Burgh Island is located off the Devon coast facing Bigbury on Sea, the island is linked to the main land by a sandbar.
The island is home to the ancient old Pilchard Inn, it is believed that the island is also haunted by none other than Tom Crocker who was leader to a band of vicious pirates in the late 14th century. It was well known that Crocker and his men were indeed responsible for looting and plundering a wide array of ships over many years during the 14th century.
Although Crocker met his demise after a well coordinated attack ordered by the King of England Edward III, this was due to the fact that Crocker had previously attacked an English ship.
His band of men were defeated and surrendered after a brutal fight and Crocker himself was captured and dragged kicking and screaming for his life to the highest point upon Burgh Island from where he was hung by his neck until he was declared dead. It is said that his restless ghost has been sighted outside the Pilchard Inn and also wandering aimlessly on the shores of Burgh Island!! Crocker's nebulous ghost is said to appear on the anniversary of his death on August 13th every year!!!
I find myself on this webpage as I was telling a colleague of an incident that happened in the Pilchard Inn back in 2005.
ReplyDeleteMy family and I were staying in Burgh Island. My husband and I decided to go for a walk to the pub on the island even though it was raining heavily on this particular May evening.
We arrived to an empty pub with the only occupant being a very friendly barman. This was pre the no smoking ban but the pub had already put this into place. (I am non-smoker now I must add).
After a while, I decided to go for a smoke and went to the barn style doors to go outside. I opened the top half easily but was struggling to open the bottom when I felt an almighty shove in my back which made me stumble forward a little. I turned to give my husband a mouthful for being impatient and saw he was still sat down at the other side of the room. The bar man was behind the bar.
My hair stood on end and I had goose bumps on my arm. I told the barman (who didn’t look at me as if I was a nutter) and he said I must have had an encounter with Tom ???. I can’t remember the surname he gave. He then told me of a young Tom who had been shot in the door way by the customs and excise officers a few hundred years ago. I told the lady who lived next door to our holiday rental and she gave me the same account as the barman. Is this another Tom or Tom Crocker with the story altered over the years?
Got to be the same Tom legend my dad has experienced this phenomenon of being pushed/pulled back by 'ghosts'
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