Did People In The Medieval World Believe in Ghosts?| Medieval Afterlife | History Hit

Ghosts, ghouls and things that go bump in the night! Dr Eleanor Janega delves into the medieval phantasmic to find out what their restless dead can tell us about the worries of the living. Because if we want to understand what makes another society tick, it helps to take a look at what makes them scared.
In this show, Eleanor visits the ruins of Byland Abbey to explore some of the most terrifying stories to survive the medieval period. The 12 ghostly tales written by a monk on the blank back pages of a religious manuscript, share traits with our own modern ghost stories but we learn that medieval perceptions of ghosts may be very different to our own.
Then at one of the most important religious sites in medieval England, Canterbury Cathedral, Eleanor investigates how the church uses ghost stories for political gain and reinforcing religious values. Archivist Cressida Williams shows us some of the memento mori tropes implemented by the church, like Cadaver tombs and the ‘Three Living and Three Dead’ Illustrations, which acted as warnings against sin and reminders of the death that awaits us all.
Eleanor comes face to face with the dead at the University of Bradford, which houses one of the UK's largest collection of human skeletal remains, Dr Jo Buckberry, explains why adhering to proper burial practices were crucial for making it into the afterlife and describes some of the gruesome ways they prevented the revenant dead from rising from the grave to haunt their communities.
And to complete her journey, Eleanor braves Chillingham Castle, once used as a border stronghold staving off invasion from Scotland, it’s now home to a gathering of ghosts. First recorded over a hundred years ago by Lady Leonora Tankerville in the “golden age of horror” we discover the Victorian and Edwardian obsession with the supernatural… something that haunts us still….
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[@jamiebryant1524]

Please keep the Eleanor Janega content coming. She’s the perfect combo of super knowledgeable, easy to listen to, and quirky cool. I will watch anything she does!

[@Me-wk3ix]

Agreed!

[@thewhitewolf58]

Quirky, weird women are the best in the world.

[@ColleenLytle-sq8tx]

I agree, Dr. Eleanor Janega is the best woman narrator I've heard, next to Caitlin Doughty...as a matter of fact, I thougtht this WAS her until I looked.😁

[@Tadicuslegion78]

"I'm not dead." "I can't take him like that. It's against regulations." "I don't want to go on the cart."

[@alwilliams5177]

The knights who say knit demand a sacrifice.

[@lynnedelacy2841]

A shrubbery…

[@jenniferstone2975]

😂😂😂

[@Which-Craft]

I got better!

[@antmerritt]

Yes !

[@ExUSSailor]

I don't think they were "obsessed" with it, I just think they had to deal with death much more than we, in modern society have to.

[@Yandarval]

Pre the mass production of penicillin in the 1940s. Almost any cut or infection has a fair chance of killing you. So you are correct about death being something everyone had to deal with on a regular basis.

[@ellie698]

Exactly this

[@jimplummer4879]

Yes !

[@PrettyPoppyGirl651]

That is exactly why they were obsessed with death, there were rules, there were steps thats had to be performed & in the correct order, there was no other way to think, only this belief, only this way for a "happy" afterlife, being allowed into heaven. To do anything else was to be damned. So yea, I think obsessed is pretty accurate.

[@422katieleigh]

Eleanor has talked a lot about this and has the degrees and experience to back it up. When she says obsessed, she means obsessed.

[@Air-bear]

Gadfly here 🤫. I was in the Vietnam conflict. I had a hard time sleeping in the jungle. Not due to the environment it seems. I mentioned this to a Vietnamese scout who was with us. He said my soul was in distress. That I should sleep facing the east when I arose. Said my spirit would know it faced the light. It worked…still set my bed accordingly 😑

[@hillerymcdonald2303]

This is fascinating. What a cool story! Thank you for your service and sacrifice, truly, thank you.

[@wretchedrider2157]

Hear hear!! Great story and my genuine thanks for your service 🍻

[@shelbynamels7948]

Poppycock! Nothing to do with facing the light. You need to align the meridians of your body with the magnetic field of the earth. Our bed is set accordingly.

