It’s only April, but I was hit with inspiration. Really, my kids gave me inspiration every day, and one day they started asking about ghosts.
I’ve tried to make ghosts funny, as kids get scared of lots of things. They are young, they don’t know how the world works, and their imaginations are going wild. Their big beautiful hearts are still open to possibilities, they haven’t become a shriveled black mass (like mine.)
I’ve had my own ghostly horse experience, which I hardly remember at this point, so thank goodness I wrote about it and I can relieve the memory. But I do remember being unimpressed. I truly believe that people believe because they want to believe. They create devices that will give them the readings they want, as there’s no scientific evidence of anything.
BUT that doesn’t mean ghost stories aren’t fun. I can still appreciate them for being spooky little stories, and if someone told me one right before I was walking along a dark road at night to pick up a pony, I would totally believe something could happen. My level of belief directly coincides with my environment at any given moment.
Now that you know my backstory, let’s get to the meat of this.
Everyone knows about human ghosts. I would say they are by far the most prominent of the ghost species. I’ve heard of some dog ghosts, but not many. But … what about horse ghosts? Is that a thing?
I had to find out. And I did.
I present to you, a few horse ghost stories, along with my commentary.
Enjoy!
The Monomoy Island Ghost Horse
Along the shores of Massachusetts lies a little area called Cape Cod, famous for their architecture style and being expensive. But they are also known for something more sinister: Having lots of shipwrecks. There’s more than 3,000 shipwrecks over the last 300 years of recorded history.
The 9 mile long stretch of Monomoy Island is a lonely place. Today it’s a 7,921 acre wilderness refuge, quiet except the sounds of the bird in the marshes. 200 years ago, it was also a lonely place, which is perhaps why this it was the perfect place for land pirates to set up camp. Yes, pirates, but apparently unable to secure a boat to do their pillaging, so much like a trap door spider, they lured their victims to them.
They either placed some horses to graze in Marshlands, but tied lights to their necks. The bobbing motion of the lights made ships think there were moored in the area, so they would head in, thinking they were about to get some rest. Instead, they were shocked to instead hit land and become stuck and/or broken.
Now it was the land pirate’s time to shine. They slaughtered the crew, and took the loot.
But apparently the horses didn’t like being an accomplice to this crime. One of them, a black stallion, decided to devote his afterlife to swimming in the waters around the island, warning boats to stay away.
That horse was really devoted to warning people, if he’s out there swimming in the ocean to tell them. Horses, as we all know, are land creatures, so swimming isn’t their preferred way to travel. Running along the shore, screaming (neighing), seems like a better way to warn people, but I have very little experience being a ghost horse, so it’s possible there are limitations I’m not aware of. I don’t know how they were able to distinguish a black horse, let alone a black stallion (how are they checking?)out in the water, in the middle of the night. When a horse swims, you basically only see its head. It’s not like you can see the whole body.
I would also like to point out that the only evidence I found of this ghost is one website and a tiktok, likely made based on the website. So take that as you will.
But now you know the story of the Black Stallion of Monomoy Island. Woooooooooooooooo! Spooky!
The Ghostly Stallion of Ramsden
Across the pond in the UK are more sightings of ghost horses, luckily this time on land, where you can actually tell it is a horse and not a seal.
In West Oxfordshire, a white ghost stallion has been seen at Ramsden Road. He was last seen in the 1990’s, when he was seen coming out of the Garden Center and galloping away. Another time, he was seen galloping into the Garden Center.
What we can learn from this is ghost horses really love garden centers.
No one really knows who the ghost horse is. The area has been occupied by humans since the Roman times, so that’s quite a bit of history to shift through. It’s also possible this ghost was created by horse drama that had nothing to do with humans (I’m not sure why humans think they have to be at the center of everything!).
But since it seems the ghost horse has retired from his hauntings, we may never know.
Esgehill Battlefield Ghost
White Horse Road, in Edgehill got its name from the ghostly white horse that runs along it. It’s a pretty frequent visitor, certainly enough that it got the road named after it.
It’s believed the ghost is from the nearby Battle of Edgehill, a solder’s horse that was separated from him. Edgehill is the most haunted battlefield in England, as distinguished by official British Public Record.
The battle was a bloody one, with many deaths and 200 maimed soldiers, left behind who received no relief from doctors or surgeons. The battlefield was abandoned, with the dead still laying where they fell.
After the battle, the villagers noticed ghostly apparitions and noises coming from the battlefield. It was so widely reported that Charles I sent his officers to investigate.
Shockingly, they actually saw something: a great vision filled the sky “of strange and portentous apparitions of two jarring and contrary armies – the same incorporeal soldiers that made those clamours, the clattering of arms, noise of cannons, ensigns displayed, drums beating, muskets going off, cannons discharged, horses neighing, cries of soldiers, and the two armies – pell-mell to it they went. So amazing and terrifying the poor men, that they could not believe they were mortal, or give credit to their eyes and ears; run away they durst not, for fear of being made a prey to these infernal soldiers, and so they, with much fear and affright, stayed to behold the success of the business.”
The ghosts were so solid, the officers were even able to identify some of them, including Sir Edmund Verney, the King’s standard bearer. The ghosts fought for three hours before they vanished into the sky.
The officers wrote up their official report, which was published on January 23, 1643, titled “‘A Great Wonder in Heaven, showing the late apparitions and prestigious Noises of the War and Battles, seen at Edgehill, near Kineton“
After this, the villagers took it upon themselves to finally bury the bodies of the fallen soldiers. The ghosts stopped appearing, but it’s said that noises from the battle can still be heard.
And, apparently, at least one horse from the battle still gallops along White Horse Road.
Horse ghost stories seem to be pretty rare, which is unfortunate, because I’d love to hear more.
Do you have a horse ghost story? Let me know!