You may be surprised to hear that exorcisms or ‘ghost laying’ were once very common in Herefordshire. Ghosts could cause all sorts of mayhem, so needed to be subdued. To ‘pray down’ a ghost involved taming it and then reducing it to such a size that it could be trapped in a bottle or similar vessel so that it could be disposed of. Many trapped spirits were thrown into rivers or pools, water beneath bridges was a particular favourite. In some instances ghost laying was known to be just a temporary measure. Where a ‘ban’ would be put on the spirit, whereby the spirit would only be captured for a stated amount of years.
One such exorcism happened in Hereford Cathedral. It had been noted by the clergy there that a ghost had been seen wandering around the cathedral. It had been identified as a previous member of the cathedral staff, a one Mr Hoskins who had died in 1786. He was by all accounts a benign spirit who drifted around causing no harm. But it was deemed inappropriate by the clergy to have him wandering about the cathedral, their place of worship, so it was agreed that an exorcism would be performed to rid them of Mr Hoskin’s ghost.
So just before midnight one evening twelve clergymen assembled in the cathedral each bearing a lit candle. You may or may not realise but candles were a very important part of the exorcism process. To all accounts it was essential to keep a light burning particularly when dealing with an angry spirit. As they waited to begin a nervousness set in. Some of the group had not performed an exorcism before and were unsure of what to expect. Then it happened, the cathedral bell rang signalling that it was midnight and the ghost was duly summoned before them. Mr Hoskins had been a very placid man in life and so too was his wandering spirit. But having been summoned seemed to annoy him and he was now very angry. Aggressively he began yelling at the clergymen.
The spirit of Mr Hoskins did everything to frustrate and resist his exorcism. One by one he blew out the candles that the clergymen were holding, his power knew no bounds. The ancient cathedral walls began to shake as if an earthquake had taken hold and the exorcism seemed to be failing. Until only one lit candle remained. This happened to be in the hands of a frail clergyman called Canon Underwood. Frail he may have been but it did not stop him subduing Mr Hoskin’s ghost who had by this time become tired and less resistant. Canon Underwood managed to shrink the ghost down so small that he was able to trap it in a bottle much to the relief of his fellow clergymen. The bottle containing Mr Hoskin’s ghost was duly buried under a bridge at Byster’s Gate in the city. However the story doesn’t quite end there. It was said that the exorcism and subsequent battle with Mr Hoskin’s ghost had put such a strain on the cathedral that shortly afterwards the West Tower collapsed.
So think of this story should you ever be beneath a bridge in Hereford and happen upon an old bottle or two. Careful as you open it, just like a genie in a bottle you could be about to release the ghost of old Mr Hoskins or some other unwanted spirit that has lain for centuries just waiting to be set free. What a spooky thought!
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