Post by paulmurdoch1975 on Nov 30, 2011 18:21:35 GMT
Rough Tor, Bodmin Moor - Cornwall
Courtesy of Spirits of Cornwall
18-year-old Charlotte Dymond loved her work as a milkmaid at Lower Penhale Farm on Bodmin Moor. She was very playful and flirtatious with the young men of the village, which seemed to incense Matthew Weeks, who worked as a labourer on the same farm.
On Sunday, April 14th 1844 Matthew asked Charlotte to go for a walk with him, and she accepted. Matthew decided to take Charlotte to Lanlavery Rock, on the far slopes of Rough Tor, and along the road to Camelford. As they walked, Charlotte was taunting Matthew about another boy whom she liked. What Charlotte didn't know was that the jealous Matthew was carrying a knife.
Matthew led Charlotte to a gate leading into a farm field. What happened next was later described by Matthew: "I told her I had seen her in a situation with some young man that was disgraceful to her. She then said; 'I shall do as I like. I shall have nothing more to do with you.' I took out my knife and then replaced it. But on her repeating the phrase, I made a cut at her throat from behind. She immediately fell backwards, the blood gushing out in a large stream, and exclaimed while falling, 'Lord have mercy on me.' While she was on the ground I made a second but much larger cut though she was almost dead at the time. After standing over her body about four or five minutes, I lifted up one of her arms and it fell to the ground as if she was dead. I then pushed her body a little further down the bank. I afterwards took her bonnet, shawl, shoes and pattens and covered them up in a turf pit. Her gloves and bag I put into my pocket. In the road I threw away the knife."
At the end of April, Charlotte's body was discovered. Matthew Weeks was tried for her murder, sentenced to death, and hanged, on August 9th 1844. Shortly afterwards, local people paid for a monument to be erected on the spot where Charlotte's body had lain, with this inscription: "Monument erected by private subscription in memory of Charlotte Dymond who was murdered by Matthew Weeks Sunday April 14th 1844".
Charlotte began to haunt the spot where she died, and the area around her grave in Davidstowe churchyard. She has also often been seen at Lower Penhale Farm.
Sentries of the Old Volunteers, stationed at Rough Tor some years later, were very reluctant to stand duty there. They swore that they saw Charlotte walking nightly over the moor, down the hill, and up to the gate where she had died.
The following anecdote is a typical example of the way Charlotte still appears. In the early 1900s, a man who had been fishing in a stream on Bodmin Moor was making his way back at dusk to the dwelling he was staying in. On the way, he saw a young girl wearing a gown, a silk bonnet, and a red shawl. "I watched her and she kept stopping and shading her eyes from the sun with her hand, as if looking for someone." He called, "Goodnight" to her, but got no response. When he got to the place where he was staying, and described the girl he had seen on the Moor, the landlord informed him that he had seen the ghost of Charlotte Dymond, who had been murdered by Matthew Weeks because of his jealousy of her.
www.haunted-uk.co.uk/places/places.html
Courtesy of Spirits of Cornwall
18-year-old Charlotte Dymond loved her work as a milkmaid at Lower Penhale Farm on Bodmin Moor. She was very playful and flirtatious with the young men of the village, which seemed to incense Matthew Weeks, who worked as a labourer on the same farm.
On Sunday, April 14th 1844 Matthew asked Charlotte to go for a walk with him, and she accepted. Matthew decided to take Charlotte to Lanlavery Rock, on the far slopes of Rough Tor, and along the road to Camelford. As they walked, Charlotte was taunting Matthew about another boy whom she liked. What Charlotte didn't know was that the jealous Matthew was carrying a knife.
Matthew led Charlotte to a gate leading into a farm field. What happened next was later described by Matthew: "I told her I had seen her in a situation with some young man that was disgraceful to her. She then said; 'I shall do as I like. I shall have nothing more to do with you.' I took out my knife and then replaced it. But on her repeating the phrase, I made a cut at her throat from behind. She immediately fell backwards, the blood gushing out in a large stream, and exclaimed while falling, 'Lord have mercy on me.' While she was on the ground I made a second but much larger cut though she was almost dead at the time. After standing over her body about four or five minutes, I lifted up one of her arms and it fell to the ground as if she was dead. I then pushed her body a little further down the bank. I afterwards took her bonnet, shawl, shoes and pattens and covered them up in a turf pit. Her gloves and bag I put into my pocket. In the road I threw away the knife."
At the end of April, Charlotte's body was discovered. Matthew Weeks was tried for her murder, sentenced to death, and hanged, on August 9th 1844. Shortly afterwards, local people paid for a monument to be erected on the spot where Charlotte's body had lain, with this inscription: "Monument erected by private subscription in memory of Charlotte Dymond who was murdered by Matthew Weeks Sunday April 14th 1844".
Charlotte began to haunt the spot where she died, and the area around her grave in Davidstowe churchyard. She has also often been seen at Lower Penhale Farm.
Sentries of the Old Volunteers, stationed at Rough Tor some years later, were very reluctant to stand duty there. They swore that they saw Charlotte walking nightly over the moor, down the hill, and up to the gate where she had died.
The following anecdote is a typical example of the way Charlotte still appears. In the early 1900s, a man who had been fishing in a stream on Bodmin Moor was making his way back at dusk to the dwelling he was staying in. On the way, he saw a young girl wearing a gown, a silk bonnet, and a red shawl. "I watched her and she kept stopping and shading her eyes from the sun with her hand, as if looking for someone." He called, "Goodnight" to her, but got no response. When he got to the place where he was staying, and described the girl he had seen on the Moor, the landlord informed him that he had seen the ghost of Charlotte Dymond, who had been murdered by Matthew Weeks because of his jealousy of her.
www.haunted-uk.co.uk/places/places.html
