Weird Tales Of Old Newcastle

NE1 go behind the scenes with David Silk, Education Officer at Newcastle Castle…

David Silk is the Education Officer at Newcastle Castle and also works as a freelance storyteller and historian. He loves all things strange, macabre and unusual, and is always on the lookout for unusual stories and anecdotes about eccentric characters. As a storyteller and performer, he also spends a lot of his time bringing history to life for audiences at the Castle. It’s not unusual to spot him in a variety of historical get-ups around the region – he’s been the Emperor Hadrian, King Oswin of Northumbria, an oppressed Celt, a plague doctor and a border reiving rogue, among many other things! Look out for him at the Castle or with local historical storytelling troupe The Moss Troopers.

The Flying Donkey

In 1733 the Newcastle Courant recorded that a “flying man” hurtled from the top of the Castle Keep into Bailiffgate (now the corner of St Nicholas St and Westgate Rd). Not content with this amazing feat, he proceeded to try the same trick with his donkey, leading to predictably tragic results when the animal crashed into the crowd that had gathered to watch this entertainment. Over the years I’ve heard a lot of people discuss how it was done, ranging from just dropping the donkey over the edge to attaching wings to it.

Black Jackey Johnson

In the early 1800s Newcastle was a thriving town, growing wealthy from the coal trade. Men like Richard Grainger and John Dobson would shortly be transforming the town from a crowded medieval walled settlement into the beautiful town of open streets that we see today. But in the crowded back alleys, some sinister and bizarre characters still lurked. If your property was stolen, were unlucky in love or worried about your future, you would head to Dog Bank near All Saints Church and knock on the door of John Johnson, popularly known as Black Jackey. Local papers called him a “professor of the Occult Science” – in short, a wizard. It was alleged that his skill at finding thieves through the power magic was so great that thieves would give themselves up upon hearing that Black Jackey was being consulted. The authorities were not happy about having this strange character and he was exiled to Byker, where people were happier to have a wizard living in their midst.

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