‘The wind howls through the gaping holes where the windows once stood. The rain lashes against the cold ruined stone….. a high-pitched scream pierces the air….’

Spine Tingling? Then we shall begin…

As part of our Tales of the Dales Halloween Special, we have three from the Bolton Abbey Estate.

And the second instalment of the terrible trio? The haunting of Barden Tower.

Dating back originally to the 12th Century, the ruinous remains of what was one of Lord Henry Clifford’s 15th Century hunting lodge is now a popular venue for weddings but was once associated with something far more……… disconcerting. (Did you put in an oooooooh?! I put in an oooooooh!!)

The principal seat of administration for the Barden Hunting Forest, the tower fell into disrepair in the late 18th Century after lead was stolen from the roof (seemingly a crime that spans the centuries!….) but not before it developed a somewhat noisy reputation.

Cast yourself back into the height of Barden Tower’s life as a thriving hunting lodge, and cozy yourself up for bed in what I can only assume was a fairly fancy four poster (seems fitting for a lordly hunting lodge right?!) The fire’s crackling in the background……. (pardon me whilst I just lose myself in a four poster bed in a fancy tower with a crackling open fire….. *sigh)

…..Just as you are about to doze off into dreams about, well whatever hunty people dream about, an ear-splitting scream comes from nowhere. Literally nowhere….

That’s NOT going to make for a peaceful nights sleep is it?!

But there you go! You my friend, have been a witness to the Barden Tower Screamer. (Well in imaginative terms anyway!)

Nobody knows the reason for the scream that once emanated from Barden Tower. Terrifying any overnight visitors, the locals simply accepted it as a ‘shout from hell’. No fuss required there eh?!

Because OBVIOUSLY where else would a screech in the middle of the night come from…. In the middle of a forest……

What do you reckon?

I would not have been able to write these walks without some of the fantastic resources that I have available.

This walk was inspired by a tale I read in Haunted Yorkshire Dales by Summer Strevens. Her book is available to buy and is literally jam packed full of ghost stories!

We just made the stories into walks!

The Bolton Abbey website is also packed full of interesting facts about the whole of the Bolton Abbey estate too!