Local Heroes

Your thoughts about our story....?

Josh
Well, the ghost is disturbed and so has a problem. The problem could be that she was accused of a witch. Another suggestion could be of that she was buried by the priest who accused her and wants to find him. The best option is that to stay away from graveyards at night unless you have a reason e.g. ghost hunting.

mcalister
there was a story of 3 dead bodys found on her grave with no heads

lauren
I personal think that she had a strange life and brought up on her own and she never married witch probley made it worse

lisa everton
I like "key" words. I took the ancient grave saying, which lies over Molly Leigh's grave. "Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, Come play with me." The key word here is "play." A child reference. There is also a story which goes with the saying, that you should skip around the grave, as your reciting it. Key word "Skip" is another reference to children. It is my belief that Molly Leigh is taking children to this day. The beauty of the trap being, you have to stop children playing around this grave, and reciting this saying. This saying is well known, in the locality of the grave. I bet thousands of children have skipped around that grave, whispering this saying, over the years...I wonder what it is, that she is doing with these children? In short, this graveside saying, is an invitation for children, to play with the witch! Key words ROCK!

millie
Hey listen to this molly leigh is actully very famours people dont know what she looks like as shes famours i would think she would be ok by the way her house is actullymu school wich is moorpark junior school

???
i think this story is just nasty and just because she was different then everyone else it does not meen she is a witch she has just got something wrong with her skin and at the end of the day everyone is different in their own way anyway so it does not realy make a different so that meen i am a witch and everyone is one to and for the vicar to let them dig her up and put a bird in there you would not like to me diged up and have a bird in there with youu !! SO TREAT OTHERS WHO YOU WOULD LIKE TO ME TREATED OK !!!!!! RIP mollie leigh

Dawn
i feel so sad that people could not let this poor lady to rest and as for a priest to do such a thing to say he is meant to be the follower of christ its decusting thank god life has changedd that poor woman

Nadia
I am scared to because aperentley the school i go to was molly leigh's cottage and the tower well you can here things there so i am scared when i go to school.i might lieave school:P ... JOKES but i am very scared

strawbs
Brilliant, i love anything creepy like this and i had breifly heard of a witch in Burslem, although maybe in them days they classed her as a witch when really she was just a bit odd, there are alot of odd people in this world now! However a truly good read and maybe i might go and visit the grave one day but i have enough respect to not go jumping on any graves, i'l leave that to the stokey kids!

ceri adams
this story i grew up with my dad used to tell me stories of her when i was little this is a very interesting story

Alicia And Lewis
hi im 7 and my brother is 5.I think that she is well spooky until one day my best friend megan said she went to the grave and sang that song then a huge creher scared her and she had fainted.

jake swift
the story is very good but i am still scared plz can you keep me up dated thank you jake swift

fred jerry
hi i am very scerd because i live next to the grave yard and i hear very scary things at night and i see molly leigh at night so is she still a life or not thank you fred jerry

Amy Sheppard
so is she a witch... or is it all fake?... i hope shes never to be disturbed...

megan
do you know at all how she looked because one of my friends says she was tall slim and had black hair is this true???

Georgia
Did Molly Lee ever have a sister?

Emily hankey
Hiya i am 11 years old and i have none the story about molly leigh for at least 5 years now and i think that she wasnt a witch but that she was just a lovley lady that may of looked like a witch but wasnt n i feel sorry for her because no one loved her and she didnt have a family to help her along her dark n sad life . u shouldnt judge people for been a witch just because they look like one . xx

savannah and shannon
we think that molly lee is realy intresting and that she could of been a really nice girl but who knows all diffrent stories and rymes go on and.. our question ? what did molly lee look like ??

Dan
my dad told me the story and i didnt believe him untill one of my friends told me that wen he danced around the grave singing moll leigh molly leigh you cant catch me a really ugly woman appeared about 5 meters from the grave and did you know a band called grace wrote a song about it

anita mountford
has anyone ever visited the graveyard before hearing the story, maybe its earie because of what people have heard putting them on edge?

Dom
Having researched this many times, and living in the stoke-on-trent area, i am lead to believe that parson spencer decided that a larger tomb laid and a different axis to the other would best keep the witch secure, his reasons being that the tomb laid at this angle meant the church would be able to keep watch on her, and the strong thick concrete of the tomb would hold her in, he blessed the tomb many times after the funeral, hoping that it would prevent her from escaping, the tomb was designed more as a prison than a resting place

frenchie n jazza
i think the legend of molly leigh is very fascinating

quaresma
i think its true because of all of the fascinating facts because

danielle
me and my mate went to molly's grave and danced around it singing the song noything happened so we went to were she used to play and danced around their when all off a sudden a figure appeared from the tree im not lieing ever onist and then this black bird flew over us later that night we had a sleep over and weird stuff kept happening no lie serious !!

Carly Hammersley
It is really scary and sad that she died and i use to live near by there

emily-jane
i have been studying molly leigh for AS performance studies and i have found this information very helpful. Thank you.

kyra oaks
why did molly die ??

