340: The Rock of Gibraltar

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Alright Matt, so why do you need glasses in math class? I don't know. Because they help with division. Oh man. Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the Graveyard. Thank you for joining us tonight. My name is Adam. And my name's Matt. Now, pull up a tombstone or settle into your casket and get comfortable, because this is Graveyard Tales. All right, everybody, here we are again. Matt, how you doing tonight, brother? I was doing better before I heard that joke. I was like, man, did you just eat an ice cream cone or something? To help with division. That was actually a Facebook joke that Ashley and I found. I don't doubt. I mean, it's pretty good. I mean, it'd make my kids laugh. Yeah. I mean, she told me that, and I just kind of shook my head, and she goes, you want me to send it to you? I said, yeah, I'm going to use it. Right. Yeah. No doubt. It's so bad. I'm going to use it. But before we get too far off track, we want to say go over to patreon.com slash graveyard tales, sign up to become a patron. We have years worth of bonus episodes that you can check out that range in topics. They're all shorter than graveyard tales. A lot of times they are, they are topics that wouldn't make a full Graveyard Tales episode. Yeah. But we wanted to talk about them because they're weird or whatever. And so we put them into a shorter bonus episode for you guys. Sometimes we have done run-ons of an episode where we do an episode. Matt has more stories that would fit in, but not perfectly. So he puts them on a Patreon episode. Yeah. It's more like a legitimate tangent than the ones that Adam and I branch off of, you know, when we're talking, you know? Right, exactly. And all of our patron levels get that. Yeah. They get the bonus episodes. Then if you move up to the five and ten dollar, you get the all of that, plus the ad free audio and video versions of the main episodes. If we have an ad that week, then we will put the ad free up for our five and ten dollar patrons. then if you move to the ten dollar a month you get all that plus you get our second show side quest which is completely different yeah than graveyard tales it's uncensored matt and i just talk um and a lot of times we're trying to either freak the other one out make them laugh or make them look something yeah make them look stupid matt loves to do trivia games to make me look like an idiot Make me eat something gross. Mm-hmm. Yep. So I pay him back by making him eat gross jelly beans. 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Um, cause we have, believe it or not, turn down sponsors because we don't believe in the product or we don't think you guys will either. So we, we try to keep it to a, to a standard, which I know is hard to believe that Matt and I have standards, but it's true. So they're very low. Oh, yeah. But they are there. We still have them, but the values and the standards are low. But to help us out, you can go over there, click the links, use our code, get you something cool, and then that helps out Graveyard Tales as well. So, Matt, that's all the housekeeping that I'm going to do. I've got more, but I'm just going to forget about it. We'll just move right on into this topic. So why don't you tell us, what are we talking about tonight, brother? All right. So the place that we are going to talk about tonight has seen centuries of human drama, battles, sieges, shifting empires, and everyday life squeezed into this tiny little piece of land. And with that much history and that many people dying, loving, fighting, working, all that stuff, all within this little area, it's no surprise that legends of hauntings and ghostly encounters have just intertwined into the local lore. okay tonight adam and i are going to discuss the rock of gibraltar yep and when when i you know i adam's a history buff i am too not not maybe to that degree but you know i knew what the rock of gibraltar was you know i knew where it was but as far as the history of it goes i didn't know a lot And I certainly wasn't aware of the hauntings. You know how some places you just think that place is probably haunted. And, you know, oh, they hear some weird noises. You know, that place is kind of spooky over there. This place maybe has some flickering lights. It's haunted. I was not aware of all of the legends around these multiple locations on the rock. It is amazing. And it really does intertwine with the history and the lore altogether because it is such a unique piece of land. Right. And it does have such a rich history that the hauntings and the legends just go right along with it. And for the people that have made the Rock of Gibraltar their home, um you know they have stories that are it's just like oh hey you remember old mr johnson's store and all the stuff that used to go on in the back room and all that that the the same kind of stuff that you have about the neighborhood you grew up in the little town or whatever that all the oddities they are here and they all have all this underlying lore in history behind it it's and it's it's fascinating and i think you know i i really really enjoyed um doing the research for this place and i think you guys are really going to enjoy uh adam and i's discussion so without any further nonsense from me. The history, like I said, if you are unfamiliar or if you've just touched on the history of the Rock of Gibraltar, you know, sit back because, I mean, this is a really incredible place. So, Adam, tell us about the history of the Rock of Gibraltar. All right. So, as we always say, go check our sources down at the bottom of the show notes. You can find where we found all the information. Everything we talk about is sourced and referenced in our show notes. that way you can double check us make sure we are telling you the correct history or the correct stories about the place just go in our show notes check it out because Matt and I have not visited the Rock of Gibraltar we have to get all this from the sources that tell it now the Rock of Gibraltar is a steep limestone promontory. It's on the south tip of the Iberian Peninsula, and it forms most of the territory of