The Ghost of Sister Hylda

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Legend tells of a spooky tale about a ghost called Sister Hylda who had haunted the local area...

In the year 1281, the Lady Abbess of Nun Appleton called upon the Archbishop from Cawood, and the nuns of St. Mary's Abbey, to chant high mass on the Eve of St. Mark, to lay at rest the wandering spirit of Sister Hylda, which had haunted the convent, the monastery, and adjacent country, for seven years.

The peasants, adds the narrative, fled from the area after the spirit had appeared to them in their houses, or floated over their heads in passing the Wharfe.

A powerful tempest shook the high, craggy cliffs above Otley. It whirled fiercely along the river, and sent levin bolts and red meteors over the cloisters of Nun Appleton; showers descended like rolling sheets of water; and the Wharfe, swelling over its banks, washed rocks from their base, and tall trees from their far-spreading roots.

The holy Archbishop stood before the altar, the veiled sisters of St. Mary's stood by the choir, and the monks of Acaster Malbis waited the solemn call of the bell to raise their voices in hymns of supplication.

The walls resounded with knocking at the convent gate and the porteress prayed and crossed her breast as she said to herself while advancing to the portal, "Here come other pilgrims of Palestine, foretold by the dreary ghost of Sister Hylda."

She turned the lock with some difficulty: it seemed to deny admission to the stranger, but gave way eventually and a Palmer, clad in grey weeds of penitence, entered through the threshold. The thunder burst over his head, lightning flashed around his gigantic figure, and in a hoarse sepulchral voice, he thanked the porteress for her gentle courtesy.

Next page: The Grey Palmer

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