ENGLAND TRIP: Day 5: Part 6: Canterbury and the Haunted Magick Shop

The center square in Canterbury

The next stop on our bus tour was the city of Cantrebury. Its an historic English cathedral city, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour.
  I (Rob) only knew of Canterbury from reading Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" in college. I didn't know what to expect. It was a crowded, popular place.
 HISTORICALLY:  Originally it was a Celtic settlement, and later renamed Durovernum Cantiacorum by the Roman conquerors in the 1st century A.D.  When it became a Jutish (Danish) settlement, it became known as Canterbury. The name came from the old English word "Cantwareburh" meaning "Kent people's stronghold."
WHAT WE EXPERIENCED: 
   It was a bustling town and was extraordinarily crowded for a weekday. In fact, it was like being in New York City, there were so many people. Many of them, however, were college age.

Arts Bldg that Tom liked for the architecture

   We walked around the town first and then went to the famous Cantebury Cathedral (which we'll get to in the next blog). Meanwhile, here are some pictures from the downtown area.

 VIDEO: We took just a short video while walking downtown because Rob saw a college student wearing a tee shirt with the insignia of the superhero "The Flash."


THE HAUNTED MAGICK (Magic) SHOPPE: Because the tour book said that the "Pure Magick Shoppe" at 43A St. Peters Street, Canterbury "has three ghosts in it," we had to check it out.

The Haunted "Pure Magick" Shop

  When I (Rob) walked in, I immediately sensed a the ghost of a woman on the first floor (because I got my tell-tale headache in the back left side of my head. Then I went upstairs and found a male ghost, who was not welcoming.  Tom got sick to his stomach, as he does when a ghost is present, so he confirmed there was one or two entities in there.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MALE GHOST: 
   I went to the store clerk and talked with the owner (a man) and his female co-worker. They confirmed the "male ghost" upstairs and said he has been seen in a long black overcoat, and sometimes a hat. The male ghost has been known to walk through the wall into the shop next door. The also said that awhile back a male customer went upstairs and came back downstairs quickly. They said the male customer said "There's something upstairs that doesn't want me there." That's the same feeling I described - an unwelcome feeling that didn't want me upstairs.
CONFIRMATION OF THE FEMALE GHOST:  I talked with the shopkeepers about the female ghost on the first floor. They were both sensitive to ghosts, so they confirmed the feelings and didn't question them. They said that the woman's ghost has dwelled there a long time. She was from the 1950s and worked in the store when it was a dress shop. The female ghost was apparently content to still be there. I was told that she's "short in stature, and a smart dresser who wears her hair up." I didn't see the woman, I just sensed her.
ONE MORE GHOST: The shopkeepers also told us about the ghost of a little girl who lingers there. She likes to tug the clothing of people who come into the shop. They said that the little girl's ghost also giggles aloud.