The Amazing Travels

The Creepy House

We started out the day slightly later than we planned. We were hoping for 9 am but got out at 10:30. Our first stop was Woolacombe by way of Barnstable... which took us about 30 minutes as Barnstable is south and we wanted to go directly west. Outside the town there was a weekly outdoor market where we purchased fake tattoos and magic pens that write in black and then rub out (erase) to a color. The freezer turns them black again. Decided not to use them on this blue paper because it's so dark. The worst thing about the market was the chilly wind that nearly knocked me over. The best was Mel's blue watch.

We ate lunch (pastie with chips and beans) and then headed back to the Chocolate Museum in Ilfracombe which was a BIG disappointment. Rather a room full of old chocolate memorabelia to justify jacking up the price of the chocolate in the shop. the "theatre" was six chairs set up in front of a tv playing a continuous loop of someone making chocolate.

The trip to the bank was more entertaining and I was definitely relieved to relieve myself of $400 in cash so I could pay Clare her money for accomodation. I even got 20 Pounds in change! We got back in the car (the car park was up a very steep hill) and drove to the Chambercombe Manor, a house that dates back to before 1066. Even I had to dip my head to avoid a low doorway or two.

We took the 5 Pound tour and our psychic tourguide, "Crazy Chris," said the house had been full of spirits today, so if we felt dizzy, don't panic. Of course we felt dizzy. 1000 year old houses aren't exactly straight anymore. The walls and floors are all cock-eyed. Anyway, the best thing about this tour was the fact that you got to touch things. Crazy Chris just picked up 500 year old antiques and opened them, showing them off. At one point, she passed around a finger joint from a suit of armor. We got into one bedroom and she told us to take a seat. All the chairs were antiques and the bed looked older than Shakespeare's second best bed. Crazy Chris passed her hand over Melissa's chair to make sure the old gentleman to who liked to sit there, wasn't. The manor was at one point owned by a bunch of shipwreckers who traveled through a secret tunnel to the cove and lured ships onto the rocks.

(Mel) Yeah, a bunch of villians, the whole lot of 'em.

Right. At one point, the brought in a 14 year old "poof" (German for prostitute) as Mel told us over tea and sodas. When she had a baby, they drowned it, and now she sits on the bed and rocks the cradle from time to time.

Then there was the guy who found a woman on the beach who'd come off a boat he'd wrecked. After she died and robbed her, he figured out she was his long lost daughter, so he walled her up in a room, sold the house and moved to Cornwall. So someone finally figured out there was a hidden room and poked a hole through the wall to find a skeleton on the bed. That would never happen in LA!

posted by omouse @ 6:30 PM