Ghosts of Sacred Spaces | Haunting Season 2026
The Three Ravens PodcastPlay episode
Show notes
Misty hooded figures flit through moonlit ruins, and a chorus of spectral chanting grows louder...
For the second week of our month of Haunting Season, we've chosen Ghosts of Sacred Spaces as our theme.
We start by exploring theories about why so many of Britain's current and former religious houses are said to be haunted, and talk about some of the notable sites. From a particularly monastic sort of ghost attempting to relieve Purgatorial suffering to Gothic themes of terror and wonder in lofty ruins, we trace the history of holy hauntings.
Our candlelit sanctuary is full of stories, from the Netley Abbey Phantoms to the collection of 15th century ghost tales from Byland Abbey. No discussion of sacred spaces in these isles would be complete without a mention of the single biggest trauma the religious establishment has ever suffered here - the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.
Two very different sacred spaces are then brought to life in our two winning story entries, 'After Evensong' by Josh Lynbeck and 'Black August' by Lucy Wood.
So take a pew, turn to the right page of your hymn book, and enjoy a thoroughly chilling pair of tales…
About Three Ravens 🔮
Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.
Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’
We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.
Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.
Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…
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