With its wealth of history Herefordshire is a county with more than its fair share of myths and legends, not to mention plenty of sightings of ghosts in some of its historic properties ...

John of Kent
Many of the myths of John of Kent revolve around his outwitting the devil, having sold his soul to the devil as a young boy in order to have supernatural power, which he sometimes used for public good. Locally, perhaps the most well-known story is associated with a bridge over the Monnow between Kentchurch and Grosmont. The tale is told that with the help of the devil the bridge was built in a single night, but the pact included a promise that the Devil could have the soul of the first to cross it. With the bridge complete, the devil was impatient that he should have his reward and encouraged Jack to be the first to cross his new bridge. Spotting a starving dog nearby, Jack tempted it with a bone. As it came bounding to him, Jack threw the bone across the bridge and the dog chased after it, leaving the hapless dog as the devils’ only reward...


Skirrid Mountain Inn
It’s thought that more than 180 people were hanged at the Skirrid Inn, the first and last for sheep stealing, offering a fair chance of some significant haunting, and there have been plenty of reports of spooky goings-on at the pub where ‘bloody’ Judge Jefferies, ‘the hanging judge’ sentenced people to death. The original beam used for the hangings is still on display! The sinister feelings experienced in the main bedroom have terrified many hardened ghost hunt veterans. Visit hauntedhappenings.co.uk to book your place on a ghost hunt ... if you dare!


Croft Castle
People have mentioned seeing the ghost of a girl called Lily Armstrong, with additional reports of a headless coach driver and a baby that cries in the middle of the night. Not to mention appearances by Owain Glyndwyr, the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales.


Hellens in Much Marcle
The manor house’s most famous ghost story is of Mehettabel, or Hetty, who eloped with a man considered to be beneath her social class. By the time she was 20 her husband had died and Hetty returned home where her unforgiving family locked her in the bedchamber for 30 years, because she had brought social disgrace upon them. While there, she used her diamond ring to engrave a lament on the window pane: “It is a part of virtue to abstain from what we love if it should prove our bane.” This can still be seen today and her ghost is one of several at Hellens.


Hereford Cathedral
A phantom monk was spotted in broad daylight walking in the cathedral precincts in the autumn and winter of 1934 – at one point a crowd of almost 200 people gathered in the close, hoping to see the phanotm, believed to be a friar, killed defending the building when Hereford was attacked by the Welsh in 1055.


Goodrich Castle
Several legends surround the castle at Goodrich. The Great Keep has the alternative name of the “Macbeth tower”, after stories of an Irish chieftain held prisoner there. According to some tales, he died attempting to escape and his ghost is said to still haunt the tower.
Another story tells of Colonel Birch’s niece, Alice Birch, who fell in love with a handsome Royalist, Charles Clifford, and as the pair attempted to escape before the final assault, they died trying to cross the River Wye, and live on as ghosts in the castle.


The Wergin’s Stone
The Wergin’s Stone is a standing stone in a field near the River Lugg and can be seen from the road between Sutton St Nicholas and Shelwick Green. It was recorded that on February 16, 1642 an extraordinarily strong wind dragged the upright Wergin’s Stone 120 yards away, making a deep dent in the ground the entire distance, and carried the base stone 440 yards through the air, with a satanic black dog seen running ahead of one of the stones. 


The Black Dog of Hergest
The fortified manor house Hergest Court, dates from 1267 and was built by Hwyel ap Meurig and subsequently occupied by the Clanvowe and Vaughan families. The house, which can be seen from the bottom of the lawn below Hergest Croft, is said to be haunted by a great black hound, The Black Dog of Hergest, which is believed to be the inspiration for Conan Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles.


The Dragon of Mordiford
The dragon was said to have loved a small girl named Maud who lived in Mordiford and had nurtured it from infancy. As it grew into adolescence and adulthood, she remained the only person safe from its reign of terror, the only one who could soothe it.
A portrait of the dragon appeared on the wall of the main church of the village until 1811 when a vicar ordered it destroyed as ot was “a sign of the devil”. A reproduction of this painting of the dragon is displayed inside the church.


The Mermaid of Marden
When the bell from Marden church ended up in the River Lugg, a mermaid (!) apparently appropriated it. Despite the villagers’ strenuous efforts, the bell could not be prised from the mermaid’s grasp and remained in the river. In 1848, when villagers were cleaning out the pond, they discovered an ancient bell - might it be the bell the mermaid hid? See the bell for yourself at Hereford Museum!