By: Katy Hearne-Church
Here at Queens Podcast, we love a good ghost story. We love that story, even more, when it’s an historical lady causing a scene because she was done wrong. So, join us in the first part of a spooky series we’re calling Spiteful Spirits!
Agrippina the Younger
Our girl, Agrippina, was as royal as one could be in the times of ancient Rome. She was the sister, wife, niece and mother of the emperor (and only 2 of those roles overlapped).
Despite her wealth of experience and power Nero, her son, decided that mom had to go. And after an embarrassing failed attempt (uh-oh! Agrippina can swim!) Nero had his thugs go straight to the source and just have her fucking stabbed to death. Agrippina knew what was coming and demanded: “SMITE MY WOMB”. Baller fucking last words.
Nero thought his problems were over, but his mommy issues were just getting started. For the remainder of his life, Nero was wracked with guilt for what he did and was haunted by the memory of his mother… literally! She would haunt his dreams and often showed herself to him to remind him of what he did. It’s kind of irrelevant if these were real visions or just his conscience fucking with him. They were REAL to him.
Once, while experiencing a haunting of his mother, Nero demanded his guards run her through with their spears and swords. It’s unclear if the guards were said to have also seen the apparition, but I can guarantee you they were not attempting to talk sense into Nero. If he said stab the ghost, YOU STAB THE GHOST. It got so bad that Nero hired magicians to come and try to expel her spirit but to no avail. She’s said to have haunted him for the rest of his (short) life.
Charlotte de Brézé, The Green Lady
Charlotte was born the illegitimate daughter of the king of France. Despite her scandalous parentage, she was much adored by everyone. Well, everyone besides her husband, Jacques de Brézé. The two were ill-matched, and Jacques would often leave his young, hot wife alone for weeks at a time in their beautiful castle, the Château de Brissac.
Charlotte, left on her own out in the country with nothing to do, started an affair with a hunter in the employ of her husband and when Jacques found out, he was none to pleased.
It’s debated what exactly went down, but we know for sure that Charlotte was murdered violently by her husband’s hand in the summer of 1477. The legend goes that he stabbed her 100 times. Another story reports Breze strangled her to death with her rosary. Either way, poor Charlotte’s life was cut short. She was only 31.
It’s unclear if Jacques ever served time for the murder. One story says that there were no repercussions for his actions, while others say that he was stripped of his titles and yet another story claims that he served time in prison. We just don’t know. But the one storyline remains the same. Charlotte’s ghost was PISSED THE FUCK OFF and made sure Jacques knew exactly how she felt.
Jacques (before or after… maybe prison?) reported that he could no longer live in the castle he shared with his wife. The reason? Charlotte’s ghost wailed at all hours of the day. Her wailing kept him up all night. She had no plan of going toward the light. She was going to make this man miserable.
Eventually, we do know that Jacques gave the castle to the crown (possibly because of the ghost of his angry wife) and then died an old man (“must be nice”- Charlotte, probably). But, we guess Charlotte didn’t get the memo that Jacques is no longer around to haunt. We say this because it’s said that Charlotte is said to still be seen on many occasions. Yeah! It’s such a regular thing that the family that owns the Chateau presently aren’t even surprised anymore. In fact, they get a good laugh when newcomers are shocked to see her.
However, it sounds like she may be a scary sight to see (like, even more so than other ghosts). They call her la Dame Verte, or the Green Lady. She’s said to be wearing a green dressing gown and appears tall with long hair. But when she looks at you, the horror really starts. The Green Lady has large gaping holes in place of her eyes and mouth. Holes that represent where one may have been stabbed (like 100 times).
…. Ghost hunting trip in France, anyone?
Kate Batts, The Bell Witch
In the early 1800’s, a wealthy landowner named John Bell moved his growing family to what is now known as Adams, Tennessee. He purchased a large plot of land (over 300 acres) and began to run a very successful farm (or, well… his slaves did). In purchasing this land, Bell (who had didn’t have the best reputation when it came to business deals) royally ripped off a woman named Kate Batts. Batts took a huge grudge for the Bell family to her grave… any beyond.
In 1817 the Bells starts to experience some small disturbances. You know, things you could quickly shrug off. Unexplained scratching noises across the floorboards were written off as the sound of rats. Mysterious whispering was just… angels? IDK. But then, the spirit grew stronger and so did her hauntings.
Kate was out for blood. More specifically, John’s blood. Though the whole family felt her wrath, most notably John’s daughter Betsy, John’s life was turned upside down by this angry ghost lady who identified herself as Kate Batts in a seance held in the family home. Kate’s unattached voice would soon start singing hymns when visitors would come over, which sounds really creepy TBH.
The voices turned to violence and soon, John was reporting actual, painful abuse at the hands (do ghosts have hands?) of this spiteful spirit (Hey, that’s the name of the series!). John and Betsy would endure slapping, pinching, and pushing. Betsy woke up one day with what appeared to be the impression of someone’s hands on her neck and John is said to have had the covers ripped off of him while he was sleeping. Just about all this was corroborated by neighbors who would come from all over to see the poltergeist for themselves. A young general named Andrew Jackson even attempted to bring his troops to see the apparition, though it’s said when he arrived onto the Bell farm the wheels on his wagon locked mysteriously.
After a few years of this, in 1820 John’s health took a steep decline. His throat would close up and he would experience seizures. His doctor had prescribed him God knows what because 19th-century medicine is a nightmare, and one night he took his medicine before bed. The next morning he woke up… dead. When his family found him they swear they heard Kate’s voice proclaim “I gave Jack a dose of medicine last night. Fixed him up good” or… something to that effect (Kate Batts could not be reached for a direct quote). At Jack’s funeral the entire crowd agreed they all heard a voice singing old drinking songs which continued until the last person left the gravesite.
After John’s death, Kate pretty much chilled out. However, some of the Bell descendants still claim to be haunted by the Bell Witch from time to time.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling the need to go sage my house real quick.
Do you have a spiteful spirit you’d like to see discussed in the next series? Let us know!
Sources:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Nero*.html
https://great-castles.com/brissacghost.html
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/12/16/green-lady/
http://www.bellwitch.org/story.htm
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59582/15-tales-female-ghosts