Simon Kurt Unsworth, horror writer, reveals to Spooky Isles the inspiration and eerie tales behind his Kendal Ghost Walks in Cumbria
SPOOKY ISLES: What inspired you to start the Kendal Ghost Walks, and how does your background as a horror writer play into the stories you share?
SIMON KURT UNSWORTH: It’s something my wife and I have been talking about doing for literally years, so last year we (and by ‘we’ I mean Rosie, the aforementioned wife who’s the business brain behind the venture and definitely its driving force) decided the time was upon us.
In terms of the walk itself, I write and deliver the content (although we have another ghost on call for busy times), and of course my writing experience has helped me craft what I hope is a spooky hour.
A bigger influence, though, was the history of the Kendal itself – I’m a Heritage Officer by day for the local council so my job involved a lot of storytelling and oral history. I simply blended that with the supernatural elements – helped immeasurably by the fact that Kendal has some good ghosts and a pub that’s one of, if not the most haunted pub in Britain – and we had a ghost walk.
Can you give us a sneak peek into some of the darker history of Kendal that participants will learn about on the walk?
You can learn about the Angel that appeared in the Angel Inn, the death of poor Constable James Fawcett and his final, terrible sounds, why Howard Summervell was followed for most of his adult life by awcwn ghosts and why life in Kendal’s Yards was so very, very hard…
You say the ghost walk ends at one of the UK’s most haunted pubs – which one is it? Can you share a particularly chilling tale or experience from that location?
It’s the Ring o’ Bells, the only pub in the UK to be situated on hallowed ground. It used to be the building where the dead were laid out before the funeral in the adjoining Parish Church, and the room where the corpses lay is still in use. There’s film on Youtube of glasses sliding untouched across tables, and in the cellars there’s a room that people who have any sensitivity won’t go in, the room from which a participant in a ghost hunt one night fled screaming from and refused to even enter the building afterwards. I did some research and found a previous landlord had the same name as one that keeps coming up in seances held in the pub, and then I found what I think is a photo of her, taken about 4 years after her death.Â
As a horror writer, do you ever draw inspiration from the ghost stories you share on the walks for your own writing?
Yes – I like to ground my stuff as strongly as possible in real geographies and histories so knowing this stuff about Kendal inevitably gets warped and mixed into my own stuff. I think telling oral histories, which I do as part of the day job, teaches you how to present real life in a way that (hopefully!) interesting and engaging and that set of skills can be transferred into fictional narratives. The novel I’m writing certainly has used the geographies and stories of Kendal and a couple of other places I know well to create a (again, hopefully!) realistic town in which terrible things happen…
What has been the local community’s reaction to the Kendal Ghost Walks? Have you encountered any surprising or memorable responses from participants?
The Ring o Bells have been supportive from the very beginning when we went into to talk to them to see if they were okay with us ending the walk there and have taken us to their hearts and it’s become our regular drinking hole, and the community generally has been really supportive and positive.
We get the odd negative comment on the FB page but they’re usually the ‘there’s no such things as ghosts’ type of response. We have plans to expand and improve the existing and in-development walks and everyone who’s been involved in the discussions around this has been great and also positive. We only started last year so we’re still finding our feed but we’ve already got bookings for 2025 so we must be doing something right. A local guides troop has booked us for a Halloween walk so word is obviously getting out there, which is, from our perspective, great!
Have you ever experienced anything paranormal during the walks yourself? If so, could you tell us about one of those moments?
Sadly not, but I live in hope.
What do you enjoy most about leading the Kendal Ghost Walks? Is there a particular story or location that you look forward to sharing each time?
I’m not an actor so I find the moments before I start talking nerve-wracking, but then I remember that I’m used to talking to groups of people and that I love the sound of my own voice and I tend to calm down and start to enjoy myself. There’s a couple of points on the walk where I get the audience involved in the story, get them to close their eyes and imagine things, and those moments are always really fun. One of the stops is Kendal’s Town Hall and I like telling that story because it’s also where I work, and I like the end because I get to go and have a drink in the Ring!
For those interested in joining a Kendal Ghost Walk, what’s the best way to book a spot, and do you have any tips for making the most of the experience?
You can find us here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/55564
Come along with an open mind, join in and you should have fun! and listen out for the cows…
If you go on the Kendal Ghost Walk, please do tell us how you go! (And if you run any other ghost walks around the UK and Ireland, please do tell us so we can add it to our Ghost Tour/Event Directory!)
