Public Humiliation...

The Pillory was used in England up until 1837 when it was abolished.

 It was a form of punishment in which public humiliation was a major part.
 The victims wrists  and neck were held in place and it put quite a bit of strain on the person's back.

 Members of the public would often throw rotten vegetables... dead animals and faeces.
 Stones and other blunt objects were also thrown.
 Due to the nature of the pillory restraint the victim would be unable to defend themselves.

 Flogging and mutilation could be added to the punishment as well.
 British authorities favoured branding the face with a mark of shame such as cutting off one or both ears or slicing the nose lengthwise.

For lessor crimes the stocks would be used where just the victims legs would be restrained allowing them to at least attempt to defend themselves with their free arms and the ability to move their head....

The use of the Pillory and the Stocks is where the saying 'A laughing stock' came from hinting at the humiliation that the victims suffered .....

The Ghoul-Gate.

One grave in every graveyard belongs to the ghouls.
 Wander around any graveyard long enough and you will find it, water stained and bulging with cracked or broken stone, scraggly grass or rank weeds about it and a feeling when you reach it of abandonment.
 It may be colder than the other gravestones too and the name on the stone is all to often impossible to read.
 If there is a statue on the grave it will be headless or so scabbed with fungus and lichen as to look like fungus itself.
 If one grave in a graveyard looks like a target for petty vandals that is the Ghoul-Gate.
 If the grave makes you want to be somewhere else, that is the Ghoul-Gate. 

-Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book.

Haunted House....

A house is never still in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man awoke in the night....

-James M. Barrie

Demon's....

                                      "Demon's
                         Are like obedient dogs;
                                     They come
                         When they are called."


-Remy De Gourmont

Another view of the Priory.

A few weeks ago I posted a view of St Oswald's Priory in Gloucester.
 This is another view of the Priory taken from the other side of the main structure wall...

Resting........

                                Resting.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of the church is an ideal place for a long resting place ....

Double decker....

      There is plenty of room on the top floor at these well preserved castle ruins.