The Society for the Investigation of Spectral Phenomena
The Lantern-Bearers of Theddlethorpe Marsh Causeway
All Saints Church, church, Theddlethorpe, Lincolnshire
I.Background & History
All Saints' Church stands in the village of Theddlethorpe All Saints, Lincolnshire, east of the A1031 and some three miles north-east of Mablethorpe. It is now a redundant Anglican church, a Grade listed building in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
The building has been called the "Cathedral of the Marsh", a name earned by its size and its isolation against the flat country about it. Beyond these particulars the Society has no certain record of its history, and does not presume to add to them.
II.The Entity
The Marsh Tapers
A string of small yellow flames, seven or eight in number, that drift in single file some four feet above the marsh turf, bobbing at the pace of men walking with a burden. Each flame is lit from within a pale shape no larger than a thumbnail, which witnesses agree resembles a human eye shut tight. They give no heat, and they cast the shadow of a bearer on the ground though no bearer can be seen.
Assessment of Peril
Class IV: Malignant
Every person known to have followed the lights has been discovered at the church porch, sitting upright and quite dead, with the eyes open and the face turned toward the marsh. The lights are observed to slow when a watcher is near, as though to allow him to catch up.
III.The Account
The tradition begins in the medieval period, in a year of pestilence. The marsh hamlets lay a long way from consecrated ground, and the people, so the story runs, carried their dead along a raised track across the wet land to the great church, each bearer holding a rush-light to keep the corpse from the things that haunt open country at night. In the worst weeks, it is said, a party of eight set out with a sealed bier and a lighted taper apiece, and the sexton, afraid of the sickness, bolted the door against them. They stood in the porch until the tapers burned down. In the morning the bier was found at the threshold, and the eight were seated in a row upon the stone bench, their eyes open and fixed upon the marsh. None had been touched by the plague.
Thereafter, on moonless nights, lights were seen to cross the marsh toward the church in single file. The old people taught that a man must shut his door and draw his blind, for the lights keep the pace of the living, and a man who follows them feels no fear at all, only a great courtesy, as if he were being asked to take up the last place in a procession. The Society has the record of a drover who left his cart in 1791 and was found in the porch at dawn, in the ninth place on the bench, though the bench seats but eight.
IV.Recorded Manifestations
- ✦Seven or eight yellow lights in single file crossing the marsh toward the church on moonless nights.
- ✦A sense of courteous obligation in watchers, with the urge to follow and take up the last place.
- ✦The shadows of watchers falling toward the marsh, against the direction of every light.
- ✦Footprints of bearers, wet and in pairs, found along the causeway and ending at the porch.
- ✦The porch bench holding one more person than it can seat.
Testimony of Witnesses
“I saw the lights walking slow, and I thought, there are men who want a hand with a load. I left my cart standing. I do not remember the rest.”
“They stopped at my hedge, eight of them, and every one turned toward my window. I put out the lamp and sat on the floor till light.”
“I found the Inspector sitting in the porch as quiet as a lamb. The bench was never made to hold nine, sir, and I will not say how I know.”
V.Rite of Expulsion
Difficulty: Perilous
Requisites
- ☐Eight white tallow candles, unlit
- ☐A bowl of marsh water
- ☐A length of black thread
- ☐A bell with its clapper bound in linen
- ☐A chair, to be placed outside the porch
The Rite
- I.1. Seal the church doors by sunset, and let no one remain in the porch.
- II.2. At the first hour of darkness, set the eight candles in a line along the causeway, facing the church.
- III.3. Light them from east to west without speaking, and shield each from the wind.
- IV.4. Tie the black thread across the porch at the height of a seated man's eyes.
- V.5. Pour the marsh water across the threshold and ring the bell once with the clapper bound.
- VI.6. Sit upon the chair outside the porch with your back to the marsh until the candles burn out, and do not turn at any sound.
- VII.7. At dawn, count the candles aloud, and if there are nine, leave the district at once.
Caution. The Society's footnote records that Mr. W. Ashby, who in 1931 turned his head at the sixth step to see the lights, was found in the porch at dawn. He was in the ninth place, and the thread was unbroken above him.
VI.Hauntings of the Surrounding District
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All Saints Church · Church · 1.5 miles
The Chancel Mourner, spectre. A hooded figure kneels in the chancel on winter evenings, and those who approach find only a damp patch in the shape of two knees.
St Peter's Church · Church · 2.0 miles
Dyke-Fetch, phantom hound. A lean black dog follows travellers along the drain bank, and always pads exactly one pace behind the last footfall.
St Mary's Church · Church · 3.1 miles
The Salt-Veiled Bride, white lady. A woman in a wedding veil stiff with brine stands at the lych-gate, and she weeps without ever making a sound.
St Botolph's Church · Church · 3.4 miles
Bell-Rope Jack, poltergeist. The bell rope swings of its own accord at night, and the rope is found warm at dawn.
St Peter's Church · Church · 4.2 miles
The Tithe-Collector, revenant. A gaunt man in a rain-black coat knocks at the vestry door each quarter day and asks for a name that the parish has long forgotten.
Castle Carlton · Castle · 4.9 miles
The Moat Sentry, headless apparition. A mailed figure without a head paces the earthwork bank, and the dogs of the farm will not pass it.
Hagnaby Abbey · Abbey · 4.9 miles
The Silent Choir of Hagnaby, phantom procession. Grey-cowled figures cross the fields at night with their mouths open in song, and no sound is heard but a faint ringing in the ears of those who watch.
Carlton Castle · Castle · 5.1 miles
The Pale Destrier, spectral animal. A white horse with no rider stands in the castle ditch, and its eyes are said to follow a man for days after he has left.
St Peter's Church · Church · 4.6 miles
The Borrowed Psalmist, possession. A parishioner has been seized in the pew and sung a psalm in a stranger's voice, in a language no one in the parish could name.
Markby Priory · Abbey · 6.1 miles
The Cloister Damp, unclassified entity. A chill that gathers in the ruined cloister has the outline of a kneeling figure, and it deepens when a name is spoken aloud.
St Clement's Church · Church · 5.8 miles
The Glebe Spark, will-o'-the-wisp. A single blue flame hovers over the glebe field and leads the incautious into the drain.