[@Air-bear]

@@shelbynamels7948 gadfly here 👻. You know much about the ancient sun worshipers. 😵

[@briganja]

Placebo effect is pretty amazing! Our brains influence our bodies so much

[@beepboop204]

it has always fascinated me, that fine line between "wanting to die" and being completely fine with dying, as opposed to "not wanting to die" and not accepting mortality.

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

I suspect that many claims of being fine with dying may fail when the claimant is dying.

[@debbylou5729]

@@user-ug2hk3go6iI think you’re probably right. I do think the manner or circumstances make the difference. I’ve had family dying of old age or chronic illness feel it coming and embrace it. I also don’t believe we’re left alone. I’ve heard one aunt and my grandmother say things like, ‘oh, they’ve come’. My grandmother was almost radiant and called her husband by name

[@beepboop204]

@@user-ug2hk3go6i being alive is the same as dying. thats what being mortal is all about. so no, i dont think so

[@abnurtharn2927]

@@beepboop204 “You will die. You will not live forever. Nor will any man nor any thing. Nothing is immortal. But only to us is it given to know that we must die. And that is a great gift: the gift of selfhood. For we have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose... That selfhood which is our torment, and our treasure, and our humanity, does not endure. It changes; it is gone, a wave on the sea. Would you have the sea grow still and the tides cease, to save one wave, to save yourself?”

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

@@beepboop204 I'd say being alive is a rather different condition than dying.

[@k.edwards3138]

I love watching Dr Janega. She makes history interesting and, in some ways, exciting, and her enthusiasm is contagious. I've always loved history, but the demands of life have made me neglect reading and learning. Thanks to Dr Janega, I've started learning again about a subject I love.

[@mikki3961]

If your life was fraught with danger, a fever or cut could kill you then an obsession with death is rather logical. To top it off, insufferable priests and officials telling you that you were a sinner just because you happened to be poor or lower class. Thanks Dr. Janega as always you present with respect and genuine enthusiasm.

[@commiebiogirl]

I'm a simple girl : I see Dr Eleanor, I click the video

[@jiwik731]

There is nothing like ghosts.... i have been visiting that castle for more than 300 years and i have never seen a single one.

[@debbylou5729]

Maybe they just don’t like you. That’s a long time to be shunned

[@theaxe6198]

Nice one 😂

[@ankhpom9296]

Uh huh.

[@ankhpom9296]

The dowsing rods…I don’t believe.

[@debbylou5729]

@@ankhpom9296 I don’t care. Guarantee you’ll try it if you’ve been without water for a few days

[@brettcurtis5710]

Dr Eleanor Janega nails its again - wish I had teachers like her when I was at High School - so informative and with a sense of humour too!

[@katebowers8107]

Divining rods: A method of not finding water that can also be used to not find ghosts.

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

Ah! Now that's the spirit!

[@debbylou5729]

My BIL used a dousing rod to find water for a well on his property. He had hired several ‘experts’ that told him he’d need to make arrangements on adjoining or nearby property owners. This guy was as pragmatic as a person could be. A history teacher who taught in the jr college nearby. Goes to church etc. I watched him do it and it was really interesting to see. It was ‘Y’ shaped and when water was indicated it bent at a 45 degree angle it wasn’t just a quiver or shaking. It was straight out and then it was pointing straight down while the two parts in his hand remained straight

[@katebowers8107]

Cool story, bro.

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

@@debbylou5729 It seems a surveyor's map would be a sound way to locate water. The fact the douser was a teacher and church goer are not relevant to dousing being effective or not.

[@debbylou5729]

@@user-ug2hk3go6i I was establishing his character. This is not a fanciful, deluded man. In your wisdom you completely missed the fact that he used several experts. These were surveys done by geologists and people with knowledge of water tables and mapping of the geographical area

[@richardprescott6322]

Couple of of my favourite paintings as, a kid - Bruegel - The Triumph of Death - lots of 'Skelingtons' running amock. Bosch - and his visions of hell - I think they are awesome. I got the prints recently and had them framed. I think the woman who framed thought I was insane. 😂

[@anissaferringer4965]

My favorites are David's Death of Marat and Millais' Ophelia.

