The
Winnats, in Castleton, Derbyshire, is a rocky, cavernous area, known not
only for its beautiful scenery but for its two tragic ghosts as well.
In
the eighteenth century, Peak Forest was the place where young lovers could
get married at any time of the day or night. Allan and Clara were one such
couple, and totally against their parents wishes they planned to travel to
Peak Forest to be married. Their journey took them through Winnats Pass,
where they were set upon by five men. The attackers robbed them of their
savings and then dragged them into the bushes at the roadside. The five
miners then killed Allan with an axe in front of Clara, then raped her and
eventually beat her to death.
The
next night, filled with drink, the miners came back to the spot where they
had killed the young couple and put them into sacks and buried them. Since
then, strange noises and the sound of anguished cries can be heard around
the spot where they were murdered, and some witnesses even claim they have
seen the ghosts of the young couple running in and out of the
trees.
Years
later, miners were digging in a mine shaft nearby when they came across the
skeletons of a young man and woman holding hands. They were believed to be
those of the murdered couple, and to this day the ominous sounds of
something being dragged along the floor and pitiful cries of help can still
be heard.