The Headless Horseman of Barnet: A Christmas Ghost Story
This Christmas, I want to share a particularly chilling ghost story, one that blends historical fact with chilling legend: the tale of the Headless Horseman of Barnet. This isn't your typical festive yuletide cheer; this is a story of betrayal, greed, and a restless spirit doomed to repeat his grim journey every six years.
Our tale begins in the turbulent times of the Anarchy, a period of chaos and civil war in 12th-century England. King Henry I's death without a clear male heir led to a power struggle between his daughter Matilda and his nephew Stephen. Amidst this backdrop of shifting allegiances and betrayals, we find Geoffrey de Mandeville, a man whose ambition outweighed his loyalty.
De Mandeville was a shrewd operator, initially supporting Stephen, then switching sides to Matilda when Stephen was captured, and then, in a final act of opportunism, returning to Stephen's side when he regained power. But Stephen, finally fed up with de Mandeville's treachery, had him arrested and stripped of his lands.
Outraged, de Mandeville became an outlaw, raiding and pillaging across Hertfordshire, Essex, and Norfolk. His actions were so brutal that the Peterborough Chronicle lamented, "Men said openly that Christ and his saints were sleeping." He even seized Ramsey Abbey, turning it into a stable for his horses.
Eventually, de Mandeville met his end, struck by an arrow. He wished to be buried at Walden Priory, which he himself had founded. However, excommunicated for his actions, his body lay unburied in a lead coffin at Temple Church for twenty long years.
Now, here's where the Christmas connection and the truly eerie part of the story come in. A local legend in Barnet tells of de Mandeville's ghostly reappearance every six years on Christmas Eve. He is seen riding across Pyms Brook Bridge, a shining knight in armor, accompanied by a terrifying headless hound.
One account, from 1926, tells of a night watchman named Charles Gibson who encountered this spectral figure while patrolling near the bridge. Terrified, Gibson reported his experience, which was corroborated by other locals who had witnessed the same apparition. They described the knight in shining armor, his red cloak billowing behind him, and the chilling headless hound by his side.
The legend suggests that de Mandeville's restless spirit is bound to this recurring journey due to a curse he placed upon the abbey he founded, a curse born of his bitterness at the loss of his lands. His ghostly ride serves as a chilling reminder of his turbulent life and the curse that followed him beyond the grave.
The next scheduled appearance of the Headless Horseman of Barnet is in 2028. Will you be there to witness it? Or perhaps you'll heed the warnings and stay far away from Pymsbrook Bridge on that eerie Christmas Eve.
Check out our Christmas episode with Jimmy the Welsh Viking for this and more ghost stories here