Gibraltar, which is a British overseas territory, and it's at the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. So it is British territory, but over there in the Mediterranean Sea. Now, it's steeped in history, like Matt was alluding to, because of all the cultures that have been on, around, and in the Rock of Gibraltar over thousands of years. Now, it's a monolithic Jurassic limestone and dolomitic ridge, and it rises 1,398 feet above sea level. So she big. Yeah. Yeah. And it dominates the Strait of Gibraltar where the Atlantic Ocean narrows into the Mediterranean. Now, the rock forms a narrow peninsula linked to mainland Spain by this low, sandy isthmus. And I did not mispronounce something. It's isthmus. And if you don't know, I just feel I had to say that. because every time I have said the word Isthmus, I feel like I'm trying to say something else and mispronouncing it. You know what I mean? It doesn't seem like a real word, but it is. Now, with a very steep eastern face and a more gently sloping western side where the modern city of Gibraltar is built. So the modern city of Gibraltar is built on the western side, which is a more gentle rolling slope. bless you matt thanks for the sneeze button yep uh geologically the rock is composed mainly of early jurassic limestone and dolomite they say and it was originally seafloor dolomite yeah you had to had to look up dolomite and you look up dolomite you'll find a movie by the same name um it was originally sea force seafloor sediment that they said was later uplifted during tectonic collisions between the african and the eurasian plates so it got pushed up from the bottom of the of the sea there now being mostly limestone it's heavily carst carstified carcidified and it contains more than 100 caves. So we've talked about that in SideQuest because of a story about a guy getting trapped in a cursed cave way down below. So just thought I'd tie in SideQuest there if anybody was interested. But it contains more than 100 caves, including St. Michael's Cave and Gorham's Cave. Now, the rock has been a strategic fortress controlling maritime traffic through the strait, and today it hosts fortifications, tunnels, and military installations that underline its role as a key British naval and air base. Now, the Rock of Gibraltar mattered to nearby peoples because it is a uniquely visible, quote, gate between two seas. So it became a sacred boundary in ancient imagination, a military hinge for all the empires that were around it, and a home whose identity was shaped by fortress life and wartime disruptions. For Phoenician sailors and Greek and Roman writers, so we're going way back, the Strait and its great headlands were tied to the Pillars of Hercules, which are mythic markers for the limit of the familiar Mediterranean and a threshold to the Atlantic. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think we've all heard the pillars of Hercules if we look into Greek folklore. Yeah. Because, I mean, you know, remember at one point, that was the end of the world. Mm-hmm. I mean, you know, all the Atlantic was like, there's nothing there. Yeah. You know, you just go until you just fall off or make a complete loop and you come back over here. Yep. Yep. Um, so ancient travelers treated the wider region as ritually charged, uh, linking it to temples and sacrificial practice connected to Hercules and the Phoenician god, uh, Malkart. so everybody that lived around it had some type of ritual aspect to the rock of Gibraltar. Phoenician ships regularly passed the Strait of Gibraltar on routes linking their Levantine homelands with western colonies like Cadiz and outposts beyond. And they were treating the strait as the key maritime gate to the Atlantic. And instead of building a primary settlement on the rock itself, they founded the town of Cartier around 950 BC at the head of the bay, which was near freshwater and sheltered anchorage using the wider Bay of Gibraltar as a working harbor zone. There are actually finds from sea caves on the rocks eastern side, especially Gorham's cave, that include Phoenician objects that suggest regular visits, offerings, and it leads many researchers to think the caves function as coastal shrine areas rather than a habitation site. So the Phoenicians would bring their offerings and stuff to these caves to leave them for their gods, seeing as how there was a ritualistic aspect to this rock. Later sources describe a broader Phoenician pattern of establishing sanctuaries to the god Malkart at key trading points, and the Straits Headland, which a little bit later got known as the Pillars of Hercules, they were known as the Pillars of Malkart at the time, which underlined their sacred and symbolic status for Phoenician mariners. Now, during the Moorish era, In 711 AD, Tariq ibn Zayyad's landing near the rock launched a Muslim conquest of much of Iberia, making the rock a literal starting point for a major cultural and political transformation of the peninsula. The name Gibraltar derives from Arabic, the Jabal Tariq. I guess it would be Jebel Tariq, actually, the mountain of Tariq, showing how local geography became embedded in the identity and memory of the conquering force and then the later residents. So from the early 1700s onward Gibraltar community lived in the shadow of repeated imperial rivalry because British possession after 1704 and formalized in 1713 made the rock a permanent strategic prize contested by Spain and other powers. Now, that reality shaped civilian life. In World War II, the British government evacuated most of Gibraltarian civilians beginning in 1940 to free space for military reinforcement and many families spent years away before returning, which they say is a dislocation that also strengthened a distinct Gibraltarian civic identity through shared sacrifice. But during the Second World War, the Rock of Gibraltar was one of the Allies' key strategic strongholds, controlling the gateway between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and serving as a fortress, a naval base, and a command center for major operations. Gibraltar's guns and naval facilities allowed the Allies to monitor and, if necessary, interdict almost all