#Wednesday Fact – Anne Boleyn is a very busy ghost

I have real many tales about the hauntings by Anne Boleyn’s ghost and the most comical one is where her wraith is said to hate taken up residence in a shoe shop, apparently the stock is moved around and banging is often heard, the famous one where the sentry on duty at the Tower saw a green mist float towards him, and he ordered it to stop and his bayonet went right through it causing him to faint, is well known to ghost enthusiasts and possibly regaled in dramatic fashion to the tourists who visit her every year, the enactment of her execution on the night of her death is another well known tale, but Iv wondered what makes people think the sentry’s ghostly encounter was actually Anne, it could have been any of the victims who lost their lives in that grim fortress hundreds of years ago? In the tales of old East Anglia Anne and this is the one I particularly love, is driven to Blicking Hall on the anniversary of her death holding her head on her lap and driven by headless horses, why the steeds have to be headless as well I cannot fathom, when she arrives at the gates the coach and horses and Anne all vanish, her father makes a similar journey penance for betraying his daughter to keep allegiance with his king, however the legend fails to mention that Sir Thomas Boleyn’s so called betrayal of his daughter and son, was simply a wish to keep the Boleyn fortunes and the rest of his remaining
family’s heads above water, no doubt he grieved for his children but short of rebelling against his king, he could no nothing but serve and thus begin to regain his monarchs trust during a very difficult time, I have not heard the tale about George Boleyn’s ghost and wherever Mary the eldest sibling lived, maybe there have been sightings of her ghost to, i in fact like to think that at Hever at Christmas, all the Boleyn’s come together to celebrate and once again the castle nestling in the quite green countryside of Kent, is alive once more to the melodious tunes of the flute and virginals and greenery is hung around the hall, as it was when they lived there, the great Yule log is brought in from the forests and placed on the huge hearth and minstrels are playing, there is laughter and the sound of merry voices can be heard amongst the clinking of goblets, maybe if the wind was particularly gusty that night a window would be opened and the sound of merrymaking would travel along carrying with it the smell of roasted oxen and music…….