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Ghostlore: The White Lady of Blenkinsopp Castle Legend

White Lady Ghost (1)

Ghostlore

In ghostlore, the supernatural phenomenon known as the “White Lady” is a type of unquiet female spirit, or ghost, usually appearing wearing a long white dress. Reports of White Lady ghosts appear in many countries around the world. Although her complexion is usually pale, her ethnicity can be seen in her facial features and is usually that of the region she appears in, or the place of her birth. As well as their complexions and way they dress they share several other commonalities. For example, she is are often portrayed as victims of betrayal in love by a husband or fiancé, or unrequited love, and suffered a tragic, or accidental death, murder, or suicide. In addition, she is often a lady of high status who has suffered an injustice or loss and is sometimes associated with hidden or buried treasure, or some great secret that prevents her from resting in peace. Finally, she sometimes appear as a harbinger of doom before the death of a family member.

Blenkinsopp Castle, Northumberland, England is reputed to be haunted by a White Lady Ghost, who is associated with a legend of a large chest of gold of substantial value hidden somewhere in the lower rooms or grounds of the castle. According to this legend, it was hidden in a time of trouble by a lady of the castle. After her death, her unquiet spirit appeared, some say to guard the treasure, while others say she was trying to reveal its hiding place. What was agreed was that the Lady was always clad entirely in a long white flowing gown, and for this, became known as the “White Lady of Blenkinsopp Castle.”

The White Lady of Blenkinsopp Castle

However, over the last two centuries, there have been no further reported incidents, but ghastly stories of her remain part of the local folklore. Even during the time of her last appearance, many parts of the castle had long been in a dilapidated condition. Yet, a few habitable parts remained occupied by a farmer worker, known locally as a hind, and a few other estate employees until around 1820, about the time of the last sighting. 

In this legend, the hind and his wife had an eight-year-old son who slept in an adjoining room to theirs. One night they were awakened by a series of long terrifying screams from their son. Rushing to investigate, they discovered him sitting in bed, covered in sweat, pale and trembling with a look of terror on his face.

“She is here! She is here! The White Lady! The White Lady, she is here!” he shrieked, panic-stricken.

“There is no White Lady; there is nothing to fear! We are here now and will keep you safe,” replied his mother calmly.

"Oh, thank goodness! I am glad she has gone. She was angry at me because I would not go with her. She was elegant and beautiful but so very sad. She to me came and sat on my bed and cried and cried, all the time wringing her hands, tears rolling down her face. I tried to think of something to say to comfort her, but could think of nothing, and then she kissed me!

She kissed me once more and asked me to go with her, promising she would make me a wealthy man when I grew up. She told me she knew where a secret treasure chest of gold had been buried in the castle hundreds of years ago, and promised if I went with her, she would give it to me. She said that her soul could never rest in peace while it was there. I told her I could not go with her - dare not go with her!

She became angry, saying she would carry me away if I refused, put her arms around me, and began lifting me. That is when I began screaming and frightened her away."

Last Sighting

His parents were down-to-earth people and concluded their child had been dreaming. Nevertheless, it took much soothing and their continued presence by his side before he would go back to sleep. Thankfully, in the morning he awoke none the worse from his experience, and they thought it all no more than a childish nightmare. However, that night the boy again woke up screaming about the White Lady, and the same thing happened again the following night. Each time they ran to his bed and found him sat up pale and shaking, crying about the White Lady who had come to carry him away and telling the same story. The following night they decided he should sleep with them in their bedroom, and his nightmare of the White Lady, if nightmare it was, did not return.

The experience had severely affected their son. He had once been an open and energetic boy who had loved to explore and play around the ruins of the castle and its grounds. Now he had become shrinking and fearful, avoiding his old playground even in daylight, always needing the reassuring presence of one of his parents. Rather than a nightmare the incident is considered the last reported sighting of the ghostly White Lady.

