Haunted Bench stories

[dem bones]

Picture: Terry Ife: Old Nick rock in Church Hill, Honiton

Devon is a county awash with stories of ghosts and the supernatural. And plenty of these tales herald from the east with one east Devon town reported to be the most haunted in the county. Steve Jennings went ghost hunting ....

Another moving stone is talked about in Honiton. 'Old Nick' is a rock in Church Hill and is all that remains after the Devil and the locals threw stones at each other. It says that this rock was first placed at St Michael's Church but moved gradually - inch-by-inch - until it settled about 50 yards away and can be seen today under a metal bench.

- Steve Jennings, East Devon’s ghostly residents, Midweek Herald, 28 November 2019

Meanwhile:

Man spends his time visiting and rating public benches across the UK, Ellen Scott, Metro, 2nd Sept. 2020.

Confound it all to blazes! Did no-one think to warn the impetuous young hot-head that he is playing the most dangerous game known to mankind!

[Jojo Lapin X]

Nov 24, 2020 19:10:20 GMT dem bones said:

Confound it all to blazes! Did no-one think no-one warn the impetuous young hot-head that he is playing the most dangerous game known to mankind!

Are you channeling Dennis Wheatley?

[peedeel]

That bench, most obviously, is little more than a Satanic chapel - with malignity and ectoplasm oozing everywhere!

[dem bones]

www.spookyisles.com

This bench in West Auckland, Co, Durham is reputedly haunted by Mary Ann 'The Black Widow' Cotton, the Demon Dressmaker of Darlington Road, executed 1893 for the arsenic poisoning of her stepson, although she is also believed to have murdered her own mother, three husbands, and multiple unwanted offspring. Read/ listen to full story by Gayle Fidler on Spooky Isles

[andydecker]

Isn't this bench a bit too new to be haunted? Looks like fresh from the bench factory.

[Shrink Proof]

Feb 9, 2021 20:20:12 GMT andydecker said:

Isn't this bench a bit too new to be haunted? Looks like fresh from the bench factory.

Indeed. Here's a close-up of the plaque on it...

[helrunar]

What an extraordinary thing to have on a bench. If there were awards for misanthropy elevated to a fine art, that would be a candidate.

H.

[andydecker]

Shouldn't Roger haunt the bench?

Unbelievable. Such a plaque would be impossible to install in my neighbourhood. The best thing I saw in the last time.

[Dr Strange]

Feb 10, 2021 9:45:56 GMT andydecker said:

Unbelievable. Such a plaque would be impossible to install in my neighbourhood. The best thing I saw in the last time.

It's not quite what it seems to be - the plaque is (possibly was) real, but Roger wasn't. It was installed on a bench in a London park as a joke by "struggling author" Jamie Maslin, shortly before he emigrated to Australia, and referred to a character (also a struggling author) in one of his (unpublished) books.