Ron Bailey
"Finally, the legend is that if, at Halloween, you dance around her grave and sing "Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, you can't catch me" her apparition will appear. But who would know? Did someone actually see her after performing this incantation?"I tried this as an 11 year old in 1953, but I remained alone in Burslem churchyard. There are or were some other fascinating graves in the churchyard.

Jess & Becky
Hi, we have just got back from visiting Molly Leigh's grave (about 40 minutes ago). There was an atmosphere there the whole time, we heard a creaking at the door directly behing her grave, like someone was trying to turn the handle. What's more, as we were leaing the churchyard, we felt a strange force pushing us out by the small of our backs. The other person we had with us happened to touch the grave, and about one minute after, we got a call from home telling us that all of the electricity had just cut off. We did a lot of filming whilst we were there, at one point we see a light flicker in the same doorway we heard the creaking. We think this legend may just be true!

ILaishah Augafa
This story scared the creepers out of me. I really want to go and check this out. This sounds interesting in so many ways.

bayleigh aged 7
true because all my mates at school think she is a witch spooky

Danielle
Hi think molly leigh is a real witch

Cara
I think that the stroy is good and intresting its creepy and good to know the fact that a witch yust to live around by where i live now. On eday i will go and look at her grave because it seems like a good thing to do.

sophie
hi, i think there is too much writing so it is blurry so i can't read it......thank you for your time.

alice
if you go and look in a mirror you can see her in the mirror...well aparentley

carly
we have been leaning about this and it is freeky because i live near by

ashley tunstall
rubbish

Melissa
Hiya molly leigh is interesting

samantha
is molly leigh a real witch

jade t
i love this story i will tell it to my children this story will be passed down

Shannon Ozouf
She Might Not be a witch

jack
fake

jodie
i think its spooky but i think she sounds like a nice lady people should let other people be who they want to be

A*
i hate molly leigh!! the work we do on her in gcse is hard ...

hol
we went to the tomb on halloween this year (2008)and there was a party in the church... my dad just wanted to show us... and a man came out of the church...very defensive about the burial and molly leighs so called.'rumour' of being a witch...he said that she paid alot of money to be buried the opposite way... and that she was very religious and left all of her money to the church...but if she was so religious why would she want for her grave to be turned the opposite way?

lucy reynolds aged 11 from stoke!
i know about this because i live in stoke but the real way you can see her ghost is if you walk three times anticlockwise around her grave on the anniversary of her death.

lauryn craig
when was the axact date her birth an death? did her parants death cause problems? did she make any freind's but the black bird? when the axact date of the patents death and birth? why did people call her a witch? do people still vist her house? is the house still staning ? how did you get the imfomaitoin and where can i get some infomatoin? why was it the law to go to chutch the bt not now?????????????????

Annie & Kelly
scary story. my friends nan used to jump over her grave because she had 8 sisters and they all jumped over it like hurdles. scary stuff. her nan is still alive but only one of her sisters died. (but it was because of cancer.)

K
My mother used to own the Mitre public house near the church yard and we were told that she had been dragged through the cellar along a passageway to the grave site. Whether this is true or not, that Cellar was always colder at one end and i heard some very strange noises down there as well as in the pub itself.

jade age 12
i think that molly could of been a really nice girl but knowone gave her the time of day,so you cant just go making up stories about her even if they are true but i do not know for myself.

kirsty aged 7 from newcastle under lyme
ive read this story it is very interesting and i like reading . molly liegh was,nt a witch she was a old lady trying to make a living.

shaz n liz stoke!!!
we went to my nans house today and asked her if she had ever heard of molly leigh and she said oh yes...she told me that one day she went to saint johns church in burslem and just as she was walkin in the church she looked around and to her surprise she saw a ghostly figure on an old woman by the tomb stone. and then all of a sudden a blackbird landed on the roof of the church!!!!!!wierd or not....luv shaz n liz!!!! xxxxxgod bless you molly leigh and R.I.P.

liz and taz
lizzy's viewi think it is really true and drop dead freaky.R.I.PXXX

shanice
i really believe this because i have seen the tombsome one told me that story before and i have read this and it is exactly as it was told to me!!!!i would love to go to the tomb on halloween night and see if anything happens or if her cottage is still there then if most haunted went there that would be amazing!!!but this is really true!!!!!

chris
i dont think that molly was a witch i think that she was a person who looked after cats and just cooked in a cauldron.

paul from stoke on trent
if somebody did actually see molly lieghs image after saying the famouse chant around her grave would they tell anybody and who would they tell and be honest would anyone really believe them . and if there was something there then why dosent the tv show ghost haunting go there and see if there is anything . they were serposed to have gone in the leppard in burslem some years ago. like i said before its just a grave it should be left alone . people would,ntt like strangers running around a member of there familys grave because of a stupid myth some body created over 200 years ago

mandy wood
today half of the communtie dont anttend church except for weddings or funeruls so does this make us witches then people in them days lacked education we should leave molly liegh alone and let her rest in piece

jinxed
well dis makes for a nice read, rather an intriguing read....but my guess is dat dis (her death) was purely a case of prejudice, and less said on the matter the better....

