The Hanging Pit: The Haunting of Bodmin Jail (Investigating the Haunted)

Product Information

Paranormal psychologists take Bodmin jail very seriously too, as do gifted psychic mediums and ghost hunters alike who have made Bodmin jail a focus of their attention, their entertainment and serious study over the years. On Thursday 15th August 1878 a sobbing Selina was led from the condemned cell of Bodmin Jail clutching a white handkerchief.

It was expected by many, including the Governor of Bodmin jail, that Selina Wadge would be reprieved at the last moment by the British Home Secretary, Viscount Cross, on the day of her all too public hanging at Bodmin jail. Another famous ghost of Bodmin Gaol is Selina Wadge. She was hanged for the murder of her younger disabled son in 1887. It has been said that she tries to grab any young children visiting the jail and also suppresses her feeling upon pregnant women. The most notable of these ghosts is Jan Tregeagle, who is a dark spirit that is said to sit beside the waters and howl so loud, you could hear him from the other end of the pool.

5. Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

Mounting the scaffold, she uttered her last words, "Lord deliver me from this miserable world," and, at precisely 8am, the executioner pulled the lever of the trap and sent her plummeting to her death. It isn’t just Wadge and Weekes that refused to rest easy in the afterlife however, Bodmin Jail is full of ghosts. The spirit of Annie Jefferies, who was accused of being a witch is said to remain at the prison. It is said that she was starved to death, but the fact that it took her almost three months to die, only further served to reinforce that belief that she was in league with the Devil himself. All hope for the man has finally been destroyed and a mere mortal spirit left abandoned to fate. A desperate soul, cast into hopeless misery and left endlessly wandering.

KEY: Ghosts of Bodmin Jail Paranormal Activity Ghost of Selina Wadge, Warden Ghost of Bodmin Jail, Matthew Weeks | Psychic Phenomenon, Ghost Hunting, Apparitions & Manifestations The paranormal tours include a ghost-hunting experience, where guests can use tools such as ouija boards to attempt to communicate with spirits. [6] Ghosts [ edit ] Between 1779 and 1927, Bodmin Jail - or to use its alternative name Bodmin Gaol - started life with its construction by prisoners of war, with the prison being the first British prison to hold prisoners in individual cells. Many people have reported feeling tugging at their clothes and a popular experience is that of children screaming in the lower ground floor cells. In the naval area, stones have been thrown at the current owners, and loud bangs have been heard inside the empty jail from the people outside. Another visitor said he spotted a hanging lady between bars and another said her partner heard a baby crying from within the jail which was closed at the time.It’s said to be haunted by a ragtag of ghosts, including a murdered highwayman in a tricorn hat and cloak who is seen to drift through solid doors. Harper, Leah (28 October 2016). "Dead scary: Bodmin Jail ghost tours". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 22 July 2023. It's not the first time a ghost has reportedly been seen at Cornwall's old jail - which is believed to be the county's most haunted location. The last man ever to see the fate of the gallows, not just in Bodmin Jail but in the whole of Cornwall, was William Hampton. The date was the 15th of August 1878. This is the day that Selina Wadge was indicted and later incarcerated at Bodmin Jail under the sentence of death for the murder of her illegitimate child in Altarnun near Launceston in Cornwall.

Between 1785 and 1909 fifty five people were executed at Bodmin Gaol and all but four of the hangings were carried out in public, providing a grisly source of entertainment for thousands of spectators who would congregate in adjoining fields to witness some poor wretch take his or her plunge into eternity.The terror and misery that condemned felons, such as Matthew Weeks, must have felt as they sat in the grim cells of Bodmin Jail awaiting death can only be guessed at. They feel a real and tangible presence of 'belonging to this desperate place' which is inexplicable. The pitiful ghost of Matthew Weekes is said to wander aimlessly throughout the darkened hallways of Bodmin's jail, having been hanged on the drop gallows erected outside the walls of the great prison for murder.