Ghosts Of East Anglia. (Page1.html)

GHOSTS OF EAST ANGLIA

By TONY ELLIS

INDEX

The Old Abbey House, Barnwell, Cambs.

Christ’s College, Cambridge

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

St John’s College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, Cambs.

Madingley Hall, Cambs.

Sawston Hall, nr Cambridge

The Caxton Gibbet, Caxton, Cambs.

Harston, nr Cambridge

Moco Farm, Steeple Morden, Cambs.

Spinney Abbey, nr Wicken, Cambs.

Elm, nr Wisbech, Cambs.

The Crown Inn, Great Staughton, Hunts.

The Ferry Boat Inn, Holywell, Hunts.

Kimbolton Castle, Hunts.

The Golden Lion, Market Place, St Ives, Hunts.

The New Inn, St Neots, Hunts.

Vicarage Farm, Waresley, Hunts.

Aylmerton, Norfolk

Blickling Hall, Aylsham, Norfolk

Breckles Hall, Watton, Norfolk

Castle Rising Castle, Castle Rising, Norfolk

Raynham Hall, nr Fakenham, Norfolk

Felbrigge, nr Cromer, Norfolk

Foulden Church, Norfolk

Great Melton, Norfolk

Seashore Camp, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Happisburgh, Norfolk

Hickling Broad, Norfolk

St Benet’s Abbey, Horning, Norfolk

Old Ferry Inn, Horning, Norfolk

Hunstanton Hall, Hunstanton, Norfolk

Mannington Church, Mannington, Norfolk

Mannington Hall, Mannington, Norfolk

Curat House, Norwich

Oxfam Shop, 19 Magdalen Street, Norwich

Norwich

Potter Heigham, Norfolk

Old Hall, Ranworth, Norfolk

Ranworth Broad, Norfolk

Sandringham, Norfolk

Syderstone Hall, Syderstone, Norfolk

Houghton Hall, Houghton, nr Walsingham, Norfolk

Wayland Wood, Norfolk

The Crown Inn, Bildeston, Suffolk

The White Hart, Blythburgh, Suffolk

Blythburgh Common, Blythburgh, Suffolk

Burgh Castle, nr Bradwell, Suffolk

Bury Abbey, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

East Bergholt, Suffolk

The Bull Hotel, Long Melford, Suffolk

Hamilton Stud Lane, Newmarket, Suffolk

Oulton House, Oulton, Suffolk

Oulton Broads, Suffolk

Polstead Rectory, Polstead, Suffolk

Southwold, Suffolk

Thorington Hall, Stoke-by-Wayland, Suffolk

St Gregory’s Church, Sudbury, Suffolk

Blytheswood Lodge, Walberswick, Suffolk

Bealings House, Great Bealings, Suffolk

The Old Abbey House, Barnwell, Cambs.

The White Lady who visits the Old Abbey House is probably the spectre of a nun from nearby St Radegund’s Convent, who used to visit her lover by way of an underground passage. Her lover was an Augustinian friar, who lived at the original abbey - the present building dates from 1678. The underground passage was discovered quite recently when a bricked-up doorway was knocked down.

Squire Butler, known as the “Giant Squire” because of his height of 6 foot 4 inches, who died there in 1765, has been seen several times in the house. At the time of his death he was known to be the oldest barrister in England.

Poltergeist activity has also been experienced at the house. As late as 1959, it was reported that bedclothes had been pulled off a bed.

Christ’s College, Cambridge

On certain nights of the full moon, usually at midnight, the ghost of one of the Fellows of the College, Christopher Round, is said to walk around a mulberry bush, which was planted by Milton in the Fellows’ Garden. He is said to be a tall figure, dressed in black, who always walks with his hands behind his back and with a deliberate pace.

Doctor Round is said to have drowned another Fellow of the College, who was a serious rival to his love affair. At the time it was thought that the drowning was accidental and Doctor Round was never brought to trial.

His ghost, mostly seen at Easter-time, has also been seen gliding down a narrow lane leading from Parker Street to St Andrews Street, and in the area around Jesus Lane.

