PearlyBooks

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In its long and rich history, Lichfield has been the home of many strange, unusual, and little known events. In the bloody and tumultuous sieges during the Civil War of the 16th century, a top general was gunned down in the street, and in the years during which it was an important coaching city, accidents were common and highwaymen terrorized the surrounding area. Stories abound of awful punishments that were inflicted in Lichfield's market square when individuals were flogged to within an inch of their lives and others were burned to death. A garrison town from the 18th century, Lichfield had many beer houses and taverns servicing the drinking needs of billeted soldiers and where houses of ill repute saw to their other, less savory, requirements. With so many ancient buildings it is little wonder that legends of ghostly occurrences have been common with everything from laughing cavaliers haunting the streets to crying, supernatural babies disturbing people's sleep. Famous residents with an unusual story include Samuel Johnson who was a sickly baby suffering from scrofula, a tubercular infection of the lymph glands, and partially blind and deaf, and who described himself as born 'more dead than alive,' and Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin, who invented a speaking machine built as a head containing a mouth with leather lips and a ribbon stretched between two pieces of wood which, when blown on, created a sound like the human voice.
Secret Lichfield shines a light on some of the more unusual events that have occurred in this seemingly peaceful place and also looks at some of the eccentric, and in some causes downright weird, individuals who have lived in the city and the strange incidents associated with them.



About the Author



Neil Coley is the author of a number of local history books and newspaper articles. He has a B.A. degree in History and Politics from Lancaster University and an M.A. in Media from De Montford University.