One of the largest and most populous counties in England, Hampshire has been continuously settled for around 14,000 years. As a result, the area is steeped in history and folklore. Illustrated Tales of Hampshire delves deep into the unsolved mysteries, mythology, strange stories and folklore of this ancient English county. It examines local traditions, folk medicine, and supernatural beings such as the Mermaid of Nately, the Highclere Grampus, as well as the several giants said to have once inhabited the county, and the time Spring Heel Jack terrorised Aldershot. There are unusual stories surrounding local personalities, such as the Nazi saboteur Dorothy O’Grady, the séances of Helen Duncan (the last person to be convicted of witchcraft), Dame Alice Lisle (the last person to be publicly beheaded), and the 1415 Southampton Plot conspirators. Notable tales of haunting and spectral apparitions abound, including the Duc de Stacpoole as Glasshayes House, the phantom monk of Netley Abbey, and the menagerie of ghostly beings at Beaulieu, and legends surround many of the local landscape features, such as the Gospel Oak, Bentworth Thorn and the many prehistoric hill forts, mounds and barrows. These strange and spooky stories are accompanied by illustrations of places featured in the text, both present-day and historical, in this hugely entertaining book.