Abandoned World War Two station that is the UK's 'most haunted' airfield

10 April 2023 , 07:54

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RAF Davidstow Moor is said to be haunted (Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)

The eerie grounds of an abandoned World War 2 airfield are said to be one of the UK's most haunted places.

RAF Davidstow Moor served as an active Royal Air Force Station from 1942 to 1945, when Britain was locked in a fight with Nazi Germany.

A museum at the site has been up and running since 2007 and shows off abandoned buildings. There is even an option for visiting tourists to enjoy a 'Paranormal Visit'.

The Moor was selected as an airfield site for its flat land and height above sea level. At 970ft above sea level, the site was less prone to the sea fog that often plagues Cornwall's coast.

The site was used by American bombers, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Polish Air Force, as well as the RAF. But sadly, during the airfield’s brief history, it also saw its fair share of fatalities, Cornwall Live reports.

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Steve Perry, who runs the Cornwall at War Museum, said: "It was built as a bomber station for Coastal Command, because at the start of the war Coastal Command had nothing larger than twin-engine aeroplanes, but by the time we get to ’42, they had four-engine aircraft as well, because they could go further. But there were no runways down here big enough to take a four-engine bomber."

There is a number of derelict buildings remaining (Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)

After the war, the site was decommissioned and the buildings and hangars were either dismantled or left empty.

Derelict buildings still there include the old control tower.

Tales of a haunted site go back further than the time the roar of World War 2 planes could be heard at Davidstow Moor.

Cornish blogger Elizabeth Dale writes that the site, on the corner of Bodmin Moor, saw the strange case of disaster striking the family of William French.

The layout of the old airfield (Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)

French married his wife Frances Toms in 1810 and they lived together with their seven children on the moor.

In 1824, all four of the family's horses suddenly died within just 30 hours. Spooked, French is said to have travelled to north Devon to find a "celebrated wizard," Elizabeth writes.

"The wizard told him that he was right and that the animal's deaths had been caused by a malevolent spell cast by a witch on Bodmin Moor.

The abandoned control tower (Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)

"The description the wizard gave of the witch was predictable vague – she was purported to be ‘an old woman’ – but William returned home determined to hunt down the wicked cause of all his problems."

As a result, rumours of the supposedly supernatural became the talk of locals. The Royal Cornwall Gazette said the local community banded together in response to try and raise money for the French family so they could continue their business on the farm.

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In the end, it turned out the hay given to the horses had been laced with arsenic. The person responsible for the poisoning was never found.

Greg Martin