Malta has quite a rich history and as a result, the islands are littered with historically laden places holding on to past events. And with history come local accounts of stories, even ghost stories. One of the most popular ones on the island is the story of the White Lady of Fort St Angelo (il-Mara l-Bajda in Maltese).
According to Joseph Serracino and his collection of ghost stories in L-Erwieh, l-Ispirti, u l-Hares fil-Folkor Malti, there are many historic locations that have ghost stories attached to them. Serracino himself has visited the fort numerous times and talks of the White Lady always come up.
Local seamen know the story all too well with many having experienced an apparition and not just the recounting of the story. The curious thing is that only these seamen used to mention her…
It is said that the White Lady has made appearances in various parts of the fort, with her presence felt greatly in particular rooms. Heavy steps, the noise of doors opening and closing, dimming of lights and cold air are some of the things felt in her presence.
But who was the White Lady?
She is said to have been one of two of the ladies in Captain de Nava’s life, a member of the noble family de Nava whose ancestors were governors of the St Angelo Castle. Serracino shares that it seems our Captain here was quite the lover and romantic!
One time, the Lady was looking for him in the castle and began calling his name. Due to the fact that he was probably messing around with another woman, de Nava ordered guards to get rid of her. The Lady was killed and thrown in a dungeon.
It is said that the Lady began appearing in various parts of the castle from then on. Although the story was well known among English seafarers for many years, English officials didn’t really give it much thought. So much so, her story was told so many times that the officials thought it was just another rumour, knowing that the islands are renowned for their belief in ghosts and spirits.
It so happened that the Captain’s wife was Maltese who spent some time living at the fort. One time, she heard strange noises in one of the rooms and remembered the poor woman. She asked her husband to organise a mass for the repose of her soul.
However, it seems that this didn’t really affect the White Lady as months later, her presence was greatly felt once more, with doors being slammed and objects being found broken. This sent shivers down everyone’s spine, and few were the brave ones to go near the room of strange noises.
The next Captain’s wife also happened to be Maltese and also experienced the same kind of presence. This time, instead of a mass, prayer for exorcism was done and the Lady didn’t appear again.
But the story doesn’t end there. Many years down the line during restoration works at the fort, it is said that the White Lady appeared and uncovered al frescoes, particularly the coat of arms of the de Nava family. Not freaky AT ALL…
She also revealed a concealed door within a wall! When it opened, a secret passage was revealed that lead to the dungeons. There, three skeletons were found. One was a woman’s body dressed in the material remains of a grey dress and two others, who were likely to have been the guards. Due to the fact that her skeleton was found dressed in grey, the White Lady then became known as the Grey Lady of Fort St Angelo.