A Halloween launch for book

Mike Gothorp has lived in Hemingby for 20 years and has long had a fascination with strange and scary stories.

He describes himself as ‘inspired by dead artists and poets, Wolds, fens and ancient ruins.’

He studied at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, and teaches philosophy.

He said: “Many of the stories in this collection were first printed in the Horncastle News in 1999 and 2000, when Nigel Devereux was editor.

“There are several new stories and each is accompanied by one of my illustrations, most of which are also new.”

Many of the stories in the book are set in Lincolnshire and relate to the history and legends of the county, from Neolithic times to the nineteenth-century hangman, whose business card read: ‘William Marwood, Public Executioner, Horncastle, Lincolnshire.’

The book - ‘Entangled’ - is divided into two sections.

Lincolnshire Ghosts features nine stories of around 1,000 words that explore the past of the county and the way that it haunts us still.

The other section contains longer stories on the theme of the entanglement of living humans and ghosts, whether long dead or still alive in the memory.

It includes the Liglumby trilogy.

Centuries ago a saintly man built an abbey in the Lincolnshire Fenlands declaring, ‘Here shall I bring light to gloom’.

His abbey was destroyed and he was slaughtered, but his voice did not die and his legacy lives on in the form of a unique slug, bearing a crimson mark formed from the saint’s own blood.

Liglumby 2 tells the story of The Stilt Girl, who begged Saint Eyntis to cure her dying father.

He did, but at a terrible price that left her haunting the Lincolnshire fens, seeking forgiveness for a crime she did not commit.

Another story tells of a curious mound between Horncastle and Boston, which is long reputed to be an assembly point for night hags.

An amateur archaeologist discovers an ancient brooch, although he has a feeling that it must have belonged to a religion far distant from Christianity.

According to information at Tupholme Abbey, William Barlinges was accused of stirring up trouble among the brethren, while Thomas Pynderwelle had become involved with a woman called Philippa, whose child he had fathered.”

Could Thomas Pynderwelle’s legacy have survived to the 1970s and beyond?

And what darkness still taints Bewitched Farm?

Find out more in Entangled, released on October 31.

At this stage, the book is only available as an e-book and details can be found at: baffinbooks.simplesite.com

The book is available for pre-order from YPD Books at www.ypdbooks.com/742_mike-gothorp