[@cameronturner1865]

Clicked on this as soon as I saw Dr. Janega. Love her appearances on The Medieval Podcast

[@jfurl5900]

Purgatory was a real place to me as a child . The teachers pounded it into us verbally and literally that we would be going there and that we would be there for many thousands of years unless somebody was praying for us (on the outside) or among the living in other words.

[@catlyn777]

Me too and I was very confused by it.

[@Aspen7780]

I grew up with a mix of Native American and Catholic beliefs. As a result, my understanding from the Catholic side was to welcome death, embrace it, even look forward to it. That it’s unfortunate that we have to live a life because it interferes with our whole goal, which is to dwell with god in the afterworld. The life in the here and now really means little. This life only exists to prepare us for the next one and our actions in life will determine that. Because you don’t want to go to the Other Place. Our Native teachings (I’ll only say it’s from the Southwest) on the other hand taught that, you don’t think about those things unless you want them to actually happen. That to dwell so much on death and suffering was to invite it to happen because thoughts can induce action. So don’t worry so much about the afterlife because 1)it exists, and 2) we really don’t know what form it will take so 3) It will take care of itself, and 4) there really isn’t a punishment of sorts there except for the absolute worst of beings. Live for now. That doesn’t give you permission to go all crazy, but enjoy your life right now and all the blessings in it and don’t worry so much about what tomorrow brings. Death will come eventually so don’t hasten it. If anyone was obsessing or focused on death, they were sick in the heart. A sickness of the soul so to speak. Maybe akin to depression. Literally killing themselves with their own thoughts. I had a couple of devout Catholic relatives who would say “I don’t know why god hasn’t taken me yet” feeling like being left alive in old age was a form of punishment. Even praying for god to take them. I respect that, but I could never understand it. But then, I have never ascribed to the whole preparing for the afterlife is the whole point of living. A sort of purgatory in life. I have always preferred every day is a gift to be enjoyed. You can see the missionaries had a lot of work to do to make us good Catholics and focus on death.

[@gnostic268]

I'm also Native (Northern Great Plains) and was raised in a Christian liturgical tradition since the Freedom of Religion Act didn't happen until 1978. Our traditional cultural beliefs are that there is no difference between this world and the next other than if you weren't a good member of your people/tribe then you would have to go back and try again in the next world. However, there was no punishment such as hell, there would simply be another chance to get it right.

[@Aspen7780]

@@gnostic268 The same for us too. Our traditions for down here is that the next place is a mirror image of this world. The only actual punishment being reserved for those being, the popular pan Native term “two hearted”, if you believe in those things. But for everyone else it’s a birth into another world, like our current one. I really don’t know if our concept of that “punishment” is really indigenous either or is it Christianity seeping into the Native religion. Anyways, lots in common!

[@cynhiacations9879]

​@@gnostic268this is the belief I have. To get it right to then move to the next level to get that level right.

[@ricksmith5315]

Love watching all your videos. Especially durning the Medieval period. You make it very interesting and informative. I have always been interested in this period. Thank you for all the content.

[@newgabe09]

You feature Canterbury Cathedral..I'm quite sensitive to places and have sometimes 'seen and known' murders/deaths that have happened in a place- as verified by people who know the history of the place. Canterbury Cathedral filled me with chills of horror as soon as I entered, I had to leave straight away.

[@golden_smaug]

Dr Janega has got me deep in Medieval Litterature and history, she's so contagious

[@Voodoomaria]

With lifespans less than half the current and medical care that could double as the Spanish Inquisition [didn't expect that, did you?], when something as small as a bug bite, as innocuous as drinking a cup of water, or as universally common as giving birth could lead to a horrible demise, it's not at all surprising that death was ever present on their minds. If you live in a house full of scorpions, then scorpions are going to occupy an inordinate amount of your thoughts.

[@dereks1264]

"...a tailor named snowball..."? There must be a story attached to that name.