The Almighty one
The holy one - you are obviously lying as it clearly says she was born about 1685. Go get a life instead of posting false comments on websites that provide valid history to the public.

paul
i used to live in middleport i think the public should leave her grave alone and have some respect for the dead witch or no witch

rob farr
when i was a kid in middleport we all heard of molly leigh and we would dare are mates to go round the grave 3 times but we said molly liegh chase me round the apple tree. i know she lived in a cottage on hamil road and she also had a brother. and i remember bing told that her body was also turned upside down so her spirit would go to hell. i dont think she was a witch but if she was ,she was.bless you molly. and sorry for running round your grave .

Tia
how do you no the full story????

Lauryn Whitehouse
when was the axact date of her birth and her death? did she make on freind appart from her black bird? when was the axact dates of her parents death? did the death of her parents cause any problems? wht do people call her a witch? do people still vist her house? Is her house still with us tody? where can ifind out more infomainan

Tracy (stoke)
I dont think she was a witchtake a look at our world today there are a lot more witches R.I.P.Molly

citty
i went there on halloween night to mollys grave and nothing happend. she was not a wich she was a kind old women and she made medicanes for animals and peope to make people better. you go to the grave you will not see anything unusewewll at all. please dont bother her if you go you wikll upset her and she wont be happy. be carfull people. god bless you molly leigh and you take care.

Anna
I would never try to say the chant jus incase anything happens. You know what i mean yh?My friend called Simone told me that her friend said the lord prayer backwards and she got killed. I dont know whether I should believe or not as she i my best friend.Molly leigh wasn't a witch she made medicines to make animals and people better.People beleve what they want But i have this saying"Always never cross a chant, never declair a chant"LOL I MADEE IT UP!!!!sorry molly leigh not being offensive am i?

Richie Green
I have actually visited Molly's grave in Burslem cemetery. It is obvious that it faces a different direction from the other graves and is quite eerie. I didn't do the dance around and sing the song though; I didn't have the bottle!

leonie and kirsty
we think that the story about molly leigh is extrodanary and very fasanating

chelsea
i belive in molly leigh and i think that there was no nead to jug her because of her looks eveyone is is ugly in there own .

molly
am going to get every one who went on my grave watch sweet dreams. every 1 .

Lauryn Craig
WHAT WAS THE AXACT DATE SHE DIED i do belive in her but bulling her

peyote
In those days and even now one who uses herbs and is particularly ugly will of course be called a witch.I send Molly love. xXx She may have been scorned but who got the large tomb & fame!Whos laffin now parson! haha :) xXx

Mason
Fascinating story, a really enjoyable read. I dont however believe she was a witch, nor do i believe her grave is haunted. It is still an interested topic.

denise sylvester
i think that inside molly she was good.and god bless her.

bethan
i think this story is true and so does my friend billie we both belive strongly in ghostos and if anyone thinks this story is false is a witch them slef and should have the same life as mooly leigh she was just an ordinary lady who wanted to live her life so what if she did make friends with animals that shows that she was caring and loving dosen't it? if everyone in this world was burnied alive because they where ugly then everyone would be killed as everyone is ugly in their own way so i say EVERYONE LEAVE MOLLY LEIGH ALONE AND I WISH THAT EVERY COULD OF LEAVED HER ALONE AND LET HER LIVED HER LIFE INSTEAD OF KILLING HER!!!!!!!!!! I BELIVE IN GHOSTS AND MOLLY LEIGH AND I SAY LET HER BE.

Matt K
wow i never heard the full story of her before that was dead good

abbie & holly (sisters who read this)
why can't you leave her alone so if she drank cows milk and made friends with a bird who cares shes just a girl and wanted to live her life as normal and her perants died when she was young

Oneworks
Molly - A Job For A Job - The Wisdom of Non-Violence! Kisses to you and Sybil Leek.

carl williams
i truly believe her story and think most haunted should investigate the cemetary

-------------
Yes it would be unusal to see it in eny other church yard maybe she was different she should be treated right like you d treat enyone else equal . Shes quite lucky her tombs a different it makes her unique and different to enyone else .R.I.P

Louise Coupland
I think all those small minded people need to get out more. I agree with what alot of people say that molly was just unlucky in the way she was born but she stood firm and strong and got on with life the best way she could. People can be so cruel in life, even now. So Hats of to the Molly Leigh's of this world as I am sure there are alot of us out there.Louise

Joelle Littlejohn
I have Heard so Much about Molly Leigh but i have no idea why she is so important and still remembered today. Like lots of people were killed because they were accused as a witch but they are not so important.Why is she so special.From Joelle Littlejohn Age: 13

Richard Smith
I heard about Molly Leigh when I was at school in Bucknall saying she was a witch. My mum said she was old lady who never married and had no friends and she was just grumpy. My dad told me my grandma walk around her tomb Three times sayin (Molly Liegh, Molly Liegh what have I done on to the) and she made a fool of her self when she did that. I have seen her tomb Three time and she didn't haunted me. My friend John Hazeldine from the belfry where I go bellringing in Biddulph belives she wasnt a witch he thinks she was just grumpy.

tracy g stoke
what a legend i first heard of molly leigh when i was 8 and we used to talk about the CURSE the if you ran round her grave 3 time saying molly leigh molly leigh you cant catch me she would come and get you im 38 now and reading about her still makes my hairs stand up we will never no the truth but secretly all the child in us hope she was a witch and that she never will come get us .

sophie cooper
i belive the tale of molly leigh and i really dont think its fair treating a girl like a witch it was how she was born.im happy that her blackbird maed all the beer sour but my question is how did she die...

