On 31st May 1741, Lady Carew married Sir Godfrey Haslitt. However, according to legend this was not a marriage made from love, but from magic. Lady Carew and her mother had obtained a love potion from a local witch, in return for Satan having their souls.

 

On the wedding night, Satan came to collect his fee. He arrived in a phantom black coach driven by a skeleton, and whisked the screaming bride away. The coach crashed into Thurne Bridge, burst into flames and plunged into the water below.

Hickling Broad is a national nature reserve established by English Nature and in the care of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

 

The waters are supposedly haunted by a phantom drummer and the beat of his drum. Local folklore maintains that, a year before the Battle of Waterloo, the drummer boy fell in love with a girl and would skate across the fozen waters to meet her. He would signal his imminent arrival by beating his drum. However, one February night, the ice cracked and the unfortunate lad fell into the waters and drowned. His ghost and the accompanying sound of a beating drum have been reported.