Folk Customs

The Fisher Family who had lived at Croglin Low Hall (once known as Croglin Grange) for many centuries. moved from the property into larger dwellings and put the property up to let. The following spring the grange was finally let to the Cranswells, 2 brothers and a sister, who soon integrated into the villiage,.

Croglin Low Hall

One summer evening as the sun set and the shadow of darkness began to take hold Miss Cranswell paused to look out of the window in the direction of the darkened churchyard at the bottom of their long lawn.

It seemed that in the shadows she could see two points of light moving above the gravestones coming closer to the wall that separated the churchyard from the Hall’s grounds.

With a deep feeling of unease, Miss Cranswell shut the window tight bolted the door and laid down in her bed to try and get some sleep.

Suddenly she was jolted awake by a low rustling from outside the window. She twisted in bed and sat bolt upright, outside the window burning like coals in the night were two points of light, which she now recognised as the demon eyes of some humanoid creature.

She tried to scream but terror froze the sound in her throat.   Slowly the apparition began to pluck the lead from the window, first one, then another of the small glass panels gave way and fell to the floor.

A dead grey hand reached in pulled the latch and opened the window. With cat like ease the towering figure of a man climbed into the room, pale and gaunt with burning eyes and blood-red lips. The apparition stepped to the bed and grasping her hair he pulled back her head as if to deliver a kiss.

Her piercing scream woke her brothers who on finding the room locked smashed their way through their sister’s door.

A stench of mouldy decay filled the air and there on the bed lay Miss Cranswell, blood pumping from the ragged gashes in her neck. Through the open window they caught sight of a shadowy figure running across the lawn and shot at it.

First thing in the morning they took Miss Cranswell to safety and gathered all the residents of the village around them to carry out their gruesome task.

The men searched the graveyard for any signs of disturbance and on finding none turned their attention to the church.

The crypt door was slightly ajar and inside they were met with a horrific scene. The scattered remains of broken coffins and gnawed human bones littered the area. Only one coffin seemed to have been left untouched.

wrenching off the lid they found a corpse wrapped in mouldy clothes. Its eyes were cold and lifeless in the daylight but a fresh pistol wound was gaping from one of the creatures legs.

The villagers dragged the coffin and its demonic contents out into the churchyard and burned the lot to ashes.