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

The Old Lodge of Corpus Christi is haunted by the ghost of Doctor Butts, a Master of the College in the early 17th century, who hanged himself in his rooms by his garters on Easter Sunday, 1632.

In Easter 1904, he was seen by a student who had rooms opposite those which he had occupied nearly three centuries before. The student was at work one afternoon when he suddenly felt great unease. Looking out of the window, he saw a long-haired man looking out of an opposite window. The eyes stared at the student with a terrible look. The student ran upstairs with the intention of getting a better look but he found that the figure had vanished. He crossed the court to get to the window from which the figure had been leaning but found that the doors were locked. On later enquiries he found that the rooms had been empty and locked all afternoon.

Some time later, six students attempted a service of exorcism but were foiled by the entity. Doctor Butts is also said to walk along one of the corridors of the Old Lodge.

The College’s kitchens are also said to be haunted by the ghost of a 17th century student who was madly in love with one of the daughters of Doctor Spencer. Caught in a clandestine meeting with Miss Spencer in the small hours, the student was locked in one of the cupboards of the kitchen, and it was several weeks before his starved and suffocated body was discovered.

St John’s College, Cambridge

The phantom figure of an 18th century undergraduate has been seen on one of the staircases at St John’s College. The figure is thought to be that of Doctor James Wood (1760 - 1839) who was to eventually become Master of the College.

As a student he was so short of money that he used to sit on the stairs clad in straw to keep warm. He also used the staircase lighting to study by.

Trinity College, Cambridge

A 19th century ghost has been reported, that of a child whose cries were actually heard when Christopher Wordsworth, the poet’s brother, was Master there.

Doctor Wordsworth recommended lodgings to a student who later complained that a spectral child, with hands turned outwards, had appeared in his room time and time again, and depressed him with it’s groans and screams. The poet, himself, said that the rooms had a long-standing reputation for being haunted.

A ghost in full hunting kit has been seen at the New Court.

The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, Cambs.

Unexplained footsteps have been heard moving through the garden of the Old Vicarage and are thought to be those of soldier-poet, Rupert Chawner Brook, returning to his old home, where he lived from 1911 until he was killed in action in 1915. He loved the house very much and he made it the subject of one of his most famous poems, “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester”.

Noises have also been heard coming from the top floor, is if someone has been walking about. Books and other objects have been found to be unaccountably moved.

Madingley Hall, Cambs.

Lady Ursula Hynde, wife of Sir John Hynde, who built Madingley Hall on the outskirts of Cambridge in 1543, haunts her old home.

When Sir John died, her son, Sir Francis Hynde, continued with the building of the Hall and used timbers from the Church of St Ethelreda, in Histon. He also sold the church’s lead, bells and other materials to help pay for the construction of Madingley Hall, much to the distress of Lady Ursula, who is said to walk the house and it’s grounds, wringing her hands in grief at her son’s sacrilege.

Lady Ursula’s ghost was seen on two separate occasions in one night in 1951, by a Finnish au-pair girl in her turret bedroom. During the Second World War, a soldier saw Lady Ursula walking in the courtyard.

Sawston Hall, nr Cambridge

Sawston Hall is a Tudor building and has been the property of the Huddleston Family since the 16th century. In earlier times the Hall had been owned by John Neville, brother of Warwick the Kingmaker. It was built on the site of older dwellings from the Roman and Saxon periods. The present Hall is practically the same as it was when it was rebuilt as a gift of gratitude by Mary Tudor in the 16th century. In the Great Hall there is a portrait of Bloody Mary.

When Edward VI died in July, 1553, the scheming Duke of Northumberland, eager to see his daughter, Lady Jane Grey on the Throne of England, so that he could still maintain his influence over the Throne that he had enjoyed with Edward VI, sent a message to both Mary and Elizabeth saying that the King was ailing (forgetting to mention that he was already dead) and asked for their immediate presence in London. Elizabeth, suspecting trickery, claimed she had an illness and was unfit to travel. Mary, however, began her long journey to London but at Hoddesdon she was warned by a court official that the scheme was a trap. One of her escort, Andrew Huddleston, a member of the family which owned Sawston Hall, suggested that as they were not too far away from Sawston they should proceed there at once, where it was reasonably safe. It was there that Mary spent the night of 7th July, sleeping in the now-famous four-poster bed in the Tapestry Room. Her night was soon to be disturbed.

