Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, myths, ancient artifacts, religion, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
George Jeffereys was born in 1665. He went on to eventually become a judge with a penchant for ordering hangings – hence his nickname The Hanging Judge. Needless to say – if you had a day in court you’d just hope it wasn’t him sitting under the presiding powder wig.
You’d probably want to see him even less now, as he’s said to be a ghost seen walking about England carrying a fistful of bloody bone.
At one point George Jeffreys was a simple judge who liked to see people swing if he thought they looked at all guilty of various things. He seemed to enjoy his job as he’s personally attend many of the hangings. Rope-related executions weren’t his only vice though – once he condemned a 70 year old woman to be burned at the stake. The sentence wasn’t exactly carried out – she ended up getting beheaded instead. Some say she’s now a headless spectre.
If so, she’s in good company – supposedly Jeffreys is a ghost now too. As a fellow named Tony Ellis explains things:
“The Great House is said to be haunted by the ghost of “Hanging Judge” George Jeffreys, who has been seen in the house, wearing his robes, wig and black cap, and carrying a bloody bone.”
And what other types of places, exactly, does he typically haunt, you surely must be asking. For this tidbit we give you another quote. Its from a website called Minehead Online:
“Judge Jeffreys attended many of the hangings in person, and his ghost is said to haunt several west country locations as well as his own home at Walton on Thames. Several towns had gallows trees for the victims including Croscombe in Devon. Twelve People were hung at Lyme Regis where Jeffreys dined in the Great House in Broad Street, a spot still troubled by his ghost even though the original house is long gone.
“He is said also to haunt a house in Lydford in Devon and a house in the centre of Dorchester. It is said that the sound of choking men rather than the ghost of the Judge is heard in some places. People have reported the sound of horrific gasping on quiet nights in Bath Street and the approaches to Gore Hedge in Frome.”
Its interesting to note that most of the people Jeffreys was hanging were rebels from The Battle of Sedgemoor. In the end he hid in some tower to avoid being hanged himself – and eventually died there.
His ghost has been used as a villain in more than one work of fiction, according to Wikipedia. Christopher Lee even played a Jeffreys-inspired character in a 1970 film called The Bloody Judge. We’re told the plot revolved around a hemophiliac who was staying in a cactus-filled hotel without any Band-Aids.
To come clean with you, that’s not actually the film’s plot. But if anyone wants to work with that concept we’d happily sell it for $25.
louise says
hi there i was watching an epesode of most haunted of taunton castle,couple of days later i recived a message on my phone from a male friend of mine saying that this was no him and that he was the duke of taunton and i told him that if he was him then i was the queen of carnoustie i later text him what is your first name and he replyed gorge i decied to explore this and this is what i came up with judge gorge jeffrey duke of taunton castle and no-one knew of me watching most haunted so i am truley stumped could this be judge gorge because the boy i was texting came from england to so i am truley stumped???
louise OXOXOXO