Buddha the Crab
Yawn, this old story again? You can go anywhere in the land and hear versions of the same silly story - maybe a different character name or a different location. Can't people spot a piece of 'playground' spookiness when they see it? Come on everyone - Let's grow up!

Matthew Hopkins
I think that some parts of it is true like the blackbird bit but otherwise it's just an old wives tale

helen and annie
The story that i have just read is what i feel and believe to be true. I have also heard as being from burslem that mollie lee normal sits in the rocking chair in the graveyard at midnight until 12:15am everynight with a black cat on her lap, stroking the cat. This is because i feel that her spirt could not be laid to rest due to the fact that i have been told that she wanted to prove that she was not a witch, just a kindly old woman who wants the truth to be told. We have heard since we were small children that mollie lee was not a witch but a kindly old lady who took in cats, mainly black cats from off the streets and she was called a witch because she always cooked in a big black pot for her and all her cats. Mollie lee never come out of her grave unless at the times that i have heard to chase people away or if she comes out she sits there in her rocking chair laughing at the people that do this, all she wants is for her real story to be told and for people to remove her name as being prosicuted as being a witch. From old town tales Mollie lee never had children due to the fact that nobody would admit to being around her and she was never married and in them days, she would have been admitted to a mental hospital for getting pregant out of wed-lock. Also i have heard that Mollie lee would help all those that needed her, kinda like a doctor or herboligist in her day, but alot less expensive than doctors were back then and she was never acknolaged for this.

Robert Windsor
I agree with the illiterate comments made by Bret. I think that instead of researching so called witches, they should be having spelling lessons. By the way be more afraid of the living than the dead.

Amanda
A message to you all out there who do not believe in the spirit world , They sure do exist and i have seen lots of them , i have always believed that the dead do not really die they just live on another plane ,that is much faster lived than that of ours.I do believe that it runs parallel to that of ours in some way too, and that is why we see and hear them through our lives , It is so easy to hear the dead when you are relaxed and not thinking of much or are dozing off too sleep, some out there as i say may think that i am talking compleate nonsense but , i am not i assure you the dead do exist , and they live on in another time ..

ellie-may
so how do you no all this stuff about it and how do you no that it is true when all of it could be a load of bogus but who i do believe in witches and things like that but many people don't i think that this may be a coincidence that the bird just liked her someone might of made it up but who nows only people that where around in those days will no and we will probebly never no the true facts but who nowsxx

jade
we should not judge people untill we no the truth which is never going to happen it dose not matter if you are ugly or pretty we have all got hearts and feeling's so why cal her a witch. so dose it mean if you think someones ugly and weird we call them a witch. its wrong what people say about her maybe ond day she will come after you

zoe
its so spooky ive been to her grave the odd thing is that her grave is the only one which faces the other way round where as the others all face vertically.

SHEZZRRR
Ive lived in stoke all my life about 3miles away from burslem cemetary. Nothing too spooky about Mollys grave in the cold light of day, even so i would never push my luck. My english teacher told us the story of Molly Leigh at primary school and i still remember the chant to this day. Not quite as predictable as some other versions, and is to be chanted at midnight in the cemetary, "Follow me, Molly Leigh, into all the holes i see". Holes refers to the other graves in the cemetary.

jade sykes
i did it once and the next day i got ran over after i did it i know something was wrong and it seemed like a being followed but the next day i got ran over and i would never go near the grave again since then.

Dan
We have been doing about witches in history and I feel that all of the witch stories are fake as people do things and things happen and people jumped to conclusions to quickly back then. I also think that Molly Leigh wasn't a witch and just had a pet that happened to be a blackbird.

Chris
I just called my sister to wish her merry Christmas and started talking about what we'd both been doing. Since I live in the USA and she lives in the UK we don't talk much.I'm big into the paranormal because of something that happened to me when I was 8 years old and I told her that I had been to Waverly Hills Sanitorium, and the Bell Witch Cave. She then asked if I was aware we were related to Margaret Lee or Molly Leigh. Apparently, her cousin married a wedgewood which we are descended from.I want to research this further, because it is a story which intregues me.

Nicola Bentley
Daughter of William Enoch Bentley below and therefore also a descendant of Molly Leigh. I also have the mark of the horns of the goat as do my son and daughter, but to a lesser degree. My sisters and I were taken to Molly's grave site as children and danced round the grave reciting the rhyme. My younger sister adding, "...you'd have to come a long way, we live in London!"My own interests lie in Computers so in Molly's time I might be called a "witch" conjuring images from the aether.

