It’s that time of year when we all want to hear a good old fashioned ghost story. In the Middle Ages many of these tales were often loaded with hidden meaning for the listener and tried to explain the unexplainable to their Medieval audience. Some come from the Viking sagas, others were written by members of the church and others have been passed down verbally through families. Many of the monastic ghost stories involve a dead person pleading for help from the living to lessen their suffering in the afterlife. Here are some of those creepy tales about shapeshifters, witches, ghosts and demons that would have gripped listeners more than a thousand years ago. Welcome to Medieval Madness.