[@theaxe6198]

My favorite name - Seaxwulf

[@jasonrr9817]

In the original story a bunny had an encounter with a phantom hedgehog, but it was just NOT getting anyone to cough up silver to get holy men to shuffle ghostly paperwork. A few edits were necessary.

[@mikecobalt7005]

:) Another excellent informative video. Dr Janega is always great at explaining ancient issues in a way everybody can understand and in an interesting manner.

[@petetirp9776]

Terrific production and editing. Kudos to the entire team.

[@NorahSweetheart87]

I'd love to see this topic discussed more

[@zackhalter9571]

Dr. Janega is the best!🎉

[@Jay-ql4gp]

I love this! Thank you so much!

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was interesting and thrilled watching introduced about that matter of cathedral enlightenment & clergy influenced on people's outlooks towards death, spiritual stories.. how those stories served churches inside and outside churches ⛪️ walls in medieval terms.

[@billquinn6224]

I think it was because death was around them all the time and they developed a mind set that sooner or later death was going to knock on their door. Anyone who has been in combat has the feeling that somewhere out there, there is a bullet with your name on it and you stick around too long and that bullet will definitely find you.

[@wellingtonsboots4074]

Thank you, enjoyed that interesting video

[@cathrynbyrnes8737]

That was good! I’d like to see more shows like this.

[@Maleni143]

This was fun! Thank you!

[@Steadyeddie3]

These ghost stories are awesome, I'd like to see more if possible

[@ankhpom9296]

Even in death there is still politics.

[@jyotivig3666]

A great talk Dr. Janega, would love to visit the Chillingham Castle.

[@zoeburnett4792]

The paranormal investigation show sound affects, brings me back 👻

[@kayscanningacademy]

Some of these visions that folks had back then makes me feel like taking a too hot bath after having some bad rye bread is such a recipe....

[@lightofmylifeimnotgonnahurtya]

fascinating video. people haven't changed

[@bluestarfish95]

I Love Dr Janega Videos ❤

[@richardsoos8902]

This was Fantastic!

[@necroprankster524]

amazing as alwaysss

[@fishbone470]

Great video!

[@theaxe6198]

I love Janega!

[@debbralehrman5957]

Thanks guys👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@shaggycan]

24:30 I think it's more likely the marks on the skull come from difficulty mounting it on a spike. That's much more difficult to do than decapitation. Animals were regularly decapitated, but mounting heads wasn't done that someone had a lot of practice doing.

[@pamelatarajcak5634]

One thing that I'm noticing in all these tales is an underlying vein of hope. There's hope in each of them and a slighly happy ending. So unlike our ghost stories which always ends more negatively than not. Tolkien's eucatastrophe at work here.

[@ryantrumble4582]

entertaining presentation of a creepy subject. thanks

[@robotdeer]

I'm fairly certain I could watch Dr. Janega talk aboout anything and I'd be like "slay".

[@oldmanjenkins38]

In a time when life expectancy was not long (especially for children). It is no surprise you would think about death. From black plagues, civil wars. Heck even a staff infection would kill you! Another great video Dr Janega!

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

I'm always surprised by how much it rained in the Medieval period.

[@Gaeliclass]

Can you imagine if you had a severe injury or disease that was quite painful? You might want to die if you had no pain relief. A peasant with back problems, but they had to continue to plow the fields so their family wouldn't survive?

[@katherinecollins4685]

Interesting video

[@Frank_Nemo]

History shows that Medieval people were right to be so obsessed with death, especially when you consider that indeed they are now all dead. So, they were right on the money on that one.

[@natalie_popova]

i love u eleanor janega ❤️ keep her forever

[@franklinowens]

We got the Halloween episode early this year! 🥳🖤

[@sarahwatts7152]

Halloween vibes in April? Yes please!

[@bobdevreeze4741]

It is the one absolute in life. If you are born , you will die. I don't see it as an obsession as much as I see it as a fascination. We know it going to happen..so what is next? Is there a next?

[@R08Tam]

No

[@debralittle1341]

What about those who were thrown into plague pits? Too many died so close together that there wasn't time for individual burials.

