Arsley, sage, rosemary and thyme are not the most poignant legacies of Scarborough — its ghosts are. I realised this while I was standing in the middle of a dungeon, exploring artefacts and listening to my guide laughing off weird sounds next door saying it must be a couple of ghosts arguing. All through the bus ride from Leeds, I couldn’t help whistling a tune in my head and thinking of enjoying some good alfresco seafood and a tall glass of orangeade. It was summer, and since, blue skies were a rarity in grey England, it meant glory days. But it didn’t take me long to realise that sunny days in Scarborough didn’t necessarily mean festivity, for the minute I stepped into Scarborough castle, a cold draft ushered me in and the sense of restlessness hung around me in a rather distressing way.
For most of us, the picture of an idyllic, seaside town comes from listening to a dozen renditions of Simon and Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair through childhood. No one tells you the real reason why the town refuses to shake off its eternal slumber, to wake up and jostle its feathers like London or Birmingham. The truth is, Scarborough had survived the worst of times unlike the rest of England.
In 1066, the town was plundered and burnt to the ground by the armies of Norwegian King Harald Hardada and Tosig, the brother of Harold of Wessex. As a result, thousands of inhabitants were brutally murdered, and it wasn’t until the late 12th century that the town picked up the pieces of this gruesome past and built the castle. Over the years, the present day town grew, making the castle an epicentre of its history. A visit to Scarborough castle is all you need to realise that Scarborough’s wounds haven’t healed and that the ghosts of its distant past, continue to live and breathe with the present.
One of the castle’s most famous ghosts is the headless phantom of Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall, who is known to be so angry that he sometimes pushes visitors over the edge of the castle walls! Piers who was once a favourite of King Edward II, was taken prisoner from here by the Earls of Lancaster, Hereford and Arunde and later beheaded in Blacklow Hill. However, his ghost is said to have returned in a restless rage, and is believed to cause distress to many even today.
Ghost stories through the years throng the North Yorkshire coast, and if you think you might be up for an adrenalin rush, try one of Scarborough’s famous ghost tours.
Local folklore around Scarborough warn of the ghost of a dispossessed old woman, believed to be the wife of a former castle gun keeper. Appearing out of
nowhere, the restless ghost is said to have been searching for her husband. Over the years, an exorcism was called for because she refused to leave.
Another famous story revolves around Lydia Bell, a teenager otherwise known as the Pink Lady who was brutally murdered here in 1804. Many say that the girl often appears in a pink or red dress, as casually as a regular person. As I walk through the dark walls of Scarborough castle and look over its walls, I realise that the sea that I once longed to watch from above and the rocks below hold much more than just the memories of the Merry England that I have read of in books.
Looking back, Simon and Garfunkel’s beautiful ballad about Scarborough’s
famous fair, spoke volumes not only about the beauty of the town in the middle ages, a time when it bustled with festivity, but also of a strange longing to cleanse Scarborough of its dark past. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme were herbs, which according to British folklore were infused in food to work as a love charm. It seems as if Scarborough still longs for the idyllic charms of its past and refuses to heal.
Deep below, the castle dungeons still remain cloaked with an aura of mystery, and the guide tells us that it is common to hear laughter and chatter in the dungeons at midnight even when no one is around. Aren’t you scared? I ask him. He laughs, telling me that the castle’s ghosts have as much a right to the castle as every one of us did.
“After all,” he adds, “hasn’t this been their home for hundreds of years now?”
As we followed the steps that led outside, I found myself pausing each time I heard a sound. Was it a ghost? Or was it a figment of my imagination? I didn’t want to know. The castle’s high ceilings and foreboding paintings still seemed to watch each one of us as we stared up at them, and asked questions. The disturbing secrets that Scarborough held seemed etched into the very walls of the epitome of its historical castle. But clearly, those who lived there now seemed to have come to deal with this.
A short walk below the castle took us to St Mary’s Churchyard, and I sat down with aching feet, glad to be out of the eeriness of the castle that towered over me. Our guide soon settled near me, and we spoke about the beautiful view to the town below, and the years it had lived through. I told him of that strange sense of the peace I felt, and he looked at me in amusement. He pointed to Anne Bronte’s famous grave and explained that she had died while visiting Scarborough here in the 19th century. Then he calmly adds, “But it’s peaceful now, it is only at midnight that they wake up and walk the moors”. I think he is joking, but he isn’t. Nevertheless, I get up, thank him and leave.
Scarborough is as mysterious as the folk that live here, and there is something that makes you want to keep going back. I just don’t know what that is.
Factfile
How to get there: The best and cheapest way to get to Scarborough would be to take a train or a bus. Details can be found on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ or http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx
Things to pack: Always pack sun-block if you are heading out to Scarborough in the summer. Needless to say, this also calls you to pack your sunglasses or a small hat. If you are going to spend a lot of time on the beach, take a swimsuit. Be warned, that British seas are freezing cold and not warm like in India!
Must-see spots:
Scarborough Castle: The epicentre of Scarborough town, that stretches across the North and South bays.
Scarborough Sea life Centre: This is a fantastic place to go with family and friends. The aquarium gives you splendid close-up view of life beneath the North Sea waters. Fantasy forest (Olympia): If you want to rev up your spirit in the evenings, a visit to fantasy forest would assure you great drinks at the sports bar and fun activities like bowling, laser dodgems etc.
— meeravijayann@gmail.com