shipping moving through the Strait of Gibraltar, which that's helped keep the supply routes to the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal open so that it couldn't get shut down during the war and they could still get supplies in and out. Now the Royal Navy's Force H was based there and used the rock as a hub for escorting convoys including relief convoys for Malta and for projecting sea power into both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean theaters. In 1942, Gibraltar became the headquarters for General Dwight D. Eisenhower as he coordinated Operation Torch, which was the Allied invasion of French North Africa, making the rock the planning and communications nerve center for the first major Anglo-American offensive against Axis forces. Now, Eisenhower later emphasized that control of Gibraltar made this invasion feasible because it provided secure harbors, airfields, and command facilities that were close to North African coast. Adam, you know what's better than flowers that die in three days? I've got a good guess. Yeah, matching underwear. Was that what you were going to say? No, but yes, that's true. that's actually better than what I was going to say. Yeah. I mean, seriously, me undies has cracked the code on Valentine's day. I mean, they're matching underwear for couples. It's, it's cute. It's intimate. And I promise you'll wear them more than once. I'm wearing Christmas underwear as we speak. Right. So ask me again in March. I'll probably still have them. I think I've got Halloween ones on, but yeah. And it's just because they are so unbelievably comfortable. They are my absolute favorite underwear. I'm going to go for my me undies every time. And Amanda and I have some that match. One of my older daughters has some that match. We did not do that on purpose. But we learned after the fact that we both liked that particular heart pattern. Right, right. You know, didn't do that together. But, you know, the matching underwear, you know, for couples, you know, they come in some really great prints. And like I said, you will knock it out of the park if you show up with your significant other for Valentine's Day with matching underwear. Oh, it's 100% true. And nowadays, me, Ashley, and Michael all have matching ones, and we don't plan it. but like I'll bend over and actually go, oh, hey, I'm wearing the same pattern. I'm like, oh, I need to pull my pants up. Okay. But MeUndies makes matching underwear specifically for couples. They've got the same adorable prints with different cuts for each of you. And they're all made from their signature ultramodal fabric that feels impossibly soft. And their Valentine's collection has prints made for two. It's the kind of gift that makes you smile every time you put them on. And over 30 million pairs have been sold and 90,000 five-star reviews were given to MeUndies. People love these because they actually fit well and they feel amazing. And they've got the first pair promise. 45 days risk-free means if your first pair doesn't work out, they'll make it right, no hassle. Which is amazing. Yeah. And like Matt said, if you want to make this Valentine's Day one to remember with matching underwear for MeUndies, here's what we got for you. You can get exclusive deals up to 50% off, and all you got to do is go to MeUndies.com slash graveyard, G-R-A-V-E-Y-A-R-D, and enter our promo code graveyard. Yeah, make this Valentine's Day one to remember with matching underwear from MeUndies. Go to MeUndies.com slash graveyard, enter our promo code graveyard, G-R-A-V-E-Y-A-R-D. That's MeUndies.com slash graveyard, promo code graveyard for up to 50% off. now there's a fortress inside this rock if you haven't gathered that from what i've said already expecting possible siege or attack british and canadian engineers massively expanded the tunnel network inside the rock creating over 30 miles of galleries that housed barracks ammunition stores power stations, hospitals, workshops, basically an underground city capable of supporting tens of thousands of troops. So the internal fortress allowed the garrison to survive air raids and potential land or sea assaults with almost every major military function, logistics, command, even medical care that was relocated into protected spaces within the limestone. I mean, think about that, Matt. You're inside a mountain, basically. Yeah, essentially, you are. You're protected. Whatever you move in there is going to be protected. Now, because of its importance, Gibraltar was the subject of Axis plans and attacks. Germany developed Operation Felix, a detailed plan to seize the rock via Spain, and a Vichy French and Axis aircraft carried out bombing raids that damaged harbor facilities, but it failed to knock the base out. Because they're in a mountain. Right. But it was also a major theater for espionage and counter espionage with German intelligence networks in nearby Spain and Morocco, watching allied movements and British security service services, running agents and sabotage prevention operations focused on protecting the base. And economically and socially, control of the rock meant control of a major maritime choke point. So people living around it repeatedly face the consequences of naval strategy, garrisons, fortifications, restricted space, and periodic siege conditions. And then symbolically, the rock function is both boundary and beacon. So they say it was a place where locals and travelers alike projected ideas about safety, power, and the edge of the known world. Okay, so with that much history, and the war, and death, and all that stuff, there is a lot of paranormal activity, ghost activity primarily. Primarily, um, a lot of, uh, stone tape type stuff, you know, you know, replaying of events and things like that. Of course, you know, look, it's a, it's a giant limestone rock, you know, sticking out in the water. Um, you know, that much, that much energy, you know, just pounded into that rock, you Now, over centuries, it's forced those images down into it, and people experience it all the time. I'm going to start backwards on this one and start with the most famous one, which I typically will hold for the end, but I think you'll see why. I