A message was brought to Sawston saying that Robert Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey, was in the vicinity and making his way to Sawston. Mary was woken and escaped, dressed as a milkmaid, riding pillion on the mount of a manservant, with John Huddleston accompanying them.

From a distant vantage point they looked back and saw that Sawston Hall was ablaze. Robert Dudley had arrived, and finding his prey had vanished, set fire to the Hall in a rage. Mary turned to John Huddleston and said: “Let it blaze. When I am Queen, I will build you a better house!”

At the time, however, Mary’s chances of becoming Queen were rather remote. There was a far better chance that she and her followers would end up being executed and the promise must have been of little consolation to John Huddleston as he watched his manor house burning to the ground. However, Mary did become Queen of England and she kept her word, building a new manor house at Sawston for the Huddlestons, which was completed in 1584, using stones taken from Cambridge Castle. John Huddleston was also knighted for his services to a very grateful Mary.

Mary’s ghost has been seen on many occasions in the house and the grounds and has been identified by her portrait in the Great Hall. She is always seen carrying a prayer book.

However, it is another ghost that is said to haunt the Tapestry Room, the room in which Queen Mary slept on that fateful night in 1553. This ghost is the Grey Lady, who is said to knock the door three times before entering, then to glide across the room. The Grey Lady has also been seen in the grounds but has never been identified.

Another ghost at Sawston is that of a watchman, called Cuttriss, who was employed there many years ago. He would appear to have appointed himself to the task of making sure that the property is protected.

Up until the Second World War the sound of a spinet being played was heard frequently from the upper part of the house, coming from the direction of the Long Gallery. At that time there was no spinet in the house, the only similar instrument being a harpsichord.

When Sawston Hall was opened to the public, a number of young ladies were engaged to act as guides. Major Anthony Eyre, the owner of the house, was preparing the Hall for the opening and was standing downstairs when he heard the sound of female laughter, seemingly coming from the direction of the Long Gallery. Thinking g that the young ladies had already arrived he went upstairs to investigate but could find no-one. It was only later that they actually arrived.

Was the sound of the spinet playing and the female laughter a relic of the days in the 17th century when the ladies would spend much of their time entertaining themselves in the Long Gallery?

The Caxton Gibbet, Caxton , Cambs.

The Caxton Gibbet public house stands 50 yards from the junction of the A14 and the A45, on the road from Cambridge to St Neots. The gibbet itself, which was situated at the crossroads was blown down in a high gale. One of the first toll gates in England was built there in the 17th century.

The gibbet was the scene of many executions and the pub was a convenient place for the cheerful onlookers to quench their thirst. It was also convenient as a place where the bodies could be taken to be laid out after they were cut down.

The haunting of the pub originates from a triple murder that took place there in the 18th century. Three wealthy travellers had booked in the for the night. When the three retired to bed, much the worse for drink, the landlord’s son entered their room with the intention of stealing their money and valuables. One of them awoke and found the youth going through his belongings. The lad killed the protesting guest and then murdered the other two in their beds whilst they were still asleep. The bodies were then dragged downstairs to a well and dropped into the watery depths. The young man was eventually tried for the murder of the three travellers and was hung from the gibbet in sight of his father’s pub. The room in which the murder took place is said to be a lot colder than the temperature in the rest of the pub.

Footsteps have been heard walking from the room where the men were murdered, proceeding along the balcony, down the staircase, stopping at the foot of the stairs, which is the site of the old well.

Another publican’s son from the same pub also ended his life on the nearby gibbet. In 1753, he was hanged there for mail-robbery. His body was said to have remained there for five months as a warning to other law-breakers, before being finally pulled down and returned to the pub.

