HAUNTED HISTORY OF NORWICH IN BRIEF.
In a dark corner of a back street public house, a group of men gather whispering of rebellion. 1249 the Adam and Eve public house, which still stands today is said to be haunted by a spirit named sam although it is actually believed to be the spirit of Lord Sheffield, murdered by rebellious leader Robert Ketts and is also said to be the oldest public house in great Britain. It is claimed that under the Adam and Eve are a series of tunnels used for smuggling sand and other contraband and reports of a unnamed female bar manager several hundred years ago who murdered unsuspecting visitors to the inn. A short walk from the Adam and eve is Tombland and a area called Elm Hill, the still cobbled streets can be historically traced back to 1200 AD but the remaining houses have a history dating to the 1500s. Elm Hill formerly had a monastery on it where a father Ignatius would curse people to damnation for ignoring and following his teachings and it is said that his spirit is still seen walking bible in hand screaming and cursing those that witness him another tale from c lose by is of Mayor Augustine Steward in the strangers club build circa 1400 and in around 1507 a devastating fire broke out. Augustine Steward was able to save the lives of his wife and children but himself was killed when part of the roof collapsed on top of him from the damage caused by the fire. Close by to the location of Augustine Stewards grizzly death is the Steward house owned by then but back during plague times the house was used for victims of the disease to lay dying slowly and painfully, the rhyme ring around a rosy is believed to date to the plague times when a pose of flowers was used within masks to stop the spread of disease and also around the bodies to hide the smell of the corpses rotting. The steward house aka the plague house still stands today with its withered and damaged timbers and is open to the public as a antique shop. I was lucky enough back in 2010 to do a small day time vigil, at the time the shop was run by a manager Andrew and his partner. After walking into the shop with many a modern and ancient antique along its countless shelves and counters ,you come across a narrow staircase that leads to a singular room a location that is said to be the spot a young girl, who was thought to be a plague victim was found dead but this we shall return to. The first settlers to Norwich set their place in history as long ago as 3,000 years ago but move through history and the occurrence of the plague, before the black death hit Norwich there was a estimated 15,000 people that lived within the city walls after queen Elizabeth visited during the time of the plague the black death is said historically taken that number down to around 1,700 people and even in some reports as low as 900 people. This begs the question did one of the queens aides in fact have the plague themselves? The steward house history of the tiny upper room is the location a young girl was found dead among the bodies of plague victims, the difference with this death is not that she died from the black death she in fact died whilst trying to survive. Tales abound that the young girl who it is believed was named Anne would be heard screaming day and night asking to be released and that she was not ill with the deadly disease, until she screamed no more. Upon investigation her body was found in the upper room she had choked to death and when this was investigated further she was found to have a piece of human flesh in her throat that had got stuck and she had suffocated to death and one around her several of the dead bodies the victims that had passed away from the black death had teeth marks and chunks of flesh bitten away. It appears Anne had tried to survive starvation by committing the most taboo of human taboos....CANNIBALISM