Romans Held Midnight Bean-Throwing Rites to Banish Ghosts; Legionaries Said to Linger in Britain

ROME AND BRITAIN — Ancient Rome kept two festivals that resemble Halloween, according to Stephen Arnell of Paranormal Daily News: the Parentalia, honouring ancestors in February, and the darker Lemuria, held in May on the 9th, 11th and 13th to appease hostile spirits.

Arnell, citing Ovid, describes the rite in detail. The householder walked barefoot at midnight, washed his hands in spring water, and made a gesture with his thumb to ward off ghosts. He then threw black beans over his shoulder for the hungry dead, while the household clashed bronze pots. The spirits, called lemures, were thought malicious because they died neglected or before their time. Temples were shut and marriages forbidden during the festival.

Arnell also recounts three tales sent by Pliny the Younger, including that of the philosopher Athenodorus, who is said to have followed a ghost in an Athenian rental to a spot where a chained body was found. After proper reburial, the haunting reportedly ceased.

The article then turns to Britain, where Arnell notes that Roman spectres seem more frequently reported than in Italy, and asks whether the isles are especially porous to the paranormal. Among the accounts: in 1953 a plumber named Harry Martindale reported a legionary procession in the cellar of the Treasurer's House, York, with details that Arnell says later archaeology supported.

Other claims include a phantom army said to have been seen near Wareham in 1678 by about 100 people, and a half-visible centurion said to march the Strood causeway to Mersea Island in October. A former barman also describes a figure in Roman armour at South Shields in 1966, though it is not clear from the account who, if anyone, was in costume. Arnell presents all of these as legend and report, not proven fact.