ALAN MURDIE finds evidence of a growing interest in witchcraft, curses and demonic influences
Have you ever come across cursed properties, ghostly witches or demonic influences? An increasing number of people are claiming to be doing exactly that, with a spate of stories suggesting new life is being breathed into some antique concepts and disturbing phenomena such as possession, against a backdrop of a new wave of interest in witchcraft and demonology reflected in a headline in the Metro newspaper: “Hocus Pocus: There’s a rise in witchcraft bubbling up across the globe” (7 July 2022).
The chance to see “inside a creepy abandoned monastery” reputedly “haunted by a cursed ghost of a vengeful monk” and “demons” at Sicignano monastery in Salerno, southern Italy, proved irresistible to Roman Roebeck, a Dutch photographer and ‘urban explorer’ who engages in expeditions to uncanny places in the fashion of the late Sir Simon Marsden (see FT287:26, 370:66-67 and his books In Ruins and This Spectred Isle for examples of his photos). This monastery was once home to Capuchin friars, part of the Franciscan order. Later it became a school and a college, but was eventually abandoned in 1973, falling into dereliction. Since then the ruins have acquired a legend involving a wicked monk who became infatuated with a local girl and seduced her. Apprehended, the girl was burned as a punishment and the wrathful monk – who was excused – cursed his brethren on his deathbed and now walks as a ghost. Legends like this flourished after the dissolution of the monasteries in Great Britain, supplying a foundation for
many a ghost story. Nonetheless, most spectral monks in the UK manifest as quiet, solitary figures in the landscape, save for the spurious ‘Black Monk of Pontefract’ (FT293:28-37, 312:14-15, 347:16-17) and a few miscellaneous nuisances. In contrast, the monk at Sicignano is deemed malevolent and his former home cursed and slandered as “the convent of the Devil’s monks”, despite the lack of any credible historical evidence for the tale. But one should never underestimate the capacity of people to be deeply moved by tripe (D.Mirror, 25 July 2022).
Meanwhile, English ghost hunters have been probing the famous Wookey Hole caverns near Wells, Somerset. Long a tourist attraction, the site now boasts a mini-theme park encompassing a museum, model dinosaurs and a pirate village for children.
Now comes the astonishing claim that its legendary ‘Witch of Wookey’, originally celebrated in an 18th century ballad, is manifesting for rea
