The
Winnats, in Castleton, Derbyshire, is a rocky, cavernous area, known not only
for its beautiful scenery but for its two tragic ghosts as well.
In
the eighteenth century, Peak Forest was the place where young lovers could get
married at any time of the day or night. Allan and Clara were one such couple,
and totally against their parents wishes they planned to travel to Peak Forest
to be married. Their journey took them through Winnats Pass, where they were
set upon by five men. The attackers robbed them of their savings and then
dragged them into the bushes at the roadside. The five miners then killed
Allan with an axe in front of Clara, then raped her and eventually beat her to
death.
The
next night, filled with drink, the miners came back to the spot where they had
killed the young couple and put them into sacks and buried them. Since then,
strange noises and the sound of anguished cries can be heard around the spot
where they were murdered, and some witnesses even claim they have seen the
ghosts of the young couple running in and out of the
trees.
Years
later, miners were digging in a mine shaft nearby when they came across the
skeletons of a young man and woman holding hands. They were believed to be
those of the murdered couple, and to this day the ominous sounds of something
being dragged along the floor and pitiful cries of help can still be heard.
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