Set in the shadow of the infamous Pendle Hill, the Lancaster Witch Weekend ghost hunting experience is a haunted break like no other.
Stay in a four star haunted hotel, coach tour following in the footsteps of the Pendle Witches and visit the haunted Clitheroe Castle and venture onto the terrifying Pendle Hill after dark, where the Pendle Witches are still said to lurk. Your weekend ghost hunt in Lancashire includes accommodation in a luxurious 700 year old haunted hotel and we feel sure that this will be an experience you will not soon forget. The one night stay includes a soup and sandwich supper, coach to and from Pendle Hill, tour of Clitheroe Castle, midnight vigil on Pendle Hill and ghost hunt at the hotel.
Join us as we hunt down the truth behind the Lancaster Witch Trials of 1612.
This amazing weekend tour where you will be following in the footsteps of the Pendle Witches will enthrall you as you learn tales of murder, mystery, revenge and witchcraft. Join the team on this incredible journey as we walk in the footsteps of these notorious witches. The weekend tour includes visits to many of the infamous Pendle Witch alleged haunts which includes Clitheroe Castle and their regular meeting places along with a ghost hunt on Pendle Hill itself.
This will include the spot where an old tooth fell on a seance table in the middle of a vigil here. Your accommodation will be for 2 nights in the luxurious Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel and Spa in Blackburn and includes Dinner, bed and breakfast. The Dunkenhalgh is very haunted and has a ghostly history of its own, we will be spending time ghost hunting in some of the most haunted rooms.
Your Weekend at Pendle Hill Includes 2 nights bed, breakfast and evening meal at the 4 star Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel & Spa Ghost hunt on Friday Night at Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel Coach on Saturday throughout tour of Pendle Hill with Simon Entwistle and our team. A Ghost hunt at Pendle Hill and Clitheroe Castle on Saturday night including all ghost hunting equipment and demonstration.
If you are joining us for the overnight stay then you will be in for a treat as after a soup and sandwich supper we will take you on a midnight vigil up on Pendle Hill itself. As well as our fantastic team you will be joined by our wonderful Tour Guide, Simon Entwistle. You will be taken by coach from the hotel with our first stop at Clitheroe Castle where you will carry out a vigil in the ramparts of the castle itself. We will then make our way to Pendle Hill where we will carry out a vigil at the spot where Malkin Tower was thought to have stood. We will then make our way back to the luxurious hotel where you can enjoy coffee and biscuits. If you still have enough energy you can continue to ghost hunt in the hotel itself which is extremely haunted.
Your weekend will begin as soon as you arrive on the Friday at the Four Star Luxury Hotel and Spa.
After checking in and relaxing we will meet and greet before enjoying a delicious supper in The Portrait Room. After dinner you will have the opportunity to ghost hunt around the very haunted Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel and Spa using our ghost hunting equipment.. This includes some extremely active bedrooms, haunted stairways and large function rooms. The Dunkenhalgh Hotel has given us so much activity in the past and we know that this weekend will not disappoint. There will also be a demonstration of ghost hunting equipment for all those who are new to ghost hunting.
The more experienced ghost hunters will have the opportunity to take part in their own vigils during this time. On the Saturday morning after indulging in a delicious cooked breakfast you will join the coach and our famous historian, Simon Entwistle, for a detailed tour of the Pendle Witch area. This tour will take you to all of those areas that hold a real fascination for all those that are interested in the Pendle Witch story. We will be taking you to the Pendle Witch Museum where the story really takes hold and you can learn through video and memorabilia about the witches themselves.
After lunch at the historic Pendle Inn we will be moving onto the churchyard in Newchurch which holds a lot of prominence with the Pendle witches and their ancestors plus visiting the Pendle Witch Shop where the owner has dedicated herself to the Pendle Witch Story. Simon Entwistle will accompany us throughout the journey and bring to life this fascinating story. We will then arrive back at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel and Spa where you will have enough time to relax and take advantage of the spa facilities or take time out in your luxurious rooms and bar before again enjoying a delicious meal with the group.
The Saturday night ghost hunt with the Spooky Nights Team and Simon Entwistle will start at Clitheroe Castle where you will learn what the impact of the witches had on local residents. You will have the opportunity to investigate this haunted Castle, carrying out vigils and seances before moving onto Pendle Hill itself. Here you will be able to attempt to make contact with the witches and other ghosts and spirits that haunt this infamous hill.
This will include table tipping, Ouija Boards and seances. If the weather is raining then we will still attempt to go to the hill but you will have the option not to. In extreme weather conditions we will make alternative arrangements.
Your event includes:
2 nights bed, breakfast and evening meal at the 4 star Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel & Spa (single room supplement of £30 per night, this will be added at the time of your booking). If a single booking is made we will automatically contact you. Ghost hunt on Friday Night at Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel. Coach tour on the Saturday of Pendle Hill with Simon Entwistle and team. Ghost hunt on Pendle Hill and Clitheroe Castle on Saturday night including all ghost hunting equipment and demonstration.
The overnight stay will include four star luxury accommodation, soup and sandwich supper, coach travel to Clitheroe Castle and midnight vigil on Pendle Hill with Simon Entwistle, ghost hunt in the hotel on return.
The trials of the Pendle witches in 1612 are among the most famous witch trials in English history, and some of the best recorded of the 17th century. The twelve accused lived in the area around Pendle Hill in Lancashire, and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. All but two were tried at Lancaster Assizes on 1819 August 1612, along with the Samlesbury witches and others, in a series of trials that have become known as the Lancashire witch trials. One was tried at York Assizes on 27 July 1612, and another died in prison. Of the eleven who went to trial nine women and two men were found guilty and executed by hanging; one was found not guilty.
The official publication of the proceedings by the clerk to the court, Thomas Potts, in his The Wonderful Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster and the number of witches hanged together, nine at Lancaster and one at York, make the trials unusual for England at that time. It has been estimated that all the English witch trials between the early 15th and early 18th centuries resulted in fewer than 500 executions; this series of trials accounts for more than two per cent of that total. Six of the Pendle witches came from one of two families, each at the time headed by a woman in her eighties: Elizabeth Southerns (aka Demdike), her daughter Elizabeth Device, and her grandchildren James and Alizon Device; Anne Whittle (aka Chattox), and her daughter Anne Redferne. The others accused were Jane Bulcock and her son John Bulcock, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Gray, and Jennet Preston.
The outbreaks of witchcraft in and around Pendle may demonstrate the extent to which people could make a living by posing as witches. Many of the allegations resulted from accusations that members of the Demdike and Chattox families made against each other, perhaps because they were in competition, both trying to make a living from healing, begging, and extortion. They are said to haunt the runis of Malkin Tower on Pendle Hill which is where we will be carrying out our overnight vigils. The Pendle Witch story is fascinating.
