BAD GHOSTS OR GOOD GHOSTS?

by contributor Mara Hardin

Are ghosts good or evil? I think that in many cases it is our perception rather than the nature of the ghost itself that defines its intent as good or evil.


As one example, Berry Pomeroy, a castle in South Devon in England, has a ghost named Margaret that foretells deaths. On the surface, people over the years have insisted that the ghost is evil: 1) because she foretells death, something people don’t want to think about; and 2) legend says she strangled her own child and is, therefore, guilty of murder.

If we examine the details, however, Margaret may have been maligned in life and now maligned in death. The legend says the child Margaret strangled was her child by her father. How might we explain Margaret’s actions if this was a case of incestuous child abuse on her father’s part? Although Margaret is described as “a stunning young woman”, there is no indication of her age when she gave birth or allegedly strangled her child. She could have been very young; she might have been an innocent virgin.

If Margaret is guilty of murder, there are many possible reasons why she strangled her child. She might have done it out of anger at the father who abused (possibly raped) her. She might have done it because her father ordered her to “get rid of it.” She might have done it to spare her daughter (we don’t know the gender of the baby) the same abusive fate—we don’t, after all, know if Margaret had sisters who were also incestuously abused. Another possibility is that her father murdered the child (or had it murdered) and blamed Margaret.

The fact that she appears before a death does not make Margaret evil. Guilt or sadness might drive her. She may appear to ease the shock of unexpected death and help with the grieving process. She might still be mourning the loss of her baby and her own innocence. Because we don’t know how time is experienced on the other side of the veil of death, Margaret might be mourning for a person she already perceives as dead.

As I said, Margaret has been described as “a stunning young woman” who wrings her hands in distress. That does not seem to be the action of a vindictive, evil ghost.

Another example is the Black Friar who haunted the family of the poet Lord Byron. Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire was once a priory of the Black Augustine monks, who held it for nearly 400 years. The Augustinians are Catholic, and in the sixteenth century Henry VIII was angry with the Roman Catholic Church because it opposed the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. He, therefore, began confiscating church property and doling it out to his nobles. Lord Byron’s ancestors were given Newstead Abbey, and held it for the next 300 years. Lord Byron was the last to inherit Newstead Abbey.

The friars, it was said, cursed the abbey, and it was thereafter haunted by a Black Friar, a cowled figure who gloated when a member of the owner’s family died (decreasing the family line) and was grief-stricken at a birth or wedding (increasing the family line).

Byron reportedly said he saw the Black Friar at his wedding to Annabella Milbanke, and the friar appeared happy. Byron later said that his marriage to Annabella was the unhappiest time of his life. I wonder what the Friar did when Byron died.

Before deciding whether a ghost is (or intends) good or evil, it is advisable to examine the legends surrounding it. Margaret has been perceived to be evil, yet circumstances may have proven her innocent. The Black Friar seems to show emotion more than actively participate in an evil act and may, therefore, be reacting to an event rather than actually causing it.