In the 18th century another man was hanged at the gibbet for a particularly foul murder committed in one of the nearby fields. After the slaying he escaped to America but became homesick and returned to Caxton seven years later. After getting drunk one night he started bragging about his crime and was arrested. He was hanged at the gibbet. That night, a passing baker noticed that there was still sign of life in the body so he cut it down. For this, the baker was the next to hang at the gibbet.

Harston, nr Cambridge

On the road from Harston to Haslingfield, the figure of a woman in white has been seen many times jumping from a bridge into the River Cam. The same spectre has been seen walking from the Queen’s Head public house to Mill Road.

Moco Farm, Steeple Morden, Cambs.

The ruins of Moco Farm are haunted by the ghost of Elizabeth Pateman, who was murdered by her master in 1750 because he thought that she was about to implicate him for the murder of a visiting peddler whom he had killed, and whose body he had then thrown down a well, which was then hastily filled in.

Elizabeth, a 19 year-old servant girl, was overheard by her master telling her lover that she had a secret to reveal. Absolutely convinced that she was referring to the murder of the peddler, the master killed her as well to be sure of her silence.

Elizabeth’s ghost is now regularly heard, crying out in pain and terror as she did when she was done to death with a knife and coulter.

Spinney Abbey, nr Wicken, Cambs.

One mile from Wicken Fen, in the heart of Fen Country, stands a farmhouse called Spinney Abbey. The name was derived from the old priory which once stood on the site. It is haunted by phantom monks, who are heard singing, and one has been seen walking along a pathway in the grounds. Mysterious lights and a female figure have also been reported.

Spinney Abbey was built by Mary de Bassingbourne and Beatrix Malebise for Austin Friars in 1217. In 1406, the then Abbot of Spinney was murdered by one of his monks, and Oliver Cromwell’s son, Henry, farmed here immediately after the Restoration of the Monarchy, and was said to have been murdered by one of Charles II’s men with a pitchfork, whilst they were travelling throughout the area on their way from Newmarket.

There are still some fragments of the original abbey to be found. The pig sty is said to be built in the old ruins, and although the pigs are usually quite happy and content, occasionally they get boisterous. It is also said that in the early hours of the morning, on occasions, horses in the stables make a terrific noise for no apparent reason.

The ghost who walks along the path in the early hours of the morning is believed to be the monk who murdered the Abbot in 1406. He wears a brown habit and the hood fully covers his face so that no features are discernible.

Elm, nr Wisbech, Cambs.

Elm Vicarage, built in the 18th century, is said to be haunted by the ghost of a monk called Brother Ignatius and by the sound of a bell that tolls.

The haunting first started as the sound of footsteps. After a while the occupants of the vicarage became so used to the noise of the footsteps that they ceased to rise and search for intruders. Then the figure of Brother Ignatius appeared. He was described as being in his 30’s, thin-faced with dark curly hair. He always wore an old brown habit and appeared about dusk.

In the 12th century Brother Ignatius was the watchman when the area was in danger of being flooded. However, when the flood waters did threaten the small community, he failed to ring the bell to warn the others. As a result several monks were drowned. Ever since, he has tolled the bell as a warning whenever one of the villagers was about to die.

The vicarage was also the scene of an attack on the wife of one of the incumbents, by an entity described as having a huge head and red face, that tried to strangle her whilst she was in bed. The attacker was the ghost of a man who had been murdered in that room a century before, and it was Brother Ignatius who was responsible for driving the attacker off.

The Crown Inn, Great Staughton, Hunts.

The ghost of a former publican, who was also the local butcher, is said to return to this 18th century inn on occasions, to tidy up that which does not really need tidying up. The publican, nicknamed “Old Pork and Lard” by the locals, married a very young girl when he was in his 70’s, but died whilst she was pregnant. His visits are thought to be an attempt to help his wife in her domestic chores during the last few months of her pregnancy, which of course ended many years ago.

The experience of clothing disappearing and reappearing again in a different part of the building, is quite common at the pub. Footsteps have been heard going upstairs and crossing a first floor room. Bottles have been heard clinking in the empty bar and on one occasion a radio turned itself on without human aid.

