Said to be the most haunted city in Europe, York has been the site of countless sightings of ghosts and apparitions over the years. The most well-known of these occurred in 1953, when local engineer Harry Martindale spotted the ghosts of 20 Roman soldiers in the Treasurer’s House cellar. Seeing as it’s nearly Halloween, we thought we’d try to catch up with these ghostly Romans. After waiting around in the cellar for an hour or two (and brushing up on our Latin), we were finally accosted by their leader…
Halt! Who goes there?
It’s Your Local Link. We ask the questions around here! If you don’t mind, could you please tell our readers who you are?
Greetings. My name is Gaius – that’s General Gaius to you. The men you see before you are soldiers of the Ninth Hispana, a glorious legion of the Imperial Roman Army.
Thanks for meeting us, General Gaius. How long have you and your men been here in York?
For too long, my friend. The first members of our legion arrived in Eboracum in AD 71, shortly after we took this land from the Brigantes. Your ancestors fought bravely, but they were not strong enough to quell the might of the Quirites!
Alright, General Gaius – no need to brag! Now, the Ninth Legion is famous for disappearing, vanishing from records around AD 120. Can you shed some light on what happened?
We have no recollection of our final days in battle, of our final waking hours. Some of my men believe we marched out of Eboracum, northwards to Caledonia. Others have memories of crossing the sea, eastwards towards Germania Inferior. In death, no memories are certain… perhaps it’s best that we cannot recall the circumstances of our demise, of how we met Mors. What’s important is that we continue to march on, under the watch of Dis Pater, the god of the underworld…
General Gaius, if it’s true that your legion was defeated in a faraway land, why do you continue to appear here, in York’s Treasurer’s House?
The answer is simple, my curious mortal: this is the place where our road used to run – a road called Via Decumana. Eventually, your people insisted on building over it, but we continue to march here, as we always have, and always will…
That makes sense – you Romans are famous for your roads, to this day!
Of course. When we arrived in these lands, we brought our roads with us – we also constructed your Bar Walls, if you weren’t aware. I’ve witnessed the so-called roads constructed by your people since – they are not worthy of our boots!
Well, that’s shoddy workmanship for you, Gaius! Thanks for speaking with us – any final words for our mortal readers?
We came, we saw, we conquered!
Visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/yorkshire/treasurers-house-york/ghosts-of-treasurers-house to learn more about the ghosts of Treasurer’s House.
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