like it. The most famous ghost story that's associated with Gibraltar is the story of the Lady in Grey, which is said to haunt the convent. Once again, another lady in whatever color. But this Lady in Grey actually has a name. Aletia de la Serna is the name that's associated with the Lady in Grey. And the convent is the official residence of Gibraltar's governor. Okay. Now, just after the end of World War II, General Kenneth Anderson reluctantly took over the governorship of Gibraltar, replacing General Ralph Eastwood. So hesitantly, he moved himself and his wife, Lady Kathleen, into the governor's residence. Now, the home was in desperate need of repair in light of the recent war, and the memories of battle weighed pretty heavy in the air. So, to lighten their spirits, the Andersons decided to invite their daughter and grandchildren to stay with them in the convent. Nikki and Penny, the Andersons' grandchildren, settled in and added new life to the war-torn residence. Now on one particular winter day, the children were playing inside as the cold and rain prevented them from being outdoors. Lady Kathleen could hear them running and laughing in one of the rooms and walk down the corridor to see what they were doing. Nikki and Penny suddenly burst into the hallway, nearly knocking their grandmother down. And so smiling to see her grandkids having fun and enjoying themselves, Lady Kathleen asked them why they were making such a racket. So Penny exclaimed that they had been having so much fun running through a lady. That's weird. Yeah. Running through a lady. Running through. That's not a sentence you think you would hear. Exactly. And you're not really sure that that would be all that much fun. But in this case, the kids thought it was great. Apparently it was. Yeah. Now, Lady Kathleen had seen someone slip into the room where the children had just been a few minutes earlier. And she assumed that it was one of the nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor. So Mrs. Anderson was later retelling this story to several other visiting guests to the convent, which they hosted dignitaries and businessmen and all kinds of people. This was the governor's mansion, so to speak. And so there was always someone there. And so being the woman of the house and the governor's wife, Lady Kathleen entertained these folks quite a bit. And she would share these stories with them. So when she told them this story about Nikki and Penny, none of the guests really seemed all that surprised, explaining to Lady Kathleen that the convent had a well-known reputation for being haunted. But who was that lady that the Anderson's grandchildren had been running through? so two sources relate the story of alatia de la cerna the short story called the lost nun by major richard holt published in 1893 and an illustrated tourist guide called the convent written and researched by pepe rosado published in 2012 which includes the story of the convent ghost, the lady in gray. So here's the legend. The legend says that Aletia, a young Spanish woman, fell hopelessly in love with a man her family disapproved of. When her relatives... Ain't that always the way it goes? Always, yeah. So when her family, her relatives, forced her into the convent to separate her from him, her lover disguised himself as a monk to come and visit her. Now, the two lovers plotted their escape after dark, but the plan went tragically wrong. Her lover drowned trying to reach their boat, and Aletia was brutally punished by being buried alive within the convent walls. that seems a little harsh. Yeah. I mean, I was like, I, I don't even know what to say about that. Right. That caught me off guard. Cause I'm like within the walls for, for that. Yeah. Now look, I got, I got friends and family, um, that grew up going to Catholic school. I don't remember any of them telling me stories about one of their friends getting punished by being buried in the walls so pretty harsh um but nonetheless that's how the story goes and and there are some variations you know some say that you know um the lover fell trying to get to the boat and was you know smashed on the rocks others say he drowned some people say that Alatea fell or jumped or was thrown off a cliff, whatever. This is the one that is generally accepted, especially by Pepe Rosado in the convent ghost story that's in the 2012 tourist guide. But since then, or as the legend goes, Alatea's spirit, dressed in a ghostly gray habit, is seen wandering the hallways or in rooms inside the convent. Workers and even governors' families over the years have reported strange sightings, an apparition moving through corridors, children claiming they were, quote, running through a lady, and unexplained noises in spaces that were believed to have been hers when she was alive. Now, interestingly, Rosado's story adds what would appear to be an unrelated detail to this legend. The first floor of the convent was raised a few inches during 19th century renovations, which seem to confirm the stories told by children who have interacted with Alitia's ghost when they say she seems to be walking under the floor rather than on it. So if in her life, the floor was like an inch lower, you wouldn't see her feet. that that's like the story we told about the greek horse soldiers that came through an area and they were like up to the horse's chest because there was that much build-up from the initial greek settlement yeah to the new one that they were walking on the old paved road the old greek road exactly rather than the one we know now yeah that's fascinating yeah and so and and children do seem to be the most common witnesses to uh a latia's ghost but i thought that man that is that is great i love that aspect of the story Yeah, that makes it more legit, believable. Yeah, I mean, certainly it adds some veracity to the story. Yeah. Knowing that at the time of her life the floor was actually a few inches lower than it is currently Yeah. And then you hear a child going, yeah, we saw the woman and we ran through her, but her feet looked like she was standing in the floor instead of on top of it. You're like, wow, it's just weird until you realize. You know the real story. Until