Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Phantom Armies of Edgehill

Issue #16: April 1980

On 23 October 1642, the first major battle of the English Civil War was fought on the slopes of Edgehill in Warwickshire. Approximately 3,000 men died that day. According to witnesses, some of them have never stopped fighting.

Within weeks of the battle, local shepherds reported extraordinary phenomena. They heard the sounds of combat (the thunder of cannon, the clash of steel, the screams of wounded men) coming from empty fields. Then they saw the battle itself: ghostly armies marching across the sky, cavalry charges that passed through solid ground, phantom soldiers locked in eternal combat.

The apparition appeared night after night.

The King’s Investigation

Word of the phenomenon reached King Charles I, who dispatched a commission to investigate. The commissioners included Colonel Lewis Kirke and several officers who had fought at Edgehill. On 4 January 1643, they witnessed the spectral battle themselves.

In their report, the commissioners stated that they had observed the phantom armies for several hours. They recognised individual participants: Sir Edmund Verney, the royal standard-bearer who had died in the fighting, was seen carrying the colours. Other fallen officers appeared in their proper positions.

The commissioners concluded that the apparition was genuine and that divine providence was displaying the battle as a warning against civil strife. A pamphlet describing their findings was published in London in 1643 and survives in the British Library.

Subsequent Sightings

The phantom battle did not end with the war. Throughout the centuries that followed, witnesses continued to report the Edgehill apparition:

1707: A party of travellers crossing Edgehill at night heard cannon fire and saw flickering lights in the sky. They fled the area in terror.

1821: A group of students from Rugby School observed what they described as “an army in the clouds” over the battlefield site on the anniversary of the battle.

1898: A gamekeeper reported seeing cavalry emerge from a copse of trees, charge across a field, and vanish into a hedgerow. The horses made no sound.

1931: A motorist driving past the battlefield at night was forced to stop when spectral infantry appeared to be crossing the road ahead of him. The figures were translucent, and he could see the moonlit landscape through their bodies.

1958: A local farmer photographed what he claimed was the phantom army. The photograph shows indistinct shapes in the sky that could be interpreted as soldiers, though sceptics suggest they are cloud formations.

The Anniversary Phenomenon

The apparition is most frequently observed on or near 23 October, the anniversary of the battle. The phenomena are also reported on Christmas Eve (the traditional date when, according to medieval belief, the dead are permitted to walk the earth) and on nights when atmospheric conditions are unusual.

Witnesses consistently describe similar features:

The battle unfolds in the correct sequence, from the opening artillery exchange through the cavalry charges to the brutal infantry fighting that ended the day. Individual units can be identified by their colours and positions.

The sounds are described as muffled or distant, as though heard through water or glass. The figures are translucent or luminous, depending on conditions.

The entire spectacle typically lasts between twenty minutes and two hours before fading. Some witnesses report an abrupt ending, as though someone had closed a curtain; others describe a gradual dissolution.

Explanations

Several theories have been proposed to explain the Edgehill apparition:

Stone Tape Theory: Some researchers suggest that traumatic events can be “recorded” by the environment and “replayed” under certain conditions. The limestone and ironstone geology of Edgehill may have captured the energy of the battle, which is released periodically.

Psychic Residue: The deaths of 3,000 men in a single day may have created a psychic impression strong enough to persist for centuries. The strong emotions (fear, rage, despair) may have left an imprint that sensitive observers can still perceive.

Atmospheric Phenomenon: Sceptics propose that unusual atmospheric conditions produce optical illusions that observers interpret as spectral armies. However, this fails to explain the consistent details reported across three centuries.

Religious Significance: Some suggest that the apparition is genuinely supernatural, a divine reminder of the cost of civil war, as the original commissioners believed.

The Battlefield Today

The Edgehill battlefield is now largely agricultural land, though a memorial marks the site. The village of Radway lies at the foot of the hill. A pub, the Castle Inn, stands on ground where fighting occurred.

Visitors report an atmosphere of unease, particularly on autumn evenings. Some describe feeling watched. Others sense sorrow, as though the land itself remembers what happened there.

The phantom armies have not appeared in recent years, though strange sounds are still occasionally reported. Perhaps the energy that powered the apparition is finally fading after three and a half centuries. Or perhaps the dead are merely resting, waiting for the conditions that will bring them forth once more.

Readers who have witnessed phenomena at Edgehill or other Civil War battlefields are invited to contact our research department.