Rebecca Leigh
William Enoch Bentley, if your mother was a Leigh then there's a good chance that she could be related to my father, who is also a Leigh. Just out of curiosity, how are you related to her? I mean, do you know exactly how you are related to her? And if so, how did you find out? Burselm Parish? A long-dated family tree? Or just word of mouth? I need answers, because I wish to find out whether I am related to her or not. If you read this, then please reply as soon as possible.

margaret
i think it was and still is very sad that someone should be treated so horribly because they are different. when i was at school i studied molly i visited her grave and spoke to the vicar as was then some 35 years ago and although it was all fasinating i do feel the poor woman was miss judged. may she rest in peace now.

William Enoch Bentley
I am a direct descenant of eMolly Leigh. My mother was a Leigh, and all of our family have the mark of the horns of the Goat. The forefingers of both hands veer away at the first joint when placed together, making the shape of the horns of a goat. Incidentally the rhyme as recorded here is wrong. The children would dance around her grave at all times of the year, and call out "Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, three times round I've circled thee. Now get up and frighten me" My mother and uncles did this often and , of course, she never appeared.It is fortunate that she lived in the Age of the Enlightment when witches were not persecuted with the same religuous zeal as in the previous century.Do I believe Molly Leigh was a witch? The man is a fool who is not prepared to beieve in anything, but he is a bigger fool who would believe in everything

Tony.
Margaret(Molly)Leighs family were yeoman farmers and people of means.Molly had a smallholding in the Jackfield area an which she kept cattle whos milk she sold in Burslem after its is said adding water a common practice in those days.She was an accomplished herbalist and with the money she made from the milk and medicines pluse the rent from other land she owned she lived fairly comfotably but she never married as she was apparantly rather ugly and had a deformity of some sort.It seems that her cottage stood on land that is now houses and the moorpark school when Hamil road was just a cart track and she got branded a witch after refusing to attend the church services of Thomas Spencer who saw this as an insult and started a hate campaign against her although people may have thought her a witch because of her deformity and skill at herbalism as the rest of the story seems pretty well known i will not bore you with it but to my mind Molly was what is known as a wise woman or one of the cunning folk and would today be known as a white or hedge witch.The trough in front of her grave is from another site and was put there at a later date.and she died of naural causes not by hanging or burning as some seem to think.

sammy
Molly should not of been killed becuse she was a witch. Molly is a human like us, she had the right to live her life. It did not matter if she was a witch or not.

Alex (stoke-on-trent)
Im just up the road from Burslem,i dont beleive that molly leigh was a witch-She does have some connection with the Leopard Inn in Burslem! On most haunted they were looking at The leopard inn for the halloween special- she would of been i nthe hotel part of the leopard which was upstairs. My mums mum used to run the leopard, so when my mum was younger she looked around and felt some kind of presence! On most haunted they said that molly would have been walking through little pathways in the walls of the leopard, but they are sealed up now!xx tra xx

Rebecca Leigh
What samie said is a bunch of lies! Being a possible descendant of Molly Leigh, I have researched her life as much as I possibly can, and found out enough information to know how she died. She was not hung in Burslem town hall. Everyone knows that, and just because she is dead doesn't believe that her memory isn't! Most people and most definately history will agree with me that she died naturally. Possibly a disease or old age took her life, but it was definately not an execution. Just making sure that you get your facts right!

Sorsha
is the rumour true that if you go to her grave on halloween and sing 'molly leigh, molly leigh, chese me around the apple tree' he grave turns around

Summer
I went to molly leigh's grave last night 31st October 2007. And i though tit was unfair how the christians of the church were around molly leigh's grave praying she will be safe i know they have a right to pray for her but as she was supposed to be a pagan shouldnt the pagans have some say in what they do around her grave on halloween. I was very disappointed that i couldnt do the 'chant' around her grave as i belive strongly that she was a witch and wanted to see what would actually happen if i did this. And what do the pagans do now when they cant chant around her grave !

B
The story is very much like I have always been told.My parents live in Leigh Street in Burslem and that is named after Molly Leigh as her house was suppose to be in the same area. I know that the houses must have been built on the fields as there until a few years ago a very old majastic sycamore tree standing there.

emma
Hi, a lot of people have been asking where about in Burslem Molly's cottage was. I have been told that it was on the same site as where Port Vale's football pitch is today, so hope that helps the people who were wondering where it was. I have a question too, can anyone tell me what that unusual concrete coffin like thing is supposed to be, its near Molly's grave in the churchyard. Thanks!

Bret
Looking at these comments Molly must have cursed the townsfolk to have illiterate offspring for ten generations.As for the story... Molly may have just been a woman subjected to social torture and the small minded crimes that all people inflict on those that are different. The reverend was likely a foul man who attacked her for political reasons rather than any fear of witchcraft, but this isnt the first or last time the christian church ruined someone's life.

ange
it is very unfair that different people were called witches or other names because others didnt think them pretty enough to have friends, and how many of us talk to our cats and dogs and other pets? does that make us all witches?bear in mind, in the early centuries, any witches not burnt on a steak and not christian were not buried in a christian direction, so any non christian directioned place tomb may be supernatural.i think it was wrong for the priest at the time to turn her grave around, it was no right of his to do so!and leave her grave alone unless doing a rubbing to find out mature information

sam
For one the chant is rong. It's Molly Leigh, Molly leigh, chase us into every hole i see. And for a matter of fact she was not a witch. She was young and naive and just wanted every one to understand her that she ment know harm to any body. And the only reson why people where saying they where suffering with illnesses was just because they had nothing else better to so they decided to call her a witch and say she tried to poison them. so in spite of what they where saying, she did poison them because she was fed up and had enough of been bullyed. And if she was a witch she wouldnt be dead.

