TUESDAY GHOST STORY

Markygate Cell

 

THE GHOST OF CATHERINE FERRERS

The old house at the centre of this story was named Markygate Cell after a Hermitage built by a 12th century monk from nearby St. Albans.  In the 17th century Catherine Ferrers married at the age of 13, a 16 yr old member of the Fanshawe family.  The marriage was not a success, and Catherine as a result of boredom and frustration, took to a life of crime, that was to lead her to being known as the "wicked Lady Ferrers".  She became a highwayman and had a cupbord built into the chimney in the kitchen where she kept her costume of hat, breeches and cloak.  The cupboard was reached by a stairway ( that still exists) and once dressed, she would ride off on her black horse to rob and kill travellers and coach passengers.

She was shot one night while attempting to rob a coach, and although she managed to escape and get back home, she died on the doorstep leading to her secret stairway.  Following its discovery, the doorway was bricked shut for almost 200 yrs.  It was soon after her death that her ghost was seen riding over the treetops in the surrounding countryside, and swinging in the branches of a oak tree where, she is reputed to have buried her ill-gotten gains.

 

Over the years , there have been many sightings of the ghost of Catherine Ferrers.  On one occasion, when there was a serious fire at Markygate Cell,  she was seen by people who were trying to put out the flames, under a tree in the garden.  After the fire, the current owner decided to open the bricked up doorway, but could not induce any local people to do the work because of the odd noises so often heard there.  Workmen were eventually found in London, and when they eventually broke through the brickwork, they discovered the narrow staircase that lead to a heavy oak door.  The room behind the door was empty.

 

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     MONEY TRIVIA

~  American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.  ~

~  More Monopoly money is printed in a year than real money throughout the world.  ~

~  Lee Harvey Oswald`s cadaver tag sold at auction for $6,600 in 1992.  ~

~  In 1979, Judy Garland`s false eyelashes were sold at auction for $125.  ~

~  During WWII, W.C. Fields kept $50,000 in Germany ` in case the little b*****d wins`.  ~

~  Sigmund Freud bought his first sample of cocaine for $1.27 per gram.  ~

~  Woodpecker scalps, porpoise teeth and giraffe tails have all been used as money.  ~

~  There are two credit cards for every person in the US.  ~

~  97 per cent of paper money in the US contains traces of cocaine.  ~

~  After their Civil War, the US sued Great Britain for damages caused by ships the British had built for the Confederacy.  The US asked for $1 billion but settled for $25 million.  ~