We went to Hastings the other week to discover some 1066 facts just for fun, but when we were there, look what I discovered… These ancient cave carvings under the cliffs above the town of Hastings in the UK.

No one knows when this carving was cut, but it’s in an area called the chapel. The natural cave has been especially sculpted to become a wider, arched area, and at the other end is this carving of a vessel; also undated.

In the 1700s the caves the chapel is in were used by violent gangs of smugglers, who owned the coast of Britain in the same way the mafia operated. They would kill any man, or woman, who crossed them, without fear of being caught. One smuggling gang whipped a man to death in an inn for giving their names to the customs officers. Another man was buried alive, and a third thrown down a well, for telling tales on the smugglers. They ruled by fear.

People who work in the caves in Hastings today hear in-explicable sounds, like things being dragged across the chapel floor, and the props used in the caves to dress them for their visitors experience are moved from one cave to another, for no reason, and no one admits they have moved them.

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I have written before about the 18th and early 19th century love of gothic tales, and scary places. Well the caves at Hastings were no different. They were dug out further for the use of visitors in the late 1700s, when smuggling died out.

Look at this amazing walk way…

That was the entrance carved into the caves, and a ballroom was carved out too. Can you imagine spending your Halloween dancing in a cold, damp, dark cave?

I don’t have any Halloween stories in my historical books, but if you fancy trying one of my contemporaries, Jason’s and Rachel’s Halloween party scene is FREE. Click on the I Still Love You cover on the righthand side further down to download.