On one occasion the then landlord’s wife was discussing ghosts with a small group of Irish labourers at the bar. When she told them that she did not believe in ghosts, an electric clock jumped off the wall and suspended itself in mid-air, only connected to the wall by it’s wire.

The Ferry Boat Inn, Holywell, Hunts.

Standing just outside Holywell, on the banks of the River Ouse, the Ferry Boat Inn is claimed to be the oldest pub in the country, with connections going back to AD 560. The inn is haunted by the ghost of the White Lady, and after careful investigation by psychic researchers, the cause of the haunting is now well-known and is confirmed as dating back to the pre-Conquest days.

Juliet Tewsley was born in the days of Edward the Confessor and probably never left Holywell during her short life. She was a temperamental girl, very strong-willed and liable to fits of depression. She fell in love with a local woodcutter, Tom Zoul, who was described as being a rough character and regarded as a bit of a tearaway for his day. He did return Juliet’s love but was not as serious as she, preferring to play nine-pins with the other village lads to that of Juliet’s company, and she became more and more miserable and depressed. One day, whilst Tom was drinking with his village cronies, wearing the pink gown that Tom loved so much, Juliet hanged herself from a willow tree beside the river. The date was 17th March.

As a suicide she could not be buried in consecrated ground, so her body was buried near the banks of the river with a stake through her heart. The grave was marked with a simple slab of grey stone. Plans were made to build the Ferry Boat Inn near the old inn and it was constructed right on top of Juliet’s grave, the stone slab becoming part of the flooring of the new pub.

Over the centuries Juliet has been seen by many people, rising from her grave and gently floating down towards the river on 17th March, the anniversary of her death, which is known locally as Juliet’s Eve. Many weird and unexplained occurrences have happened on that date at the pub. Dogs have been known to refuse to enter the pub, and local women stay well-clear for the day.

Mysterious music has been heard coming from the area of the bar, music which has been described as being “very old-fashioned and very beautiful”, which can only be heard by women.

Kimbolton Castle, Hunts.

Queen Catherine of Aragon spent the last two years of her life at Kimbolton Castle, where she led an austere religious life until her death there on 7th January, 1536, either from cancer or by poisoning. Following the news of his former wife’s death, Henry VIII held a ball at Greenwich to celebrate the occasion, wearing a bright yellow suit.

A large portion of the South Wing collapsed in 1707 but the Queen’s Chamber remained intact, and it is to this Chamber that the lonely Queen returns, robed in a white dress and wearing her crown.

Another ghost of Kimbolton Castle is that of Sir John Popham, who was Lord Chief Justice during the reign of Elizabeth I, who after death, just as he had done in life, lies in wait for poachers in the park. He has also been seen on many occasions sitting on a wall, ready to pounce on any intruder.

A third ghost is that of an unidentified child, who was flung from one of the castle’s windows many years ago, to meet a dreadful death on the flagstones below.

The Golden Lion, Market Place, St Ives, Hunts.

Rooms 12 and 14 of this 16th century hotel are said to be haunted by the ghost of a Green Lady, who is romantically said to have been the mistress of Oliver Cromwell, although in reality it is most unlikely that he ever had a mistress. His likeness in portraits hardly shows him to be a typical “Ladies’ Man” and he was a fanatic in his Puritanism. However, the Green Lady does exist at the Golden Lion, she has been seen there often enough, but it is more than likely that she comes from the 18th or 19th centuries. There is a great deal of poltergeist activity connected with her.

Cromwell had a strong connection with the Golden Lion. He farmed in the local area in the 1630’s and during the Civil War used the hotel as an area headquarters in his fight against the King. It is from the Civil War period that the hotel’s other ghost, a Cavalier, comes. This Royalist officer has been seen many times in the vicinity of Room 15 and is thought to have been a prisoner who died at the Golden Lion.

Residents at the hotel have complained that their belongings have been mysteriously moved about in the rooms overnight and there have also been reports of bedclothes being pulled from the beds of sleeping guests. Pictures have fallen from walls for no reason whatsoever.

