Kingswinford's phantom horseman rides onto DVD (From Stourbridge News)

Kingswinford's phantom horseman rides onto DVD

6:41pm Tuesday 7th April 2009

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AN amateur Kingswinford filmmaker has finally finished his indepth documentary about a mysterious phantom horseman which is said to roam South Staffordshire.

Steve Ford’s 70-minute docu-drama looking into the spooky sightings, believed to be linked to the famous gun powder plot, has taken around four years to bring to fruition.

But the 50-year-old aspiring director hopes his feature length DVD film ‘Gunpowder Ghost - the legend of the Wombourne Phantom’ - featuring reconstructions of historic events and supposed sightings plus interviews with historians, parapsychologists and those who claim to have witnessed the galloping ghost - will shed new light on the creepy local legend.

Steve, from Ash Crescent, said: “I’ve heard these stories since I was a kid - I’m quite convinced these people have had these paranormal experiences.”

Over the years the eerie equestrian apparition has been seen dashing through Himley and Wordsley. It is also said to have turned the sky red and stopped traffic near Wombourne.

And there has long been speculation that the spectre is the ghost of Robert Wintour, one of the gun powder plot conspirators who escaped from the gang’s Holbeche House hideout in Wall Heath in November 1605 and who was later hung, drawn and quartered.

But film-maker Steve, who shot the entire movie himself, also investigates the theory that it could be the spirit of a tragic stablehand called Gideon Grove - who looked after conspirator Stephen Littleton’s horses at Holbeche House.

He is said to have fled the melee involving the conspirators at the house and was subsequently shot by one of the sheriff’s men in nearby woods.

Steve said: “I’ve learnt a lot more about the legend, but I think there’ll always be room for more research and more secrets to be revealed.”

Edited by fellow movie-maker Dan Evans, of Wordsley based Expressive Arts Productions, the ‘Gunpowder Ghost’ DVD is available for loan free of charge from Wombourne and Kingswinford libraries.

A trailer can be seen in the video section of our website stourbridgenews.co.uk/video or on www.eapfilms.com

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