Mysterious Dover

The following was written in the Dover Mercury about the Most Haunted program filmed in 2002 at the castle:-

THE drummer boy whose ghost is said to have haunted Dover Castle for the past 200 years has been named for the first time.

Spirit medium Derek Acorah revealed the boy's name during the Living TV programme Most Haunted Live which was broadcast from the castle at Christmas 2002.

Mr Acorah said the boy's name was Sean O'Flynn, that he was Irish and was 14 at the time he met his death.

There has been a legend about a young headless drummer boy being seen walking along the battlements of the castle for many years.

Yvette Fielding and David Bull presented the live three-and-a-half hour programme from the castle where Mr Acorah joined paranormal investigators, a psychic artist and an historian to try to unravel the mystery of a number of ghosts which are said to roam the castle.

Mr Acorah revealed that the drummer boy was attacked and beheaded by men from his own regiment who knew he was on an errand carrying money.

He had held on tight to the money he was carrying and had paid with his life. His body had been recovered after the attack in 1802, but his head was never found.

Although the boy appeared on the battlements, Mr Acorah said he wasn't killed there. He was murdered outside the castle, and indicated in the direction of Northfall Meadow.

Research is now being undertaken to find out if any of the details given can be confirmed from historical documents.

Mr Acorah said the boy came from Cork and that his mother's name was Mary.
He was sent on the errand by Captain O'Leary, who, it was said, encouraged him and trusted him.

However, the drummer boy may not be seen at the castle again. Mr Acorah said he would try to release the boy's spirit after the programme had finished.

Another ghost - that of a woman looking out of a window in the castle keep - was identified by Mr Acorah as Anne of Cleves, one of King Henry VIII's wives.

Mr Acorah said the Queen loved the castle, and although her spirit didn't live there, it often visited and looked out of this particular window.

There was a scare for Yvette Fielding during the evening when the ghost of a servant apparently tried to frighten her out of the King's bedchamber.

Mr Acorah had detected the presence of the servant, and demonstrated how he stamped up and down in anger at the intrusion.

Mr Acorah was just revealing the name of the servant - Michael - when Miss Fielding said she heard a "rumble" in the corridor behind her as if the servant was rushing through. Shortly afterwards, when she was in the corridor, she heard heaving breathing next to her ear, and became upset.

A blood-stained spirit in St John's Tower was identified by Mr Acorah as Doctor Richard Bryant who, with a nurse called Milly or Millicent, had tried to help those in the castle who were injured. Mr Acorah said he had the impression that the doctor had collapsed in the tower.

Paranormal investigator Tony Schaeffer, who was born in Dover, said his grandfather had been stationed at the castle and one of the officers he had met was Major Richard Bryant, a doctor who had died after tripping and falling.

Mr Acorah also revealed details of a man whose job it was to kill people in Napoleonic times through slits in what was described as "the murder wall".
He gave his name as Jim or James Lomax.

It was claimed that a key, drawn around on a piece of paper in a guard room, had moved, despite the room being locked and a security officer being placed on duty outside.

During the programme, psychic artist Marion Goodfellows drew pictures of several of the ghosts, including the drummer boy.

Television viewers called in with their experiences during visits to the castle in the past.