you realize the floor used to be lower. Now, remember Adam talking about being within the rock, inside the rock, okay? The rock is full of tunnels, okay? Tunnels that were designed to be used during battle, either for protection or to get from one site to another safely. And the tunnels are filled with ghosts of soldiers who died defending Gibraltar, and they largely remain unacknowledged and forgotten. You know, these were soldiers that were down in these tunnels and they would die during battle or, you know, due to, you know, bad health, poor conditions, whatever. And they weren't given, you know, a military burial. They weren't recognized. They were just kind of forgotten. And this labyrinth of tunnels is huge. 34 miles of tunnels that were constructed over the past two and a half centuries. Now, a lot of men died during the excavation, not just during wartime. In the late 1700s, when they first started cutting these tunnels out, they were extended so that they could be used during world war ii so from the 1700s up through you know the mid 1900s you know these tunnels were were being cut out and and they're they're cut right through the stone so they're still there today now it's like if you were if you were coal mining or gold mining or something you're having to dig all that out this is just instead of below sea level this is in a rock above sea exactly now soldiers using the tunnels in the modern day have reported uh hearing whistling digging and singing the longest sections of the tunnel known as the great north road stretches almost the 1.5 mile length of the rock and there have been numerous reports inside this long stretch the great siege tunnels were cut out of the rock during the 1779 to 1783 siege however most of the work was undertaken during the second world war and it's during this period where dozens of soldiers died you know while trying to cut these now peter jackson who's a retired warrant officer said the lord of the rings not the lord of the rings guy okay said said that he once took the daughter of a soldier lance corporal lawrence bolton to lay flowers where he had died in a tunneling accident now when warrant officer Jackson returned to the spot a few days later. His shirt was tugged from behind, and he was jerked backwards by an invisible force. Upon leaving the tunnel, he claims a woman he had never met told him that he had been followed by the ghost of Lieutenant Corporal Bolton. so he had gone to this spot where uh lieutenant corporal bolton had died during this accident while cutting the tunnels he had gone to this spot so that he could bring bolton's daughter there you know to put flowers at the site of his death yeah so he had already been there once with the purpose of recognizing Lieutenant Corporal Bolton. And then when he comes back a few days later, it would seem that either Bolton's spirit had followed him and stayed with him or recognized him when he returned and made its presence known by yanking and tugging at his shirt. I think that recognizing is probably it. And so we've talked about this several times now where it's like this spirit may be trying to build up so much energy that it overcompensates. And so it's trying to tug on his shirt and then it just, and it jerks him backwards. So not necessarily being aggressive, but trying to make its presence known. Like maybe thank you for recognizing me and for bringing my daughter here, you know, and showing her the spot where she lost her father. You know, so it's much more of an emotional tale than it is like a spooky ghost tale, but it's still creepy nonetheless. And again, you know, we're talking about, you know, a military officer, somebody that, you know, you got to kind of be careful when you go back, you know, to the barracks and go, y'all won't believe what just happened to me. You know, you got to, you know, your superior officers may go, um, you may need a vacation there, buddy. You know, so you got to, you know, so when you hear these stories from these kinds of folks, you want to believe them. They probably wouldn't share this unless they really, really felt strongly about what happened. Yeah. Now, other sightings near the entrance of the tunnels have also been reported, such as a military man and his dog, who are said to roam Fosse Way, which is a World War II tunnel within the rock. Other sightings have been claimed outside the entrance to the northern defense tunnels where the sound of two violins have been reported to have been heard. Oh, that's weird. Now, another spot that is commonly found to be haunted is the Gibraltar National Museum in Baumhaus Lane. Now, this is a major attraction in Gibraltar, and the site dates back to a 14th century Moorish bathhouse, which forms part of the exhibit. During the 19th century, before a museum existed, it was difficult to keep any important local finds. So this is how the first known adult Neanderthal skull was found in Forbes Quarry in 1848. And it was sent to the Natural History Museum in London. The British like to find stuff and then take it home. Yeah, they do. Oh, where did you find this? Oh, well, let's take it back. That's why we can't dig in Egypt anymore. That's right. That's exactly right. Now, the present museum was established by the then governor of Gibraltar in 1930 in a building known as Ordnance House, which also had some chambers of a bathhouse from the Moorish period, which we mentioned earlier. And it had previously been used as a semi-underground stable. That's pretty cool. Take your horses in. Yeah. I wonder what the horses felt about that. You know, we like to anthropomorphize animals, but you're trying to take them into a stable and they're going, dude, they're taking us inside a rock. Why would we go inside a rock? Yeah. I mean, you don't hear a lot of stories about people marching horses through caves and stuff, you know. No. I wouldn't think they would be too keen on that. No. Probably had to take some training because a lot of horses are skittish. Yeah. A lot of the ones I've known. But it would protect them. True. Hide them, protect them. They forget about the scarcity when the bombs start dropping. That's exactly right. I like this rock. Scare them into