Bert
The poor woman. Fancy being branded a witch for being a single, ugly woman. Living alone was probably lonely, I think I'd have turned to animals for company too lol. After all, didn't do Snow White any harm did it. It all relates to the beliefs of the day. Any woman with knowledge of herbal remedies, for example or who was a little different was bound to attract suspicion. And if she refused to go to church...well she just about signed an "I'm in league with the devil" confession in those days didn't she?

beth t
i think molly was real and the story is if you run around her grave on h,ween saying molly lee moly lee you can't catch me 3 times she will chase you and if she catches you she takes you to her cottage and you have to stay there untill she knits a pair of socks

Ian
The story of Molly Leigh is a very interesting local legend. I've heard the story about the ritual of dancing round her grave, now I'm not entirely convinced about the existence of ghosts and witchcraft but this is one thing I wouldn't like to do! I'm sure it is just a myth but I wouldn't want to tempt fate and have a witch cursing me for the rest of my life! Stoke-on-Trent contains some unusual graves, there is one in Wolstanton cemetery still visible today with a very strange epitaph which reads (along the lines of): "It was G.S.B.W that brought me to my end but dear parents mourn not for me as God wyll stand my fryend. With half a pynt of Poyson he came to visit me. Wryte thys on my grave so that all that read it may see" Sinister or what?

Ant
As a local lad and fervent Vale supporter I can categorically confirm that Molly's house was on the site that is now the Port Vale pitch, how else do you explain the way our team plays, it's obvious, they are spellbound.

Emily Poole
i think she was a witch and rachel has a fair point up to an extent.for if a bird and womwen should beable to talk to one another this would have to mean that the women possess some power of a sort and im i wrong in thinking that witches have powers.the story inspires me and is enjoyable to think that burslem had its very own witch molly leigh.

gemma
my thoughts is that this is proposterous because i am doing this in history and that the reverin spencer called her a witch just because she called him a drunk. this is stupid anyway there is no such thing as ghosts, gouls or witchcraft. i hope that someday i will hear the real story about molly-leigh and that i hope to visit her grave someday just to see what it would be like to see something historical of what i am learning at school!!

carol
i went to jackfield scholl as a child,as kids we were told that there was a house that she lived in,right opposite the school entrance,and we used to chant molly leigh chace us round the apple tree,

jodie
hi i think this story was very good.I am interested in witchcraft and to know we have a local witch is great.Molly Leigh's cottage used to also be at the top of my road.

Beckie
I have been given the task to write a speech about molly leigh, and then go on to perform a dance/drama/music related piece about molly leigh and other people buried around her gravestone!I found this sight very helpful and insightful, thank you!xx

Rachel
I think because people didn't know much in those days, they didn't think that Molly Leigh looked ugly just because she may of had an illness. I dont't think she was a witch, but there's something about her and the bird that's is strange, could they talk to eachother???

Anna George
She did not expect any flowers on her grave and fell out and said that she would not come to church on sundays

amy
where did she live

Courtney
I think they ought to make a film of it.

Carol
As a child I lived in Anna St, now Anna Walk. We used to run aroun Molly's grave chanting Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh, chase me round the apple tree, you can't cath me, . We only ran around it twice, because we were told if we ran around it three times, Molly would 'come and get us'. I think that typically in those days, if you were different, you were feared or labelled a witch.

chelcie
i think he turned the grave around because he believed that she came to haunt people

Stawny
I think on whole judging by a lot of comments here and with modern day technology allowing us to understand real history it's not Molly who was strange in anyway here but our ever so do gooding Parson.. Another example of the great caring christianity towards those who do not follow the herd.

Claire Trotter
hi there, i think your story is great!spot on to all the research i've done. i must addmit though, it's been vertually impossible to find any information on molly! considering she's such a legend, not many people know the facts, or not many facts are printed!! it seems to be all hearsay, which is a shame. the one thing i've always wanted to know, and have never been able to find out, is the exact location of molly leigh's cottage? i would love to visit the spot. it's such a shame that the cottage has been demolished, what a piece of history to destroy! i've heard several story's about the whereabouts of mollys cottage. e.g port vale grounds, firestation etc. but i cant find any evidence to back either of these storys. if you come across anything, it would be much appricated if you could let me know. thanks

Christine Robbins (nee Bloor)
I lived in the Middleport area, was born there, and went to St.John's church occasionally. As kids we used to run around Molly's grave and chant "Molly Leigh, Molly Leigh can't catch me for a monkey up a tree"! My mother always told us not to do this as one day Molly would come up out of her grave and hit us over the head with her knitting needles. But she never did. Also as a grown-up I heard that Molly was known as the Burslem 'money lender' and lent money to people and charged them interest on the loan. I have also read somewhere that Molly was a very ugly child with warts on her face and this made her very unpopular. I was actually looking at her grave today as it is still there and I only live in the next town of Tunstall about just over a mile away.

jessica
me again i heard a story that 1 boy said the famous rhyme got tapped on the shoulder ran off got stuck in the gate and had a panic attack and died is this true??

jade
molly lee is simply a misunderstood woman who happened to have a bad skin problem.

