The Ghosts and Witches of Sible Hedingham

The Ghosts of Sible Hedingham

Sible Hedingham is a large village in the Colne Valley in Essex,  England. The name Sible is believed to be from the family of Sibil, the widow of Geoffrey of Laventon, who held land in Sible Hedingham in 1237. The name Hedingham is believed to be from the Ham of Hedin's people.

The land has most likely been occupied since the Bronze Age as some unique Bronze Age finds were made in 1929 along with Roman pottery and brick. Roman bricks were also found to have been used in the construction of Sible Hedingham church, indicating that there was a Roman settlement in the area.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Sible Hedingham along with nearby Hedingham Castle, was held by two Tenants in Chief, Roger Bigot of Rames, and Walter the Deacon and the Lord was Warengar of Hedingham. There were 27 households, which put it in the largest 40% of settlements recorded in the Domesday Book.

During the time of Matthew Hopkins, the self appointed Witch Finder General, there were many people trialled and executed for the practice of witchcraft, mostly in the Essex area.

One of these was a woman called Joan Prentice from Sible Hedingham who was accused of Witchcraft in 1589.

Joan Prentice was a poor woman who lived in an Almshouse. She confessed that the devil had appeared to her in the form of a Ferret with fiery eyes named Bidd and he asked for her soul. She told him that she couldn’t give him her soul because it belonged to Jesus but she admitted to giving the ferret blood from her finger and her cheek. She told the jury that if she wanted Bidd to do anything for her, she’d call him by saying:

“Bidd, Bidd, Bidd,

Come Bidd, come Bidd, come Bidd,

come suck, come suck, come suck”.

Bidd was Joan’s familiar, an animal that was kept by witches who would reward them by feeding them blood after performing evil deeds. She also said that she asked Bidd to hurt a child but he refused and the child died.

During questioning, Joan said that two other women had also used Bidd, Elizabeth Whale and Elizabeth Mott. They were lucky and they received no charges.

Joan was charged in line with the 1563 Witchcraft Act and was hanged on the 5^th of July in 1589 only two hours after her sentencing along with two other women, Joan Cunny and Joan Upney from Chelmsford.

One of the last people accused of Witchcraft in England was an elderly French man known as Dummy, who lived in a little mud hut in Sible Hedingham in the 19^th Century.

The man was known to have been deaf and dumb and communicated by using a series of gestures, it’s believed that he had his tongue cut out when he fought against the Chinese whilst in the French army. He made a living by telling fortunes and he would often be seen in the village, always accompanied by several dogs and he always wore 3 coats and many hats all at the same time.

On the 3^rd of August 1863, Dummy was in the Swan Inn at Sible Hedingham along with around 50 other people. A woman named Emma Smith shouted out above the crowd that she’d been ill for the last 10 months and that her illness was caused by Dummy, who she believed had bewitched her. She asked him to return to her house to remove the curse but he refused, she even offered him 3 gold sovereigns, but he still refused just in case his life was put in danger. The more she asked him, the more she became agitated which made the on looking pub crowd encourage her to do it more.

At closing time, the ordeal carried on outside the pub, at this point the crowd had doubled and they carried on encouraging her to keep pleading with him and throwing stones at him. At this point she got angry and attacked Dummy, hitting him numerous times with a stick and dragging him towards the nearby brook and pushing him in. He tried to get out but she went to the other side and stopped him. Around this time, a man named Samuel Stammers joined in and they both pushed him back into the cold water. Dummy managed to crawl onto the bank and sat down to catch his breath, Smith and Stammers grabbed him and threw him back into the water again. This changed the attitude of the crowd with one person shouting that if someone doesn’t get him out, he’ll soon die. Samuel Stammers came to his senses and pulled him out of the water onto the bank.

Dummy went home and was left alone until the next morning, when a villager checked in on him, only to find him still shivering and soaking wet, covered in cuts and bruises. The local police superintendent was called out who took Dummy to the local workhouse. Dummy died of pneumonia on the 4^th of September.

Emma Smith and Samuel Stammers were charged with unlawfully assaulting Dummy and causing his death. They were tried at Chelmsford Assizes on the 8^th of March 1864 and both sentenced to six months hard labour.

The following ghost sighting was witnessed by a friend of mine.

At 11:30 on the night of the 23^rd of November in 2015, 5 students from the Czech Republic we’re visiting the UK as part of a 3 country vacation.

They had been sightseeing in the Essex and Suffolk area and one of the students, an artist, wanted to see the landscapes of the artists Constable and Gainsborough.

As they were travelling back to the hotel where they were staying, they had to pass through Sible Hedingham, along Wethersfield Road, a narrow country lane. As they were driving along, they all noticed a figure walking on the side of the road, shuffling along with his head down. It was dark with no street lighting but it looked like the figure was of an elderly man who was carrying a wooden Tilly lantern with a single candle inside.

The driver had to slow down to avoid hitting the old man and it was at this time that they noticed what he was wearing. He was wearing a hemp jacket, with a cross stitch design, a flat cap and straight trousers.

The figure continued to walk along the road, and paid no attention to  them being there. They found it very strange at the time but didn’t really give it much thought until the next morning.

In the morning, after much thought, one of the students asked the others why would an old man be walking alone at night along a dark country road? They all discussed if it could have been someone in a fancy dress costume, but also wondered why he would be carrying such an old fashioned lantern? They put it down to just being an eccentric old man going home after a party, but the one thing they noticed that was unusual, he was self illuminating.

 

The 300 year old Bell Inn at Sible Hedingham has had two regular ghost sightings over the years. One of the rooms is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young lady with long dark hair. She has been known to take the bed clothes from people staying in the room at night. The other ghost is said to be of an old man who knocks on the bedroom doors, when answered, he is seen walking off and not responding to being called.

The White Horse is also known to have a ghost. The entity is never seen but it is known to run along corridors, ring the front door bell and brush past people, many thinking that a physical person is walking past.

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