it. Yeah, exactly. Get inside the rock. The area has through the years revealed many historical moments from the time of the Moors to the great siege of the 1700s. The ghostly figure of a man who died many years ago and is believed to be a former director of the museum has been cited by both workers and visitors to the museum. Hmm. Yeah. Not necessarily like an old soldier or, you know, somebody that died in battle or in a horrific accident. Just a former director of the museum. Just keeping an eye on everything. I like it. Making sure no more Neanderthal skulls go missing. Yeah, right, right. And don't you bring any more horses into my museum. Right. They stink up the place. Now, the next site on the rock is the old St. Bernard's Hospital. Now, the former site of the old St. Bernard's Hospital was strongly believed by patients, visitors, and staff to be haunted. The hospital, and in particular the maternity ward, has long since rumored to be home to many anguished ghosts with hospital staff and patients referring to visual sightings. stories of lower floor unexplained noises and things moving have been commonplace and previous to its use as a civilian hospital it was a military hospital and before that a military barracks so it's absolutely likely that it's the resting place of men and women who died some pretty horrific deaths. Now, in the recent years, more than 200 skeletons have been found buried under the site of the former hospital and are suspected to have been victims of an 18th century siege. Oh, wow. A scientific team discovered that the mass grave unearthed in 2014, so not that long ago, is home to mostly young men who were buried in haste. So that's where they get that idea. You know, it's not, they're definitely not celebrated graves or even proper graves for that matter. You know, they were buried quickly and, you know, in some cases on top of one another. So they were just trying to get the dead where they could not cause any other problems as far as disease or smell or whatever. I was going to say maybe during a siege or a battle or something. Yeah, they couldn't leave. So they couldn't get them out to give them a proper burial. So they had to bury them there because they sure couldn't just leave them. That sucks, though. Yeah. To be one of those dudes, that sucks. It's possible that they died from one of the disease epidemics, which followed the sieges, because some of the remains date back as far as the 16th century. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, if you're under siege and you're inside a rock and you can't get out, you know, depending on how long you're there in that enclosed area, stuff's going to start happening, you know. People got to, you know, relieve themselves. And, you know, we know that all of that just, you know, breeds bacteria and disease and everything. And people are going to get sick and you can't get them to treatment. And you try to separate them, but there's really nowhere to get them to. And then more people get sick and they start dying. And we know we can't take them out, you know. and all this stuff just kind of avalanches over time. In the 18th century, the hospital site was used by the British military, which fits into the theory that it was, at least at one time, a military burial ground. Now, this next one, this next one I actually came across by accident, just kind of poking around. But it was a neat enough story that I included it. I did not find any other references to this particular haunting other than this one, but it's pretty good. The mad monk. Okay. The mad monk, the ghost of the rock of Gibraltar is a local legend that recently was brought to popular attention by the show. Expedition X is the one hosted by Josh Gates. now when they did this show about the ghosts um on the rock of gibraltar they were investigating the infamous prison tunnels okay so phil and heather investigated sightings of this tormented figure possibly a monk or a prisoner linked to the brutal history and rumored to haunt this huge underground network. Now, the legend ties into the rock's dark past and the site of a Moorish castle known to have been a notorious prison with claims of walls built from bones. Jeez. Now, Phil finds a ton of bones in this episode. Now, they are animal bones, and they do, well, I can't, I think, it's like my mouth has quit working, analyze the bones, and the majority of them are monkey bones. Hmm. So, we'll touch on that here in a minute. Now, during Heather's part of the investigation, she captures what appears to be a tall, dark figure passing through the laser plane that she had set up. So they basically have like a big laser wall. Okay. And you can see it on the video. What looks like a dark hooded figure just kind of walking along the reflect, breaking the laser. Okay. So you get a nice little image, a shadow of this thing. Now, she dug a little deeper and believed that she had actually figured out who the Mad Monk was and learned that the Mad Monk was a hooded executioner who ended lives inside the Morris Castle. So, you know, this could, you know, they always describe him as being tormented. So if it was your job, you know, to, you know, execute prisoners, maybe you just weren't super excited about your job. You know, you were conflicted. You didn't necessarily want to have to be the person that did this. You know, you dealt with- Might not get up in the morning ready to go into the office. You know, I would imagine there were some that were like pretty gung-ho about it, but maybe not all of them. I mean, it's a brutal thing to have to do. Um, and she feels like that the reports of the, the sounds, you know, the, uh, the knocking and the scratching and everything along with the sightings of this figure could be related to this particular executioner. Um, it's possible. Phil, back to the monkey thing, thought, okay, well, if there's monkey bones down here, then monkeys obviously were here and running around and making this their home, possibly even getting down into the tunnels and getting lost and not being able to find their way out and subsequently dying down there. And as people are poking around in these tunnels, they see monkeys moving around in the