Here are some of my own authentic and spooky tales of catering at The Franklin Castle!
My dearest gentle reader,
It’s officially October and with today’s post we’re getting spooky while heading to the notoriously haunted Franklin Castle! Just to provide a little context about me, I have a very intuitive sixth sense. I don’t always see ghosts, but I sense them pretty quickly.
One year ago, I was hired to host my tea parties and provide small catering at The Franklin Castle, and it has been such a surreal experience! Based on the castle’s reputation I hilariously expected to see paranormal frights left and right, but The Franklin Castle’s ghosts operate at their own rhythm.
At first, I just started seeing something out of the corner of my eye or periodically hearing footsteps downstairs. Upstairs in the kitchen I always felt the same company with me (probably laughing a little) as I was anxiously running around for events! Whatever spirit was upstairs in the kitchen with me always felt supportive (and even helped me move through timelines with more ease)!
Then, I finally saw a ghost after a Valentines Day catered dinner. I was there the following day cleaning up and breaking down. There was a lot of going up and down the steps. On one of my final trips down the steps, I stopped and saw there was a lot of natural light flooding the staircase. I then saw a figure…an older woman on the first floor floating through the wall and through the doorway just truly in her own world. She was dressed in a flowing white gown. It honestly didn’t startle me, it just felt natural that she was there.
One of the other castle ghosts I’ve come into contact with is a woman who looks just like my mom. My mom helps me with almost every castle event! It would throw me off when it was just the two of us there and I see “my mom” go into a storage room across the hall from me… and then I’d hear my actual mom ask me something from all the way downstairs.
I’ve learned the ghosts love a good party! When we play vintage music while hosting an event, the orbs really come out (often times totally photo bombing any video footage I was trying to record)!
The first tea party I ever hosted at the castle was for Samhain, but it ended up being on November 2nd, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos). To properly honor the castle spirits, I decided to add a “ghost table” where we poured out tea and put out goodies for the ancestors. The event was a success, but when we got home something crazy happened. As we pulled into the driveway and started to unpack, one of the bins seemed to fly out of the car with unreasonable force, and everything in it was totally shattered. We discovered it was all from the ghost table! Moral of the story: I don’t think they were done with their tea and baked goods yet!
While that Samhain experience was intense, that hasn’t been a norm for working at the castle at all. The castle ghosts and energy are mostly neutral spirits in their own world, and the active ones feel more playful.
👻Now you can find out for yourself! Take a castle tour, attend an event, or even dare to stay the night!!
How spooktacular!
Castle Illustration Credit:
Illustrated by Samuel Read in 1854 for Thomas Hood’s gothic poem, “The Haunted House” featured in The Illustrated London News.
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