Beastly goings-on at Renwick…

Move over Harry Potter: Cumbria has its own basilisk story. The basilisk, or cockatrice, was a feared mythical beast much talked-about from medieval times until the eighteenth century. Descriptions varied; they almost always had some cockerel body parts (unlike JK Rowling’s snake-like version), with a lizard’s, or dragon’s tail, and optional wings. They killed their victims with poisonous venom or by turning them to stone with a glance.

The Croglin Vampire

I hope you will not be too frightened to hear that Cumbria is one of the few places in Britain with a recorded sighting of a vampire. You may think that they are all in Whitby, Forks, or Volterra, but a Twilight style drama happened right here in Croglin in 1875-6. A young lady tenant of Croglin Low Hall woke one night to see two points of light and hear ominous scratching at her bedroom window.