Remember, Remember: Ghosts Of The Gunpowder Plot

Our international readers may not be to familiar with the UK’s 5th of November celebration of Bonfire Night, so let us fill you in on it, the background and some related hauntings. Bonfire Night’s a warm, fun, family occasion these days. Party games, fireworks in the garden, hot-dogs and apple bobbing bring a touch of cheer to a dreary, damp time of the year.

Most children watching the skies with wide eyes this week will know a little of the story of Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder plot. Hopefully not too much though. It’s a gruesome tale of a religiously inspired terrorist assassination plot that concludes with all the horrors that the 17th-century justice system could throw at its victims.

Twelve Pro-Catholic plotters were executed over two bloody days in London for their part in the scheme to blow up the Houses of Parliament, King James I and most of the British governing class on the day of the State Opening Opening of Parliament, November 5th 1605. More were killed during fighting after the plot was discovered and several more men were executed around the country as a shaken government bloodily asserted its authority.

With many souls departing this earth in a very untimely and unhappy manner – the plotters were tortured and hanged, drawn and quartered as traitors – it’s no surprise that there are a number of ghostly stories attached to this famous of British historical dramas.

Read on for five Gunpowder Plot hauntings.