The Damned Story: On a quiet street in Bristol sits the small Church of Eternal Light. Although not having any particular violent, tragic or disturbing stories in its century-plus history, it’s alleged to be haunted.

The structure was originally erected in 1884 as a schoolhouse, a capacity in which it served for five years before the teacher moved away. It subsequently served the area as a chapel for over 70 years; in 1962, it then became a spiritualist church, eventually being renamed the Church of the Eternal Light in the 1980s. It is now is home to a pagan congregation.

The main structure has remained intact throughout its existence, although the current steeple and bell tower were added in 2000. The bell tower comes into play as a ghostly face has claimed to have been spotted in the windows from time to time. Others have supposedly seen spirit orbs here. We’ve also seen a story around the intrawebs that “a TV ghost hunter” recorded unusual goings on here, but have been unable to track down any specific mention of what ghost hunter or which TV show — it appears this story appeared on one website, and has been passed around since.

Speaking of unverified stories and the Church of Eternal Light, there’s another popular one that a parishioner had been struck by lightning while standing on the front steps of the church, and that’s the spirit who is haunting the grounds. Again, there’s no actual record of anyone ever being struck by lightning here, but why let the truth get in the way of a good story, right?

The current owners claim they have never had any issues with spirits as they did a thorough “spiritual cleansing” of the church a few years back.

Our Damned Experience: We have yet to see the eternal light, although we’re all bound to some day … well, except Ray.

If You Go: The Church of Eternal Light is located at 1199 Hill Street in Bristol. As mentioned, it is now a pagan spiritualist church, with regular services every week.

From the church’s website –

Our worshippers gather at 2 PM on Sundays to learn, heal and give thanks to the Mother Goddess and Father God, a.k.a “God/Goddess/All That Is” and our higher powers, guiding spirits, angels, power animals and all who help us on our paths. We welcome all Pagan traditions.

The church also offers classes in magick, scrying, charms and other pagan traditions, and generally sounds like an damned interesting place to worship.

So go for the haunting, stay for the pagan celebration!