“ The 12th-century Abbaye de Mortemer, located in Normandy about 30 km/21 miles southeast of Rouen, is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in the country.

[…] Another ghostly presence that has reportedly spooked former residents and visitors is the Abbey is a white-clad woman who stalks the grounds, moaning and making other strange noises. Local lore maintains that it’s the spirit of the Empress Matilda of England, who was allegedly forced by her father, King Henri I, to remain confined at the Abbey for some five years.

After she died in nearby Rouen, the tales goes, she returned to the Abbey to roam it for eternity, emerging on moonlit nights to drift among the ruins. Why she would do so is unclear, since she was in fact buried in a chapel at Rouen Cathedral.

Still, locals say that if you witness the white-clad spectre of Matilda wearing black gloves, you’ll die within a year. But if she wears white gloves, luck may just be yours.”

Source: Paris Unlocked, Culturally curious travel