of dozens of children who died in the 19one Century in the children of the city. These innocent victims of circumstances are still remembered today. Toys and small gifts are often left at their final resting places.
I found something very moving in these innocent gestures by the living to remember the dead. However, not everything that the living on this site can be considered innocent. Some are drawn here by another, darker calling. We were told how different graves were broken into and satanic words about their walls in the 1960s. Tealights and offers often appear on a memorial stone with the number 666, which has the reputation to be a portal for the underworld. And then there is the grave of the so -called Everton Vampire, who recently attracted the attention of a regular visitor, is evident from the trusting of the wild garlic planted around the grave by superstitious land. We were all very relieved to continue from that very creepy place!
There can be few better places for a ghost tour than a former cemetery and stories from the Necropolis was a truly fascinating, creepy and pleasant experience. Rest assured, there are many more details and stories to enjoy during the tour than those who are briefly recorded here, so whatever your specific shade is spooky, there is something for you here. This tour is highly recommended, because although I saw no spirit (despite the endless scanning of my photos afterwards!) I will certainly remain chased by what is a really extraordinary and alien place.
Tales from the Necropolis runs from St James’s Mount and Garden, Liverpool, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday evening weekly magazine. Read more at www.talesfromthenecropolis.co.uk
Have you been to the stories of Necropolis Ghost Tour in Liverpool? Tell us your spookst story in the comments below!
Su Williams says: “I am a former journalist and editor and I am now working part -time in education. I live in the northwest with my husband, two children and two cats, but my heart belongs to Somerset where I first became interested in Folklore and the supernatural. I recently tried my love for writing this in the coming months.”