Stacey
i belive in the molly leigh stories as my dad always used to tell me about her and the apple tree and the same with his dad and so on. For a storie that old to be still going as strong as it is today, molly must have been some woman!! i also think that people should'nt get a kick out of running around her grave and chanting because if she did really appear no one would stick around long enough to see what really happens if your all honest. She did her time on this earth and people terrorised her enough then so we should just leave her alone now and let her r.i.p

Lucy
Interestingly when I was a tot in the early 70s there was a jackdaw that followed my mum everywhere... does this make her a witch? I think not. Narrow minded people have always caused ridicule towards the more unusual folks - it still goes on today, but thankfully not quite so intensely.

jeff lewis
i used to play around molly's grave when i was a kid,on dark nights we run through the grave like greyhounds when taking a short cut from church street to whats now anna walk,does anyone remember the grave stone by the other door on the norman tower im sure it had an inscryption on it in verse about a man name brown who went up town,got shot through the head and fell down dead????????there was also a tunnel from the church to the mytre pub in pit street an escape route for the priest i believe,i would like to hear some comments on this,regards jeff (burslem born and bred.)

Dumb and Dumber
My mum told me that you ran round her grave chanting "molly leigh, molly leigh, chase me round the cemetry" three times and her spirit apears.

Diva_PVFC
Being a potteries girl born and bred, it seems to me like Molly was just a lass who had a bit of bad luck. Or even if she wasn't, she's not causing anybody any problems. It just seems quite sad that a dusty old tomb in the corner of St. Johns is still the subject of scorn and speculation, beibg labelled a "magical place" and such. In the 1600s, any person who didn't conform to normal standards was automatically a "witch" or a "heathen". And even if she was a witch... so what? Witch or no, She still came from the Mother Town, and therefore, she's ours. She should be acknowledged and respected as a true patron of the Mother Town...which perhaps is the most magical place of all.

Greycat
Poor woman.

oatsy of boslem (burslem)
Margaret leigh is the legend of our town (burslem) the mother town and you all should leave her in peace you can do your reasearch like i always do but leave her tomb alone thats y they say R.I.P rest in PEACE THANKS BYE BYE X

Kirst
ive seen the grave as i live in burslem and its very strange. i have a book on staffordshire mysteries and it says that sometimes if you go down to the grave yard you will see blackbirds sitting on her tomb....ive seen them flying above it but not on it!

jeanette meir
my son and i visited molly's grave a few months ago . he is only 12 yrs old but knows all about molly ,which i think is great . legends are a great way to get kids interested in local history .

Stacey
I thought that the story didn't have enough information on Molly Leigh. The Info on her was very short and not specific enough. I Also thought that calling Molly Very Ugly would have been an insult to her and her decendent Sybil Leek. And personally I think calling someone ugly is very rude.

Mark Ashton
We shall be researching this tonight and putting our findings on our website which can be found at http://supernatural.gblive.net Mark (The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites)

The witch believer
What's all this about an apple tree? I've heard about some legacy about a witch who cursed this family's tree, but I don't know if it's an apple tree, niether do I know if it's even Molly. But I've always heard about something where if you say Molly Leaigh to scratch your back, you should get scratch marks appearing on your back. Spooky eh?

Andrew Duncan
Im really interested in all this you said - some people say though, which i believe, that she herself not her spirit tried to break out of the tomb thats why the crack is there as well and she did make a curse befor she died saying "that the candle is dead but it is still burning" in other words she is dead but her life will still remains. She can actually add another 1000 yrs on to her life and whatever hits her she will stay alive and thats why i believe she be still alive now. Plus when she was buried she actually got buried at her house with her words "where ever im buried ill be at my stay" so she might be buried at the grave but she is buried at her house as well thats why people might be able to see her at her house. You might just have to look into that, please mention all this, and get in touch with me please cause i love the history between molly lee. Sorry about my blabbering... im 15 and i love to blabber about the history of molly lee, please get back to me Andrew.

Clare Sanderson
as a child my mother would take my sister and I to the grave to dance around and say the chant, suprise suprise I was never able to finish it !!!!!!!!

hannah
i was told that it was molly leigh molly leigh molly leigh come play with me but as i have researched the story of molly leigh for school purposes and my own intreast in the legend of molly leigh i have seen written loads of different incantations of how you are supposed to see her gohst appaer i myself have never tried it i don't think i wuld like to but i wuld like to find out somehow if it was true.

