Marking Time: Halloween
Emma Connolly
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Shadow itself creates form, allows us to perceive depth and substance. It can both reveal and hide. Shadows are attached to everything, a darker duplicate world that takes precedence once a year. On that day, time collapses upon itself and ancient fears jangle vividly down through the centuries of human imagination.
It’s nothing more than a hollow tree.
In the grounds of a ruined castle.
Beside a haunted lake.
In 1643, during the English Civil War, over a thousand Parliamentarian soldiers laid siege to Old Wardour Castle in Dorset. Baron Arundell of Wardour was away fighting for the king, so the castle was defended by his wife, Lady Blanche Arundell, with just 25 guards. Against all the odds, it took five days, a bombardment of guns and mines, and the threat of total destruction of the castle before Lady Blanche surrendered. In the meantime, her husband had died of his wounds in battle.
It is said that her ghost can sometimes be seen walking in lamentation from the ruins of her castle to the lake below…
