If you are looking to find that creepy and uneasy feeling that people talk of experiencing when visiting old churches, I have found just the place. St Michael and All Angels in Boulge, Suffolk is one of the most beautiful and isolated churches my wife, Natascha, and I have encountered, but it is also super creepy!

One of the reasons this church is famous is because Edward Fitzgerald is buried here. Fitzgerald is famous for interpreting one of the greatest pieces of literature, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The tower of the church dates back to the 16th Century and the remainder of the church was built in the 19th century.

St Michael and All Angels is not a church one can easily find. It is not in a village, but a hamlet, just outside of Woodbridge. It is surrounded by woods, trees, and farmland. There used to be a large hall near the church, but it was demolished in the 1950s. It is an eerie feeling to drive down the long drive to get to this church in the middle of nowhere. The second picture is of the mausoleum and, next to it just behind the cross, is the grave of Edward Fitzgerald.

To me, the most interesting thing about this church is the experiences I had when Natascha and I visited there. We have had a few experiences in our self-made church tours (You can read about the other experiences here in Horrified Magazine). The first picture, to the left, behind the black gate, is the place where my most unexplained and strange occurrence took place. The picture was taken today, just after it snowed, but my experience was about two weeks ago. (I have no idea what the round circle is in the left/middle of the picture and did not notice it until I downloaded it to show here. It is so strange to me that this circle showed up in my photo in almost the exact same spot that I saw something very odd).

Let me explain a bit more about me. I am an atheist who does not believe in ghosts or spirits. But the more I visit these old churches and graveyards in England, the more I question my beliefs. I am starting to wonder if the more I open my mind, the more I see. It is very strange and surprising. I find myself wondering often if I am seeing more things because my mind has been opened, or if my mind is more open because of the odd experiences we have had.

So, here is the story. The first time we visited, it was very early in the morning and there was not a single soul around. (That we knew of) Natascha (a much more daring person than I am) decided that she wanted to see if the door of the mausoleum would open (See the third picture). I stood, well, you can see where I was standing since I took the picture. Just after I snapped this picture, I saw a slight movement to the left of me and turned in time to see only the bottom half of someone walking. (The bushes that you see just in front of the black gates in the first picture hid the rest of the body of the person/something walking there.) I tried to call out to Natascha to let her know that there was something there because she was trying to open the door, but she did not hear me. (Probably because I was terrified and could not get anything out) I immediately ran over to the hedge to see who was there. (The church is so far out, that there would not have been other people just walking around) When I ducked down to peek under the bushes, there was no one there. There is mud leading up the church, and when we ran over to investigate there were no prints leading out of the gates. I still do not know how to explain this. I saw what looked like boots walking out of the churchyard. No evidence was left of an actual person walking there. Did we disturb the dead? We don’t know.

We later moved toward the car to leave, and Natascha saw something large and dark (she still can’t explain what this was) jumping or moving over a ditch of water. (See the fourth picture on the right. The flowers in the ditch must have blown off a grave that is to the left of this wooded area). We thought it was a deer and both got out of the car to look at it. But when we moved toward the woods, it was not there. Then, suddenly Natascha saw the movement again and I turned on my video on my phone. We moved quickly in the direction of the movement to see what it was and Natascha watched it move behind a tree. We both got to the tree and saw nothing. When we returned to the place today to take pictures, we did not see anything, but that area of the woods still gave us a very strange and unsettled feeling that is difficult to explain.

We will continue to tour all of the old churches that we can get to. (We are a bit limited due to lockdown at the moment) and report back on any other strange encounters that we experience.

The cross in the photo is on the gate where I saw the legs and boots.

The second time we visited this church there was a light on inside and I was able to capture a photo to show the lovely windows. We knocked on the doors, but no one answered. The other two times we visited, the church had no lights on.

If you want to see if you can feel the eerie, creepy feeling that we did, these are the spots that we felt them the most.

Walk around behind the family mausoleum. There is a cross on the back of the building that looks like ventilation, but it gave me the creeps.

The front of the mausoleum. The door is cracked open. When you peek inside the door, there is another door there that is made of steel. The second time we visited the church it was flooded. Eerie indeed!

Just inside the front gates (Where I saw the legs/boots). Also, the woods outside of the gate where Natascha saw something move and jump across the ditch. This is to the right of the graveyard in the last picture.

Happy ghost hunting!