Three miles from Haltwhistle on the east bank of the South Tyne stands Featherstone Castle. It is not the castle that is said to be haunted but the woods next to it. Abigail was the beautiful daughter of the Baron of Featherstone, she was to be married to a rich nobleman of her fathers choosing, and she was told not to see the man she really loved ever again.
She married the nobleman in the castle chapel. As was their tradition the full bridal party were to ride around the boundary of the castle after the ceremony, to return to a banquet held in their honour. Unknown to the Baron who was waiting at the castle in the Great Hall for the return of his guests, Abigail's lover was waiting in the woods to ambush the party, so he could rescue Abigail and they could escape together. As the hours passed with no sign of the bridal party the Baron sent his men out to look for them, but they were no where to be found. So the Baron sat in the Great Hall and waited. On the first stroke of midnight the sound of the castle drawbridge and horses in the courtyard could be heard.
In total silence the bridal party filed into the Great hall, and sat at their places. As the Baron looked at his daughter and friends white and frozen faces he realised they were ghosts. The baron in his shock screamed and then fainted, just as the bridal party vanished.
During the ambush everyone was killed even Abigail herself and it is said that the blood flowed into a hollow stone now known as 'The Raven's Stone'. The Baron apparently never recovered, he never spoke again and was paralysed for the rest of his life. On the anniversary of the fateful ambush the sound of hooves and harnesses can be heard as the bridal party ride through the woods near Featherstonehaugh.
