Down the road from the Church of St John the Baptist, on the corner of the High Street and Madgalene Street that passes by Glastonbury Tor is The George and Pilgrim. 1 High Street, just a stone throw from Abbey Park, has the reputation of being haunted.
The building dates from at least 1475 as a pre-Reformation inn. It was used by people visiting Glastonbury Abbey and, perhaps, even by some monks.
One of the reported ghosts in the building is that of a monk which, back in the 70s, is said to have sat on the bed of a guest and talked about Queen Elizabeth. It’s not common for reported ghost sightings to include dialogue.
Another reported ghost is that of “hanging judge” George Jeffreys. Baron Jeffreys (15 May 1645 to 18 April 1689) was Lord Chancellor and Lord High Steward under the reign of King James II of England.
It’s not unusually for hotels and pubs to circulate ghost stories as way of bringing in tourists. If you want to stay at The George & Pilgrim you can book at sites like Hotels.com and although no mention of ghosts are mentioned there the subject is brought up by customer reviews on Tripadvisor. The George & Pilgrim gets mixed reviews.
However, most hotels and pubs with a ghost story do not have a photograph to fuel the speculation – 1 High Street on Glastonbury does. If people ask, “Is The George & Pilgrim really haunted?” the owners can show this picture.
The photograph was taken by a customer. The owners, Cathy Breakwell and Andy White, told local press that they’re used to seeing orbs on the CCTV the pub uses.
“At night you can clearly see orbs on the CCTV in the bar, and I have had things put into a glass of water when there was nobody in the room – but we couldn’t believe it when we saw the photograph – it was amazing.
“He took it right in front of me, in a bar full of customers, and every photograph he took afterwards didn’t have the shape in it.”
Cathy does not believe the spirit is that of a monk. She suggests that the ghost may be that of a woman who fell in love with one of the Glastonbury monks.
“They fell in love, but because of his vows, they couldn’t be together,”
“He ended up being walled up in one of the tunnels that led between the pub and the abbey, and while they couldn’t be together in life, they are together in death.”
In Pure Spirit
What do you make of the picture? If this just a blur, a smudge on the lens or a digital distortion – or is this a paranormal occurance caught on camera?
I stayed at the George and Pilgrims in October of 2000. After my arrival, I went to put my suitcase away. I opened the door of my room, and there was a woman, dressed in a grey habit, standing in the corner. I apologized, thinking the maid wasn’t quite finished preparing my room (and also thinking how charming it was that the staff dressed in period garb). The woman looked startled, and vanished. Poof.
That night, we were having dinner in the dining room. I was cold, it felt like I was sitting in a cold draft, although my companions said they were comfortable. I asked the waiter for a glass of water. A few moments later, someone looked over my shoulder – I just caught a glimpse of a grinning face – and when I asked my friends, “was that the waiter?” They said, “was what the waiter?” They were looking right at me and had seen no one.
I saw a ghostly hooded monk as I walked past the alley leading to a side gate of Glastonbury Abbey, around 2002. I was looking from the High Street. The monk was walking past a see through iron railing gate, and that was all I saw. Years later on visiting the abbey grounds, I realised that the monk would have walked into a flint wall which was at right angles to the gate and out of my line of view when I saw the monk. I did wonder if I’d seen a historical re-in-actor or a genuine ghostly monk, but seeing the wall from inside the grounds made me think that I probably saw a ghost from the past.
My theory is that it is all about wavelengths we are all like radios we eat food like a radio needs batteries.
Some pick up stable wavelengths and mad people pick up crazy wavelengths people on lsd pick up extreme wavelengths. Like a steady Eddie picks up sensible radio 4. Others receive crazy info. If we die the wavelengths are still all around.
Also in the dead sea scrolls stuff left out of bible st Thomas reported Jesus said men look for heaven in the sky or far away but heaven is here just men can’t see it.!!
The dead live on earth as why would they want to live on Jupiter or space?
They live in our houses we just can’t see them. When they get bored the dead spirits choose to live another life. You see if we are in a simulation remember that computer games are always more intense then real life. So the spirit world is sooo peaceful and why spirits choose to live in quiet places away from it all like abandoned houses. Then they choose to come back but once born we lose all knowledge of the game we have once again entered.
The ghost world is all around is all.the time we just can’t see them. We as humans fret too much about taking life far too serious. We are all picking up wavelengths and these wavelengths control us. If a person sees a ghost and others don’t it does my mean it is not real it exists in that wavelength but not the other.
That is my theory and I believe it’s true. People need to lighten up.