Pengersick Castle

Pengersick Castle is a Grade 1 listed, 16th Century fortified manor in Cornwall, now used for weddings and events, but its long history has seen many a supernatural happening.

From mermaids, serpent ladies, many a ghost, and sightings of black shuck (or another demon dog), the castle has a rich and varied paranormal reputation.

One such story is particularly captivating, and attempts to explain why much of the original manor, that came before the current tower that remains, was destroyed by fire at some point in its life.

The Pengersick family, from which the castle gets its name, had a colourful backstory. The original owner was said to have been poisoned by his wife, after she had convinced him to have his son and heir kidnapped and sold as a slave overseas. Her motif is unclear, and shortly after it was reported that she shut herself up in her room, transformed into some kind of serpent and then cast herself into the sea.

 

Meanwhile the son, escaped his captors and returned to Cornwall with a mysterious middle-eastern beauty as his wife. They took up residence in the castle and it was not long until the locals were whispering tales about them in the local taverns. They said she could be heard at night, her voice carrying on the winds, in some strange and unknown language, beseeching spirits to do her bidding. By day she was similarly heard singing songs from her lands that were so sweet they were said to call the fish to listen to her, and draw in mermaids and other water sprites to the cove by the castle.

The son, did not escape the rumour mill. He was said to ride a great demonic horse that was feared by all that laid eyes on it - needless to say the locals found the pair unsettling to say the least!

But it was not until a stranger appeared in town, common in appearance to the wife young Pengersick had brought home, that things took a more dramatic turn. For it was on a night not too long after, that a storm rolled in and a glow in the direction of the castle alerted the townsfolk to the fact it was on fire. The blaze was so intense that some claimed to have seen a pillar of flame shoot into the sky carrying three dark shapes, those of two men and a woman, into the the sky like inverted lightning and promptly vanishing. The villagers looked for the young lord and his companions thereafter, but no trace was ever found.

The legend of Pengersick Castle was the inspiration for the story ‘You Can Make a New Life With Your Mermaid Lover’ in my and Kirsty Logans zine.

 

Sources for further reading:

https://www.pengersickcastle.com/about-us

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pengersick_Castle

https://www.haunted-britain.com/pengersick.htm

https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/pengersick-castle-praa-sands-cornwall

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4069366/

http://www.castlesuncovered.com/england/pengersickcastle.html