dark. which I think that's probably a legitimate guess. And Heather even conceded that the sounds and the noises could definitely have been made by animals, but wasn't so certain that the apparitions that people have claimed to have seen could have been a monkey. Yeah, I kind of agree. You know if you in the caves or the tunnels by yourself and you hear a noise and you heard stories of spirits then it could be a monkey that in there and you thinking oh well it got to be a spirit But yeah, the apparitions, especially the one they caught on the laser plane. That's not a monkey. That's not a monkey. It doesn't move like a monkey. I mean, that's true. It moves like something walking. A lot taller than a monkey. And that's the other thing that's really cool about that. is that it does appear to be walking across the plane. It's not just a still image so that you could say, eh, it's just a shadow from something else because it actually appears to be moving. Yeah, that's cool. Now, the next place we're going to talk about is the house on Scud Hill. Okay. Now, in a quiet corner of South District of the Rock stands Scud Hill. Now, locals once told stories about a house there, a beautiful home that was abandoned and then locked up. Now, to some, it was just another military quarters that's gone to ruin. But to others, it was thought to be the most haunted residence on Gibraltar. Now, Scud Hill rises up from Rosea Road. And in the early 1800s, the slope was dotted with these whitewashed houses and these small military quarters. And it overlooked the Mediterranean, which made it a pretty nice spot. Okay. People were not opposed to living there. You know, great scenery, nice. It was breezy. You got a lot of sunshine. And it was within walking distance of the center of town. So soldiers and officers and even a few civilians made their homes there. But among those homes was one that locals started to avoid. It was said to be beautifully situated high above Scud Hill, which is actually closer to today's Schaumburg, with amazing views and well-built rooms. But by the late 1830s, it was completely empty. The doors were barred. Shutters were closed. And we know this because of an 1841 account preserved by local historians and reproduced in the blog the people of Gibraltar, which it's in the it's in the sources go check this out this is so well done it is such an enjoyable read especially if you just kind of scratch the surface it's it's all from you know the people that made gibraltar their home and you know it is just is a it is a wonderful wonderful read. So go check it out. The people of Gibraltar. But they reproduced this 1841 account. And the writer describes it as, quote, a house appropriated by government to the use of the military, but for several months it had stood unoccupied, for to it were attached tales of jealousy and murder. Ghostly visitants were said to wander there, making night hideous with wailings for peace or vengeance. Jeez. And the stories differ. some say a young officer once lived there with his wife who was known for her beauty and her friendliness when the officer was called away for duty a jealous colleague pursued her attention the gossip of the small garrison community twisted affection into scandal and when the officer returned unexpectedly, tragedy followed. A confrontation, a shot fired, and the woman's cry that echoed across the hill. Now, others claim that it was a civilian family, not a military family, and they were torn apart by jealousy between siblings over an inheritance. According to this version, the murder was never proven, but the blood on the floorboards could never be washed away. After that, no one stayed there very long. Tenants who moved in spoke of footsteps on the stairs at night, doors slamming, and cold drafts that carried faint sobbing voices. So one by one, Tenants would move in, and then they would leave. It says two or three families, according to the 1841 account, were, quote, tempted by the beauty of its position, had become its tenants, but all had been haunted out, and it had remained closely locked up. Go ahead. Out of all that, the one thing that caught me was the phrase, They were haunted out. Yeah. I don't know why, but I like that. I know, it's so cool. I love that story. I love that phrase in there. You said it was from 1841? 1841, yeah. Okay. I know there was sensationalist articles and stuff, but it doesn't... I don't know. I don't think they would sensationalize it. And you've got to look at what this historical record, what it was. It was more or less like a little local paper thing, like a newsletter. But written in a more flourished style. You know, more, you know, if you imagine somebody like Thomas Paine or Alexander Hamilton writing these little pamphlets that they could pass around, it's something more along the lines of that, I feel. And so, you know, the language was a little nicer and maybe a little embellished, but it's essentially telling the people around there the story of this particular home and why it sits abandoned. So it lends a lot of truth to what may have been going on in this house. yep and they come up with cool phrases haunted out now today no one is exactly sure which building it was and old maps show several houses above scud hill but many are gone or have been absorbed into modern development and the hill's name is changed too black strap hill sometimes just called strap hill is now simply scud hill so by the late 19th century the slight the site was largely redeveloped and newer buildings erased the much older landscape i like black strap hill better than scud hill sounds weird yeah where you live scud hill i wouldn't tell anybody where i no i'd go back to oh i live on strap hill they're like where the hell is it's not on the map yeah it's not yeah don't worry about it you're i don't want you to come visit me yeah yep i just uh forget we ever talked i don't know now the people that live around there sometimes talk about odd noises at night in the area and a few years ago a tenant on south barrack ramp told a local uh heritage blogger about quote the feeling of someone watching when she walked past a certain terrace after midnight now no one claims