Britains Weirdest Monster - The Highclere Grampus
The Highclere Grampus - in its Yew Tree home.
Highclere is a village located in England, in the northern area of the district of Hampshire. The village sits in the Wessex downs, an area of natural outstanding beauty, now there does seem to be something about monsters living in areas of natural beauty, but I suppose if I were a monster I would like to live somewhere nice too.
Highclere is perhaps most famous for Highclere Castle, the estate that was used as the location for Televisions ‘Downton Abbey.’ But Highclere also has the dubious honour of being home to one of the strangest monsters on this ancient Isle, ‘The High Clere Grampus.’
The Highclere Grampus (Not to be confused with Krampus, an Alpine Christmas Devil), made its home in an old Yew tree, in a churchyard, in the Highclere Estate Chapel. Now a Grampus is an old name for an Orca or Killer Whale, but is seldom used in this day and age.
Some people believe this tale dates back to around 1700s, maybe even before. The Highclere Grampus was said to resemble a Porpoise or maybe even a Dolphin, quite why such a creature would make a home in an Old Yew Tree is beyond me, I would have thought a lake would have been a better choice.
It was said that if locals were foolish enough to wander to close to the beasts arboreal home it would make disturbing grunting noises, causing them to flee in terror. Worse still, it was known to chase after young women, how it did this is not clear, I can only imagine it dragged itself along by its pectoral fins. Though quite how it managed to climb in and out of its Yew tree home is beyond my imagination. To be fair to this beastie there are no stories of it actually hurting anyone.
Naturally this made attending chapel on a Sunday a nightmare, girls being chased about, everyone else fleeing in terror from the beasts hideous noises. Total chaos.
The poor locals came to believed it was a denizen of Hell, sent by Old Nick himself to trouble them. They decided to approach the local Priest and asked him to deal with the problem. He agreed, and performed an exorcism. To everyone’s great relief it was banished to the Red Sea, some say for one hundred years, some say for a thousand. I personally believe it was a thousand, or else it would be back by now, terrifying modern day residents of the village.
If you enjoyed this little bit of obscure folklore, you may very well enjoy my book ‘Fireside Horror.’ It’s full of terrifying monsters, demons, cults, mysteries and ghosts. It is availsble from Waterstones online, and Amazon in the U.K. and U.S.A. Links below:
