Bloody Jack B Y
J A Z M I N
Living in Shrewsbury, you are likely to have heard at one point or another how haunted it supposedly is. Indeed, it’s considered one of the most haunted places in the country and has even appeared on an episode of ‘Great British Ghosts’! Of course, with a reputation like this, it’s hardly surprising that Shrewsbury has a fair number of stories to tell. From the wrongly accused milkmaid who roams Raven Meadows forever chanting, the supposedly friendly monk who was spotted in the Dun Cow Inn watching a baby sleep, to Condover Hall, (just outside Shrewsbury), where a priest has recently blessed the estate home in the hope that it will rid the Hall of its terrifying curse and allow people to live there in peace again. However, the story I want to cover in this article is of a serial killer who tempted young women to Shrewsbury Castle and then brutally murdered them.
He is still thought to haunt Shrewsbury Castle to this day and has been seen by many people over the years roaming the castle, most likely still looking for young victims. Many have reported cold spots and an intense pressure, as if someone were pushing them down (often thought to be signs a ghost is nearby). Bloody Jack even has a song about him, dating back centuries, detailing the day that Mary discovered his secret: Wedding rings are sweet, pretty things, Bloudie Jacke! To salute them one eagerly strives When one kneels to propose It’s another quelque chose When cut off at the knuckle with knives From our wives
Now considered ‘Shropshire’s Bluebeard,’ Jack Blondell, or Bloudie Jack (Bloody Jack), was a young, handsome man who was thought to have been the castle’s keeper back in the 12th century. He managed to lure at least eight young women to his castle with promises of marriage, after which he would claim that the girl had run off with some else and left him. Then he would find another woman … and another... and another… Eventually, a young girl called Mary found out the truth when she spotted him dragging her sister’s bloodied body across the drawbridge. Some people say that she even found a box in one of his rooms filled with all the wedding ring fingers cut off from his previous victims, and was so distraught that she ran out to the town, telling everyone what she had found. The local authorities caught Jack and he was hung, drawn and quartered. His head was put on a pole and displayed at the top of Wyle Cop for all to see. It was said that just before he was hanged, Jack looked out onto the crowd gathered to watch and cursed them all.
They are tied up in bundles of fives.