[@metoo7557]

Death was common every day to medieval peasants.. the rulers thought of them as disposable cattle. And treated them accordingly. Their lives had very little value to the rulers, as has been common throughout all of history.

[@roberth721]

Can be argued that it hasn't changed.

[@metoo7557]

@@roberth721 It hasn't changed. it's not even arguable.

[@markaurelius3119]

​@@metoo7557exactly. But we still fight over white-black, right-left. When there are only rich and poor. And everything we see was built on greed and in a chase for pleasures

[@oliviasayshi7517]

She has the same intonations as Caitlyn Dougherty! Also amazing host!

[@Odanti]

Change the castle's name to Wakefield's Castle. I like the sound of it. ❤️🙏❤️

[@paulceglinski7172]

Well done Dr. Eleanor. Cheers from Tennessee

[@chrisball3778]

'We're all haunted... just by societal expectations'. I.e. the real ghosts were the friends we met along the way...

[@mhfromnh1421]

I have that same scarf!

[@nymperico]

Is it the Saoirse kufiyah? I thought I recognized it 🤩

[@Meredith36]

Ugh, so good! Dr Janega is amazing

[@692ALBANNACH]

Perhaps because they were so surrounded with it.

[@MsOriantal]

The Old English tale of the life of St Edmund tells us that the Danes decapitated him post mortem to prevent him from having an honourable and proper burial. It was the many spears he was pierced with that actually killed him (he's described as resembling a hedgehog for all the spikes sticking out of him).

[@BeckyM87]

Absolutely fascinating and some stunning locations!

[@xaviervegiard5994]

I love her 🖤

[@PLuMUK54]

Ghosts do not concern me. However, the Borg scare the bejabbers out of me!

[@keenoled]

The man at the thirty minute mark with the waist coat, can he please read me the phone book?

[@peterjones7673]

Another great video from wonderful Dr Eleanor. Fascinating tales she has told here and she has had me captivated from the start. I could sit and listen to her for hours. Has Dr Eleanor considered a lecture tour? it would be brilliant to hear her lecture and even better hear he lecture over a pint.

[@Crustdaddii]

The Queen we all asked for…Dr. Eleanor Janega. 👑

[@catlyn777]

Maybe it was a bit entertaining for some of them like today. I don’t doubt there were ghost hunters and ghost storytellers then, like today. People are still fascinated by ghost stories and the afterlife. I don’t think we’ve changed so much as humans.

[@strangementalitypaperYT]

I wonder if these medieval people ever looked forward trying to imagine what we'd be like the same way we look back wondering what they were like.

[@darmick3028]

Can anyone explain to me the first ghost story of the 30 spirits?

[@user-ug2hk3go6i]

It would be more impressive for the spirits to move the rods with no one holding them.

[@theeutecticpoint]

you might be a lord, you might be a lady, but sooner or later we all push up daises

[@user-ct3oq5ez8e]

I don’t want to say they like they didn’t go through the recycling center and become beasts or rejoin the ranks of mankind so I’ll say we did our best making sense of the unknown with what little we had to go on? God isn’t Catholic

[@persephonequeenoftheunderw84]

I’m obsessed with Eleanor like OBSESSED

[@dwhitt567]

I love Dr. Jenega. In this video I wanted to see more cleavage and legs. Dr Janega is sexy beautiful very interesting to listen to and is perfect blending historical facts with her own sense of humor. Wonderful lady!

[@plastikmaiden]

​@@dwhitt567 Don't be a creep.

[@Ragerian]

@@plastikmaiden Don't kink shame me.

[@MunsterBeavis]

Whoever selected the thumbnail for this was trolling lol

[@choughed3072]

Ive alsways assumed it was because death was far more previlant back then.

[@roberth721]

No, it's the same as now, one death per person.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thanks.

[@CharleneCTX]

I was listening, rather than watching, this video and was struck by how much Eleanor and Caitlin Doughty sound alike.