The communication door between Rooms 12 and 14 was once seen to open of it’s own accord, even though it was bolted at the time. On several occasions, bedroom doors leading to the passageway, having been bolted the previous evening, have been found to be open the following morning.

The New Inn, St Neots, Hunts.

The older part of the New Inn is haunted by the ghost of the Earl of Holland, who was arrested by Parliamentary troops and imprisoned there for a short time before being taken to London, where he was executed at the Tower. Several of his fellow-officers, captured with him, were killed by the Roundheads near the New Inn.

Described as being a tall slender figure, with an aloof appearance and wearing an ankle-length coat, the Earl was seen standing in the bar early one morning in 1963, after the bar had been closed. The figure walked straight through a closed door into the courtyard. The licensee followed him and was deeply shocked when she realised that although the figure had walked through the door, she had to unbolt it to follow him out into the yard.

Several customers have expressed a feeling of great unease when standing at a certain spot, known to be the spot where the Earl has materialised several times.

Vicarage Farm, Waresley, Hunts.

15th century Vicarage Farm is haunted by the ghost of a small boy, John Minney, who died there of meningitis in 1921, at the age of 4.

The ghost, which has been seen as recently as the mid-1960’s, was seen in 1961 by an Australian visitor, who was sleeping in the room in which Johnny died 40 years previously. She awoke in the middle of the night to find the extremely thin boy kneeling by her bed, crying for his mother.

Aylmerton, Norfolk

The “Shrieking Pits” at Aylmerton are said to be haunted by the white figure of a tall woman, whose agonised cries have been heard at dusk and it appears that she is looking for something.

The “Shrieking Pits” form part of a larger circle of pits around Aylmerton, which are thought to be the remains of a Prehistoric settlement. It is thought that their name comes from the psychic phenomena experienced there over the centuries.

Local belief is that the tall woman and her baby were killed by her husband and then buried in the pits. It is generally thought that he killed them both in the 19th century, after discovering that the child was not his.

Blickling Hall, Aylsham, Norfolk

Anne Boleyn spent several years of her childhood at Blickling Hall and those days left her with some very happy memories.

She was executed at Tower Green on 19th May, 1536, and on every anniversary of her death, a phantom coach is said to convey her ghost, carrying her head on her knees, towards Blickling Hall, where the coach and horses are seen to drive very slowly to the front door and then vanish.

It is also said locally that the ghost of her father is doomed to drive his coach over forty bridges in the county every year before returning back to Blickling.

Breckles Hall, Watton, Norfolk

In the latter years of the 19th century, the leader of a gang of local poachers, George Mace from Watton, by day a stockman at a farm in nearby Ovington and a former soldier who had fought in the Crimea Campaign, arranged a meeting on the Breckles estate. It was agreed that the men would go their separate ways to do their poaching and would then meet again at an outhouse, when the moon went down, to share their illicit game.

The poachers duly arrived with their sacks of birds and rabbits at the appointed time but their leader failed to turn up. They waited for some considerable time, getting angry at being kept waiting, when they heard the sound of wheels crunching up the drive to the Hall. What startled them was that the coach appeared to glow, and as it pulled up at the main door, invisible hands opened the coach doors and pulled down the steps. Then the coach vanished.

The men were in rather a subdued mood when they returned home, for they knew that they had seen the spectral coach that always calls at Breckles Hall when somebody has just died. Next day the body of George Mace was found by a footman at the spot where the coach had stopped and there was no mark of violence, or of sudden illness, to show how he had died. His lips were curved in a happy smile.

Castle Rising Castle, Castle Rising, Norfolk

Castle Rising Castle was built by the Earl of Sussex in the middle of the 12th century. It was here in the 13th century that Edward III had his mother incarcerated for her part in the murder of his father, Edward II. Although officially in disgrace for the murder of her husband and her association with Roger Mortimer, who was executed, she was thought to have been quite comfortable during the first few years of her imprisonment. She was often visited by her son, Edward III, and her grandson, the Black Prince, but in due course, as she grew older she became insane.