to have seen a figure but that feeling is there you know that somebody's in somebody's in there now remember they don't know which particular house it was they just kind of know the general area so they're not even sure if the house is still there but it doesn't stop them from hearing things or at least going that that right there could have been the house you know that that's it because i get a weird feeling when i walk past there yeah now well and that that happens with a lot of these tales yeah is especially in small communities if you get the tail of something happening it can then lead to embellishment or false feelings or or whatever around these places just because you've and but but when you get that weird creepy feeling i say take notice of it don't put it off as just, oh, I'm just being weird. Yeah. You know, there's nothing here. No, that's your 18th sense or whatever. Yeah, it absolutely is. Get the heck out of there. It's that same sensation that somebody walks up behind you and you realize they're there. I mean, you absolutely have that sense. Okay. So getting that weird feeling that you're being watched or that somebody is nearby. I mean, it's not just happenstance. I mean, you're sensing some energy that is causing your body to go, there might be danger nearby. And it's putting you on alert. So recognize that. Now, unlike the famous lady in gray story that haunts the governor's residence, there's not a name for the ghost that haunts scud hill it's not a nun it's not an official legend that's used to market to tourists they describe her as just a whisper from a time when ghost stories i love this line traveled by candlelight rather than brochures yeah i like that i mean just like You know, the family's sitting around. Let me tell you this story about this house, you know. I like that so much. I'm writing it down. You hear it. You grow up with it. You share it with friends and family as you grow older. And the legend and the story lives on. And the writer of this article says maybe it's why this one seems more real. You know? Yeah, maybe. And, you know, when you go into a community, you can tell that they generally accept something. You know, you can tell that people are just, that place is haunted. It's not a story. It's not something to, you know, sensationalize. It is something that is just, it is just widely believed. and everybody understands it and they're stating a fact they're not sharing a story they're just stating a fact yeah and you can tell the difference in those oh yeah like oh yeah you can tell when when people are like just telling you a story or they wholeheartedly they believe it now real quick before my light went out a few minutes ago yours just went out behind you i don't believe in coincidences but it's weird it's pretty crazy yeah especially because mine mine's on a timer and it's not even at the time that it's supposed to go out yet so i'm mine is charged fully charged i don't know why it went out so just weird it's just weird yeah yeah thought i'd say something but what a unique place with such a unique history you would expect nothing less than very unique ghost stories and oh yeah and again like i said no no no crazy entities you know no skinwalkers you know no bizarre cryptids just good old-fashioned ghost stories left that traveled by candlelight left over by a rich history you know like you said of death of war of love and just life you know life of the i mean that and adam mentioned it earlier when the the residents of gibraltar were relocated by the military so that they could use more of that area for bases and such. It really bolstered a sense of community because they were all, we're leaving our homes. We are, and wherever you go, they're all like, you're from Gibraltar. So am I. Don't you dream of the day we get to go back when all of this is in the past and we can go back to our home you know and so it really it it just it it locked them together so that when they did come back they they held on to this kind of history and and and i think that that feeds the legends and the folklore um just as much as anything else and i think i think it feeds the energy that helps to produce these hauntings um yeah you know as much as the war and the death and everything else dumped energy into that rock the emotion and and the love of the people that called gibraltar home did the same and that's why these stories have endured for so long Yep. And magnified because it is 100% the stone tape theory, if you believe that, because like you started out saying, it's a limestone rock, a giant limestone rock, and it's surrounded by water, by moving salt water. yeah so it it makes sense with all the history the the energy of the people that live there the energy of the deaths and the actual location that this would be a haunted area yeah so what do you guys think you know some of you may have researched uh gibraltar before either for like a history report or if you're just a world war ii buff um what do you think about all this um i know i did not hit every single story you know i i hit most of all the major ones but maybe you know one that that we didn't touch on tonight and let us know and oh yeah the best place to do that is in our facebook group um you can find thousands of folks there that would love to hear those stories those personal experiences, those weird legends that your great-grandfather told you when you were a kid. You know, this is a fantastic place to share them. No one is going to make fun of you or anything. We just want to hear all of these really great stories. That's why you're a member of the Graveyard. Don't forget to go check out our website, which is graveyardpodcast.com, because there you can find links to purchase Graveyard Tales merchandise. you can listen to the show and that is where you can become a patron and get access to the loads of bonus content that Adam and I have there. Yep. So man, I tell you what, this was a cool one. I really, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too. So until next time, we'll save you a seat in the graveyard. See you soon. Thank you. Thank you. That's shopify.nl. It's time to see what you can accomplish with Shopify by your side.