[@jojotaylor8079]

People still are obsessed with it. it’s the most asked question in the world

[@jameskatz7833]

I hope Dr. Janega says “France” in this video.

[@nikbear]

I see Dr Eleanor Janega, I click 👍her knowledge and enthusiasm is absolutely infectious ❤ I have such a crush on her 😍

[@user-gq3ip8kr5r]

Who does she look like? I keep thinking it's an actress 🤔 It's bugging me, lol. I like all of her shows, too. They are so interesting!!

[@sadman5038]

​@@user-gq3ip8kr5reverytime i see her i think she looks like Olivia Colman (one of my favourite actresses)

[@jannguerrero]

People weren't obsessed with it, the mortality rate was common- your kid dies before 2nd birth day, wife dies from childbirth, father dies in war, mother dies from famine and malnutrition, family dies from epidemics. It's been like that until the Victorian era, when people were more comfortable with death. After World War 2 and "youth culture" developing due to more disposable income, people thinking they'll live and be young forever was normalized. Now people think if they have enough views, they'll be on the internet forever or something? And while they think death is this thing you can treat ironically and use for social media clout, death meant something else for older people, because those people they lost sincerely and unironically meant something to them; they were a part of a community structure that this generation doesn't understand apart from something on the internet.

[@macofthenorth]

it's the only thing you really have to look forward to

[@Neddoest]

How depressing

[@macofthenorth]

@@Neddoest No. Just inevitable.

[@SirAntoniousBlock]

Ralph: “The trouble is, are there ghosts, Piggy? Or beasts? Piggy: _"Course there aren’t.”_ Ralph: “Why not?” Piggy: _"Cos things wouldn’t make sense, houses and streets, and, TV, they wouldn’t work.”_

[@ellie698]

It's so nice to see a video that's presented by a real person and not an A.I. voice However, at 15:37 Echelons is pronounced ESH-ER-LONS not ECK-ER-LONS 🤓👍🏼

[@gillianstapleton7741]

And it's Byland Abbey, not Monastery

[@theaxe6198]

Why don’t we have awesome names like Snowball!

[@CarlosRodriguez-dd4sb]

History - the original reality TV

[@nymperico]

Aw of course she's wearing the Saoirse Hirbawi kufiyah. She's so great 🇵🇸✊🇮🇪

[@HelloFellowYoutubers]

The printing press.

[@nycbearff]

It's interesting that medieval ghosts couldn't go through walls, and were stopped by closed doors and windows. They also didn't glow, and in other ways were very different from the modern conception of ghosts. Modern ideas about ghosts have largely been created by the 19th century spiritualists and by movies. So modern people don't see medieval style ghosts, and medieval people would have been very puzzled by modern style ghosts, since they "knew" that ghosts couldn't act like that. It's almost as if ghosts are complete made-uppery. Yes, odd things happen sometimes that we can't explain - but it's never ghosts.

[@user-ls1lf3vz8h]

I love the way this lady narrates the stories and explain things. I don't believe in ghosts or either afraid of death. All these strange beliefs people had in the middle ages were supertitions created by the pagan catholic church.

[@miss_lay_hay]

I wouldn't call it obsessive, to me it seems to be more of a coping mechanism or a way of trying to process it in a time when there wasn't the standards of medication and hygiene that we have today, the high mortality, especially with infant mortality and death during pregnancy. Not mention low life expectancy caused by factors such as hard labour, environment, politics and religion. Guess they were just trying to make sense of it all and comfort themselves in their own way.

[@10toMidnight]

Dr Janega could give a talk on the writings found on the back of a toothpaste tube and I’d tune in.

[@madderhat5852]

Well thankfully I'm only dead on the inside.

[@earlshaner4441]

I'm so glad all the women have everything covered

[@SecretSquirrelFun]

I swear I’m not going to the bath house because I like it. No no no, I’m going there to pray for...you know, what’s-his-name. Anyway, I have to go, Jeremy’s waiting.

[@AKSnowbat907]

They were "obsessed" for the same reason I look forward to it... It has to be better than this and if heaven is the goal.. why hope for a longer game?