A Dream Of Treasure

Another legend of a White Lady of Blenkinsopp Castle is told in the nearby village of Greenhead, though whether it is the same unquiet spirit as the one above is unknown. The story goes that one day a lady arrived and took residence at the local inn. She had confided to the lady proprietor of the inn that her visit was because of a recurring dream she had experienced on three consecutive nights. In her dream, she had discovered hidden away among the ruins of Blenkinsopp Castle, a secret vault containing a great chest full of treasure. Her dream was so lucid and realistic that she believed it was her destiny to find it.

She had wanted permission from the landowner to search the ruins and grounds, but he was abroad at the time of her stay, which forced her to await his return for several weeks. Finally, however, it seems she lost patience, or he refused and she went home with her mission unfulfilled. There is no record of anyone else finding treasure there, so if it ever existed, it remains in some hidden place awaiting some lucky finder.

Bryan De Blenkinsopp

But an older legend may be the source of the White Lady ghost of the castle the hidden treasure hoard in the castle. It concerns a former castellan named Bryan de Blenkinsopp, who owned the stronghold during the Middle Ages. He was renowned as a bold, devil-may-care risktaker who thought nothing of lawbreaking to satisfy his greed and lust. He was a committed batchelor and womanizer who declared loudly, and often, he would remain so until his dying day. He swore he would only marry a lady with a trunk of gold too heavy for ten of his strongest knights to carry into his castle. But as so often happens, our own words return to haunt us, which is what happened to Sir Bryan.

A time came when, like many other lords, he went overseas to fight the Crusades and was away from home for several years. During that time, he had met a lady in some far exotic land who had equaled and even exceeded his expectations, and he had successfully courted and married her. Some legends say she was a French woman who was very plain looking but very rich and possessed a substantial box of gold that took twelve stout men to carry. Her wealth would make her attractive to a man like Sir Bryan despite her plainness.

Another account says she was young, very beautiful and intelligent, but best of all, exceedingly wealthy, and he took her back to his castle, hoping for a life of wedded bliss. She had brought with her a strongbox filled with gold that required the strength of twelve strong men in her service to lift.

The Richest Man In The North

Either way, on his return to England with his wife and her treasure, Sir Bryan was the wealthiest man in the North. But, as is seen in so many cases where money rules over love, instead of enjoying blissful matrimonial wedlock, they were enduring nothing less than a state of dreadful enduring deadlock.

They argued and fought unceasingly with increasing hatred. Finally, after one particularly spiteful fight, Sir Bryan loudly vowed he would be rid of her once and for all. His wife, never short of words, was heard muttering something in her native language which could not be understood but believed to be words filled with seething malicious intent. Both left the room angrily through separate doors and to the servants who overheard the exchange thought that to be the end of it.

However, that night the twelve strong men in the service of the Sir Bryan’s wife who had carried her strongbox of treasure into the castle appeared. At her instruction, they buried or confined it in some secret part of the castle or grounds and there it remains hidden to this day. Since then sightings of a ghostly White Lady were seen roaming around the castle and grounds seeming to be in a distraught way, but for what reason is not clear.

Mysterious Disappearances

There are conflicting reports that on discovering the treasure gone, Sir Bryan disappeared, while other accounts say it was this wife who disappeared. However, they both went missing simultaneously for unknown reasons, in a very mysterious manner, never to be seen alive again.

Furthermore, a dark and eerie accusation was laid on his wife that she was some demonic spirit sent by the devil to ensnare for her master the soul of Sir Bryan Blenkinsopp. For evidence, they pointed out that she never was known to attend church and was often heard to mutter incantations to an unknown god. After their last vicious fight, her dark mutterings became interpreted as the utterings of a spell or curse.

From this story, the unquiet spirit of the wife of Sir Bryan Blenkinsopp became identified as the ghostly White Lady of Blenkinsopp Castle, but whether she is guarding the treasure, trying to reveal it, or has some other purpose is unknown.

© 02/06/2023 zteve t evans – All Rights Reserved

Reference, Attributions And Further Reading

Copyright June 2nd, 2023 zteve t evans – All Rights Reserved

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