Welcome to Weird Wiltshire
Weird Wiltshire is a county steeped in ancient history. Tales of legends, ghosts and folklore abound this area in the South West of England. Ancient monuments, ruinous castles, stately homes and humble cottages fill the beautiful rolling downlands.
In my quest to find strange and unusual tales, I explore stories of ghosts and the paranormal, folklore, history and anything weird, found in Wiltshire and beyond. I’ll be sharing spooky tales from around the world too!
Mixing first-hand accounts from those willing to share their stories and exploring yarns and mysteries from past times, I bring together a collection of stories and true tales for you to explore.
You can follow me on Bluesky or Facebook, and you can contact me here. It would be good to hear from you!
Latest blog posts
Bermuda Triangle: Mystery, Myth and the Science That Sank It
The Bermuda Triangle is an enduring mystery that has fascinated me for many moons. Back in the 70s and 80s, it was very much the on-trend maritime mystery and there were many news and magazine articles along with books devoted to this eerie triangular space. I've always been attracted to the stories of our deep blue oceans, from the tales from ancient civilisations of the Kraken, Poseidon, and Neptune to the wicked deeds of terrible pirates...
Strange Cryptid Encounters in Wiltshire: Witness accounts
After a heads-up from Ray Williamson on Bluesky about two sources documenting 'Bigfoot' sightings on both Salisbury Plain and in Grovely Woods, I decided I really should do some digging. Deborah Hatswell, creator of BBR Investigations, shares personal accounts from her case files on various weird creatures, including the 'British Bigfoot.' She collected three stories which occurred here in Wiltshire. This was the starting point for this blog...
Haunted Encounters: Shay’s Paranormal Experiences
Shay initially got in touch with me to ask if I knew of any local UFO groups and crop circle enthusiasts. She was interested in the subjects, and being new to the area, she wanted to find out more about anything going on locally. Wiltshire is the place to be if you like crop circles and/or UFOs! We chatted via email, and Shay informed me that she had had lots of strange experiences over time. Shay kindly agreed to put pen to paper, or fingers...
The Hindon Madhouse
Landscape water colour of Hindon Madhouse circa 1830, showing it consisted of the main house plus a jumble of other buildings.
in a large walled enclosure.
Poltergeists and Phantoms in The Shire’s, Trowbridge’s Haunted Shopping Centre
I have been meaning to get over to the West of Wiltshire to create a weird blog for ages. There are plenty of locations and many stories in need of my explorations, but I feel I have somewhat neglected this part of the county, so today was the day to get out of Weird Wiltshire HQ and head to Trowbridge. While doing some research I have found there are quite a few ghost stories associated with Trowbridge. Far more than one blog’s worth. Today,...
A Quick Tour of Some of Wiltshire’s Quirky Ghosts
I've got stacks of books containing various snippets of information about Wiltshire ghosts and folklore. One of the main reasons for this blog is to share these stories with you all but some of the information is so limited, they really are short, short stories! Sometimes it might be something as intriguingly precise as a sentence or two, rarely giving me enough information on which to build a blog. Other times I manage to eke out a paragraph...
The Gappergennies of the Barrow and the Legend of Washer’s Pit
'Gappergennies?' You say, 'Whatever are they?' That's exactly what I was thinking when I first came across this little-known folklorish tale from the somewhat rural area of Ashmore. Now, I know Ashmore is not quite in Wiltshire; it's just across the border in Dorset and it happens to be the highest village in the county. What attracted me to this story was not just the tale of the Gappergennies (also called Gappergammies, depending on the...
Stonehenge – A Tale of Treachery, Betrayal and Magic
The great minds of archaeology and history still cannot agree on why or even how Stonehenge was created. A new paper was released just this week with the latest research and ideas. There are many theories and stories. Here's one alternative story involving magic, mystery and one very special person with super powers. It was many, many moons ago that Stonehenge came to be. First there was treachery and skulduggery, then there was betrayal, next...
The Handsel Sister – Yes Them Again!
Welcome back to David Aneurin Morgan! He’s a regular contributor to Weird Wiltshire and we share a particular interest in the tale of the Four Witches, the story of the Handsel sisters, the poor unfortunates that were said to have been murdered in Grovely Woods, Wilton, on account of them being ‘witches’. If you haven’t yet seen the original Grovely blog, I suggest you have a read here, so you are up to speed with the tale before you read...
Berry Pomeroy Castle and Its Many, Many Ghosts
WARNING: GRAB A CUPPA OR A BEER - THIS IS A LONG BLOG AND ITS FULL OF GHOSTS! One thing that really surprised me when I started doing my latest research into the crumbling ruins of the sinister Devonshire castle, Berry Pomeroy, was just how many ghostly images have been captured there and how many stories exist. Some of them are probably just wispy mist or can be marked down to pareidolia. But there are others that are really quite weird. Many,...