The ghost of Queen Isabella has been seen running dementedly along the ramparts of the castle and her shrieks of maniacal laughter have been heard by many people in the area at night. Her hysterical cackling has been described as being “like some mad old witch”.

Raynham Hall, nr Fakenham, Norfolk

The ghost of the Brown Lady, so called because she is always seen on the staircase and in the corridors of Raynham Hall wearing a brown brocade dress, haunts this 16th century Hall. The Brown Lady has been identified as Dorothy Walpole from a portrait that hangs in the hall. She was the daughter of Robert Walpole, one-time Member of Parliament for Houghton, in Norfolk, and sister of the more-famous Sir Robert Walpole, the 18th century Prime Minister.

Dorothy is said to have fallen in love with the Second Viscount Townshend but her father, who was Lord Townshend’s guardian, refused his consent to their marriage because he felt that if he did agree it would be misconstrued by other parties that he was using his guardianship in order to gain an advantage for his daughter. Lord Townshend eventually married the daughter of Baron Pelham of Laughton, but became a widower in 1711. Shortly afterwards he finally married the love of his life, Dorothy Walpole.

However, in the meantime Dorothy Walpole had become the mistress of Lord Wharton, a well-known profligate, who had to leave the country rather suddenly after building up a pile of debts. It was after his marriage to Dorothy Walpole that Lord Townshend learned of his wife’s previous conduct with Lord Wharton and ordered that she be kept locked in her apartments at Raynham Hall. She died at the age of 40, on 29th March, 1726, officially of smallpox but there were those who said that she had died of a broken heart, or even a broken neck after either falling, or being pushed down the Grand Staircase. It is believed that she returns to Raynham Hall in search of her children, from whom she had been parted by her husband, after he had learned about her affair with Lord Wharton.

In 1836, the author Captain Marryat was staying at Raynham Hall and asked his host, Lord Townshend, if he could sleep in the room from which the Brown Lady was said to appear. As he was about to retire to bed for the night, two young men, relations of Lord Townshend and fellow-guests in the house, called into his room and said that they wished to discuss a gun that they intended using the following day whilst out on a shooting party. Captain Marryat accompanied them both to their room. A few minutes later, whilst all three were returning along the corridor to Captain Marryat’s room, joking that the gun would protect them from the Brown Lady, they saw a female figure advancing towards them, carrying a lamp. As she drew nearer, Captain Marryat, dressed only in his trousers and vest, realised that he had seen the woman before, in a portrait that hung in his room. The three men could see that she was dressed in a brown brocade dress. As she passed them she looked straight at all three “in such a diabolical manner” that they became scared.

By this time all three realised that the figure that was passing them was the ghostly Brown Lady and Captain Marryat pulled the trigger of the gun. The bullet went straight through the figure, which disappeared just after the shot was fired, and was later found embodied in a door immediately behind where she had been.

In 1849, a Major Loftus was spending a few days at Raynham Hall and was having a game of chess one evening with a friend called Hawkins. After finishing the final game they decided to retire to bed and proceeded upstairs. As they were wishing each other goodnight, Hawkins pointed to the figure of a woman standing by one of the doors in the corridor. What astounded the two men was the old-fashioned clothing she wore. As they stood staring at her, the figure slowly vanished. The following night the Major saw the apparition again, this time face to face, and he was startled to see that her eye-sockets were empty, totally devoid of eyes. As a result of these two experiences a number of servants gave in their notice and detectives were engaged among the new staff to make an attempt at laying the ghost.

In November, 1926, Lady Townshend was staying for the weekend at Raynham Hall when, with her son and a friend, she saw the Brown Lady on the staircase. None of them had heard of the Brown Lady prior to this meeting but all swore that the woman they had met was the same one that was portrayed in the portrait of Dorothy Walpole.