Vicky Van Nistelrooy
I think that Syril Leek is related to Molly Leigh because my friend is related to Molly Leigh. Oh by the way it's "Molly Leigh Molly Leigh chaise me round the apple tree" and I know this because my friend got chased by the ghost of Molly Leigh after saying that.

Jessica
I know people claiming to have been haunted by molly including myself it was an odd experience where the old blackbird and molly herself started to toy with my mind was it her? or was it 5 people's imagination....but all the same????

Katie
This is a question.....why is Molly Leigh's tomb cracked in the middle? Is it where she has tryed to escape, or where kids have tryed to set her free? It could even be the spirit of Sybil helping her to freedom?!?!?!?!?!

Kevin Bailey
When I was younger 1965 age 9 the story was if you ran around her grave at midnight, shouting Molly Leigh.Molly Leigh come out and catch me, she would apear to catch you, I was never that brave

psychomajik
i love this story. ive seen and walked past her grave many a time... it fasinates me so glad ive been able to find out some more of the truths about molly.....

Leanne
i think that its just a victorian natural way and everyone believed stupidly.
erm i am 17 and i have herd so many rumours about molly and, from this, i now understand why she was called a witch - not because she did magic just because her disabilites and she wouldnt had married proberly because they may of thought she was ugly; and the only company she had was the bird or a cat which was proberly known as her "fermiliular"
to me this shows that people believe anything they want and she should be left in peace.

Tracy Adams
Fantastic. I knew about the grave facing a different way as Molly was a witch but I knew none of the other stories. I grew up just up the road from this church and we used to dare each other every Halloween to chant around the grave(although we were told that it was 'Molly Lee, Molly Lee, chase me round the apple tree'. That said none of us dared to utter any of the words just in case!!!!!!!!

John
My mum, who used to live in wolstanton once told me the story and says that she did herself run around her grave chanting but she never experienced any kind of supernatural phenomona. she said that you had to run around the grave anticlockwise 3 times and sing- "molly leigh, molly leigh, chase me around the apple tree" but she didnt remember where she knew this from.

Pauline Salt
Its an excellent story one I'v heard many times, its typical of a time of ignorance when a poor woman was judged on her appearance and because of that her desire to live alone making friends with things that dont judge her(some how that has a vaguely familar ring to todays views on women), but then dont we still react badly to something we dont understand

Sandra
I was thrilled to find something on the web about Molly Lee, the Burslem witch. I used to walk past her grave on the way to my sister's house in Burslem and always got a creepy feeling. My Grandmother told me that Molly used to be a milk-maid, and that she had watered down the milk and some of the kids got sick. I heard that Molly has 3 graves....one a tomb, one lying in the opposite direction to the others, and the other grave is supposed to be a pig-trough, there is a grave there that resembles a pig-trough, so is there any truth in this? I would love to hear more about Molly's history if anyone out there knows anything.
I have also had ghostly experiences at an old farm in Flat's Road in Norton, where I used to keep my horses, there's a story there!!!

winnie
we used to say 'molly lee, molly lee chase me round the apple tree'.

sarah
i have just been to try and find the grave of molly lee. which grave yard is it in?? any one help me??

keith twamley
as a former landlord of the MITRE PUBLIC HOUSE which was right next door to st johns church , we used to leave the pub just before midnight on halloween night to walk around the grave of MOLLY LEE. she was buried at the back of the church. it was really spooky going to bed that night at the pub !

Laurie Sims
I come orginally from Burslem and now live in bradeley and as a teenager i have spent many halloween nights at St Johns Church around Molly Leigh's grave. I am now 32 and still the old story of Molly Leigh gives me the creeps.

Katy
i got a book out from the stone libary called ghosts of staffordshire or something like that. anyway, the first story in there is molly leighs and its very interesting. i suggest anyone looking to research molly should look at that book. it has a drawing of her grave on the front but i cant remember the exact title but it was something like haunted or ghosts of stafford/staffordshire. after reading it i went too see mollys grave and its really spooky even in daylight, its got some cracks in it now but i didnt want to stand too close to it incase i saw something inside lol! i wish her house was still there but it was knocked down after she died because weird things happened there, wish i knew the exact place where it stood i just know it was on hamil road.

Issy
There's a tree in the middle of Checkey churchyard, and apparenly when you dance around it three times chanting "Mary Lee, Mary Lee, come and catch me" the ghost of Mary Lee does indeed chase you...

hannah and rachel
we'v been reading wat people have said and to those that believe in the supernatral and the story of molly lee i don't really know weather she was a witch but i do know that she exsited. i think that she was just an old woman that didn't speak to anybody and that she got on better with animals because humans can be right idiots and are always streotypical.

nathan parsons
i think she is real but i just want to know what happend to her and if people are telling the truth

witchwhich
The way the British have treated such folks should be made aware of! its so sad that people are so scared of any one different !
I loved this story and many people still in the around the world and in the uk are scared of witches and folks with different views ,and why i ask myself? most witches i know are kind loving healers who know about the spirit more than most men of the church in my eyes ! and to be different is not wrong !
i am not a big supporter of Alister Crowley but i do find some of his art interesting ! i feel that we all need some pure magic in our lives, more so the magic of our hearts !