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Old houses have often some tradition associated with them, and so it is not surprising to find mentioned in Harland and Wilkinson's " Traditions of Lancashire," that once every year a spectre horseman visits Wycollar Hall. He is attired in the costume of the early Stuart period, and the trappings of his horse are of a most uncouth description. On the evening of his visit the weather is always wild and tempestuous. There is no moon to light the lonely roads, and the inhabitants do not venture out of their cottages. When the wind howls the loudest the horseman can be heard dashing up the road at full speed : after crossing the narrow bridge, he suddenly stops at the door of the Hall, and, dismounting, makes his way up the broad oak stairs (of which no traces are left) into one of the rooms of the house. Dreadful screams, as from a woman, are shortly heard, which soon subside into groans. The horseman then makes his re-appearance at the door at once mounts his steed and gallops off the road he came. His body can be seen through by those who may chance to be present ; his horse appears to be wild with rage, and its nostrils stream with fire. The tradition is that one of the Cunliffes murdered his wife in that room, and that the spectre horseman is the ghost of the murderer, who is doomed to pay an annual visit to the house of his victim. It further goes on to say, that years before it actually happened, the murdered lady had predicted the extinction of her cruel husband's race a race so ancient that its very name is the subject of a tradition, for one of the Saxon kings, being anxious, it is said, to reward a brave follower, said to him, as he pointed to certain fields, " I con thee these lands to live" whereupon, he and his descendants ever afterwards bore the name of Conlive or Cunliffe. Strange to say, the lady's prediction has been literally fulfilled, for the last of the Cunliffes died, a lonely old man, at Wycollar, in the year 1818, and the ancestral home soon became a ruin.

Annals and stories of Colne and neighbourhood by J. Carr

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Mel

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One other story, closely connected with the last, still remains to be told respecting the Old Hall : Some seventy years ago, a young girl and her lover were seated in one of its ancient rooms, whispering in each others ears the old, old story of love and devotion, when suddenly they heard the sound of light footsteps on the oak stairs, and the rustling of a woman's dress. Startled, they held their breath ; nearer and nearer came the footsteps ; the door opened noiselessly, and in glided a lady, clothed from head to foot in black silk. She uttered not a word, but casting one long anxious look around the room, and, seeing only the frightened lovers, withdrew as quietly as she entered. Years rolled on, that young girl grew to womanhood, and lived to a good old age, but to her dying day she never forgot the startling apparition of the Lady in Black, who is said by some to be the murdered wife of the Spectre Horseman, and is known about Wycollar as "Old Bess." Need I add, that, as with the growth of education, ghosts have disappeared from other places, so apparently has "Old Bess" from Wycollar, and if she comes at all, she comes only when all is hushed and still, and darkness covers the once beautiful, but now deserted , home of the Cunliffes.

Annals and stories of Colne and neighbourhood by J. Carr

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Mel

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Ooooh er! spooky.

I thought there was another Wycoller topic but I can't find it so I'll put this link here

This weeks Peek into the Past
Wycoller - great destination for historians and nature lovers
http://www.burnleyexpress.net/peek-into ... 6034624.jp

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Mel

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Mel, have you not been to Wycollar yet? Let me know next time you are coming up and I will meet you and take you.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

No I haven't Gloria, thanks for the offer. The last few trips have been evenings only. As the weather (hopefully) improves, we should make a daytime.

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!