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Souter Fell

It was late evening on Midsummer Eve 1735 that a farmhand, working in the fields suddenly stopped, looking across them to the Fells. His unbelieving eyes were concentrated on the top of Souter or Soutra Fell where he saw, almost with terror, what looked like part of a huge army crossing from east to west, where after long minutes it disappeared in a cleft in the mountainside.

Souter Fell, on the left-hand side of the Keswick-Penrith road, is above the path leading from the village of Scales to the mountain of Saddleback, 2,847 feet. The farm-hand knew the Fells well and knew that Souter Fell was some 900 feet high, the north and west sides were sheer precipices, and it was impossible for a number of people to move on the summit, let alone an army. As it began to grow darker he moved back towards Mr Lancaster's farm where he worked some half-a-mile away from the Fells. His story of what he had seen was scornfully, almost insultingly ridiculed, even more so when it was jeeringly passed on by the farmer to the villagers.

Two years later, again on Midsummer Eve, it was not the farm-hand but Mr Lancaster and his family who witnessed exactly what his farm-hand had described to him and what he had totally disbelieved, even mocked at. At first he saw only a number of men leading their horses and for a moment thought they might be huntsmen, except that he knew only too well no hunt could possibly take place at that height.

Some ten minutes or so later they were followed by what seemed to be a cavalry regiment riding five abreast under the leadership of officers who rode up and down the ranks of cavalry and the following army of marching soldiers. The whole procession passed towards the cleft in the mountainside and vanished. As twilight came on and clouds gathered above the Fells, they had only time to see some stragglers trying to catch up with the army before darkness fell, and the family turned back home. It was now their turn to be insulted by the villagers to whom they told their astonishing story, none of the listeners believed them even though the Fells, and Souter Fell in particular, were renowned for legends and superstitions handed down through the centuries.

Each successive year, however, the Lancaster family went out on Midsummer Eve to see once again the ghost army, but nothing happened until the tenth year after the first sighting by the farm-hand. It was 1745, the fateful year of the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland. This time the Lancaster had summoned twenty-six other people, determined that their own story could be justified and this time believed. What they all saw was unimaginable, for a vast army of marching soldiers, stretching for at least half-a-mile, passed over the summit of Souter Fell.

This time a number of carriages were seen, though everybody watching knew only too well that not even one carriage could move across. The long procession of infantry, cavalry and carriages seemed endless until, as darkness fell, nothing more was visible and the dumbfounded, incredulous watchers went silently home.

The very next day, still disbelieving what they themselves had now seen, some of the party climbed up Souter Fell to see the hoof marks of the cavalry and the wheel tracks of the carriages, but there was nothing to be seen anywhere as evidence that such a vast army had passed there only a few hours before. So convinced were they all by now that each one of them swore on oath before a magistrate that what he or she had witnessed was the truth. More strangely still they were now supported by others, no longer afraid to tell what they had seen of other spectres, for fear of being insulted as the Lancaster had been.

One of these was a Mr Wren of Wilton Hall. One summer evening in 1743 he, with a farm-hand, had seen on a dangerous and precipitous part of Souter Fell where nothing was safe, a man and his dog, chasing at a tremendous pace some wild horses, and were sure that all must inevitably have been killed.

In other counties, there have also been ghost armies reported to have been seen on heights, always on Midsummer Eve, notably the giant figure of King Arthur at the head of his cavalry, all in full armour, their lance tips glittering in the sunlight, riding down from Cadbury Fort in Somerset, to water their horses at a well, still known as Arthur's Well. Legend or not, the people of Somerset living near the fort have solemnly sworn they have seen the army of ghosts. One villager of a great age swore on oath that he had picked up a silver horseshoe near the well after the cavalry had departed.

Explanations of the army of ghosts on Souter Fell have been offered, such as visions, mirages, reflected light and transparent vapour, but all these were totally unacceptable to the Lancaster family and their witnesses. They were convinced that the vast army they had seen with their own eyes was real, and it is their firm belief which has passed into the folklore and legends of the Lake District.A Ghost | Become | Flaming Sword | What Is A Polterguist | What Is An Orb | Where To Find Ghosts |