What Halloween means for people in England seems to change as you grow up. 

As a kid, it’s all scary masks and knocking on doors ‘trick-or-treating’ to gather a treasure load of sweets.

As a teenager (or certainly in the suburban London area I grew up in), Halloween essentially turns into a day of anti-social behaviour – namely semi-serious skirmishes involving silly string and eggs.

Then once you’re old enough to drink, it’s back to dressing up except this time for a boozy night in a pumpkin and cobweb decorated nightclub. 

After a few more years, Halloween’s importance then kind of drifts away. You possibly begin to sneer at it being a silly, American, commercial opportunity.

However, through talking with a Pagan Witch from Cornwall (yes, really, here’s the interview) I found out that the roots of Halloween are actually Celtic and native to Briton.

And, by complete chance, a few years back I stumbled across the spookiest place I’ve ever visited – Pendle Hill in Lancashire – which turned out to be the top destination for Halloween in England.

This is what I want to share with you today, an authentic Halloween trip.

Why is Pendle Hill spooky? 

To articulate why Pendle Hill is a genuinely spooky place, I need to share with you the time I accidently wandered there when it wasn’t Halloween – yet still got massively creeped out!

On a cold, dark day in December 2018, I bought a car and wanted to test out the new wheels on a long drive. From my Manchester home I drove north into the dark hills of Lancashire where the temperature plumetted to -13 C and intimidating black clouds hung low across the misty fields.

The imposing swell of Pendle Hill suddenly came into view and loomed omniously. I hadn’t seen another soul for about 30 minutes and it now felt like I was in a ghost story – gloomy hills and leaveless trees, with the only sounds being the whistle of the wind and the odd cawing of crows. I half expected a headless horseman to pass by.

Everything suddenly just felt odd, eerie.

I drove on and reached the village of Sabden, where things got even more creepy. I noticed pictures and life-size dummies of witches dotted around the village. A hangover from Halloween, I thought, although it was now mid-December. Weirded out, I sought respite in a pub, but inside were more life-size witches! I had to ask the barman what it was all about.

The barman explained that Pendle Hill was a notorious site where witchcraft was (and possibly still is) practiced. This area was known to be wild and lawless in the 1600s, so the Medieval authorities clamped down hard, culminating in twelve witches being rounded up from Pendle Hill and put on trial in the year 1612 – ten out the twelve were executed by hanging.

Without any prior knowledge of the witches, yet still finding the area incredibly eerie, I couldn’t help but feel like that maybe there is something haunting the area still!

 

Why visit Pendle Hill at Halloween?

This spooky history of the Pendle Hill area lives on to this day, with the village of Barley is the best place to base yourself for this proper Halloween experience.

I re-visited Barley last Halloween to find the village decorated for the occasion with a good bustle of tourists too. There were ‘witches’ roaming the streets as well more life-size ghoul-like figures in random places such as sitting on benches and standing on fences – which was genuinely got the blood pumping when it was dark! It felt the right place to be on the 31st October.

There are also 2 excellent walks:

Walk 1 – The Walking with Witches trail is a 4 mile loop that tours the key historical sites of the Pendle Witches, including a ‘witches grave’, the place where a leading witch met the devil and a host of strange witch sculptures (such as the one I came across of Alice Nutter below)

Walk 2 – The Pendle Hill Walk is a more extreme 9 mile version where you will also climb to the summit of Pendle Hill – over 1,200 feet. 

Whether you decide to go for one of the witchy walks or just call by this eerie village, make sure to call by the well-run and friendly Pendle Inn pub. The pub is lively at Halloween and has excellent local ales and hearty food. It also has well-priced rooms upstairs, so it’s the perfect place to stay if you really want a full day and night Halloween trip.

So if you are looking for a genuinely authentic Halloween experience, or just like the idea of a combining history, the great outdoors and good beer  – there is no better place to visit than the serious spooky Pendle Hill!