In September, 1936, the now world-famous picture of the Brown Lady was taken by Captain Provand, whilst he was on a photographic assignment for the magazine “Country Life”. He had taken one photograph of the old staircase when his assistant, Indre Shira, called out that he could see a form on the stairs and asked Captain Provand to take another shot. Although the figure did not appear in the viewfinder, it appeared on the photographic plate, and after the negative had been examined by experts it was confirmed that it had not been touched up or faked in any way. The picture was subsequently published in “Country Life” on 6th December, 1936.

George IV visited Raynham Hall when he was Prince Regent, and the Brown Lady is said to have frightened him out of his wits. He woke up in the middle of the night to see the ghostly figure standing at the foot of his bed. He promptly left, saying “I will not spend another hour in this accursed house, for tonight I have seen that which I hope to God I never see again”.

The Duke of Monmouth is said to haunt the room in which he once slept, and one elderly spinster, having received a visit from this ghost, described it as “an agreeable and flattering experience”.

Two ghostly children and a spectral cocker spaniel are also said to haunt the house.

Felbrigge, nr Cromer, Norfolk

Felbrigge Hall is haunted by the ghost of a member of the Windham Family, who occupied the house for over 200 years. He is said to regularly visit the library, where he browses through some of the old books he loved so much during his lifetime.

Foulden Church, Norfolk

Whilst patrolling his beat on 14th November, 1956, the local “Bobby” was riding his bicycle through the very small hamlet of Foulden when he heard the church clock ring a total of 25 times. As the clock was permanently stopped at 7 o’clock, he decided to investigate. Reaching the church, he unlocked the door and found the rope still swinging but no sign of an intruder. The time was exactly 11 pm.

Some days later the policeman was talking to an old man who had once worked at Foulden Hall, a short distance from the church. He was to discover that the previous owner of Foulden Hall, who had been buried at Foulden Church, had died 10 years previously, on 14th November.

Great Melton, Norfolk

Great Melton is haunted by the ghosts of four bridesmaids who are periodically seen riding in a phantom coach. In life they had been returning from Norwich to Great Melton one dark night after a wedding when the drunken coachman ran off the road into a deep pool, drowning himself and his four pretty passengers.

Local belief is that if you see their pretty faces it is a sign of good fortune. To see their headless torsos is an omen of disaster.

Seashore Camp, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

“Old Scarf” is a ghost who has haunted the coastal regions of Norfolk for some years, spending a great deal of his time at Great Yarmouth. Nothing is known of this ghost, or why he haunts, but he has certainly been very active.

Specialising in prodding people in the ribs, and sometimes even bowling his unfortunate victims over, he was very active on the caravan site at Seashore Camp on 5th June, 1971, when he forced a holidaymaking family to vacate the caravan that they had rented for the week, after prodding one of the children in the ribs on several occasions, finally pulling the bedclothes off the unfortunate child and throwing him off the bed.

Happisburgh, Norfolk

During the middle of the 18th century, three smugglers had an argument at Cart Gap over the division of their loot. During the course of the ensuing fight, one of them was brutally murdered and his body was hidden.

It was in 1765 that the figure of a legless torso, with it’s head wobbling in a grotesque fashion, was seen by local inhabitants gliding in from the shore, clutching what appeared to be a sack. The figure was followed on several occasions until it reached the well at Well Corner, where it was seen to disappear whilst climbing in.

A special meeting of the village council was held to discuss the sightings and as a result of the evidence given it was decided to investigate the bottom of the well. A man was lowered into the well and almost immediately found a sack, said to be similar to the one that was carried by the apparition. When it had been hoisted to the surface it was found to contain a pair of boots, with the legs of the unfortunate owner still inside them.

Following this discovery, the well was drained and a torso and head were brought to the surface, together with a pistol which was similar to one which had previously been discovered years before at Cart Gap, the scene of the struggle between the three men.

The figure of the legless torso has been seen several times since then, gliding from the shore towards the coast road, with it’s head wobbling in a grotesque fashion.

The figure of an 18th century Coastguard is also said to walk along the front, laughing wildly. It is not thought that he has any connection.

Hickling Broad, Norfolk

Several times over the past 200 years the figure of a soldier, dressed in the uniform of the time of the Napoleonic Wars, has been seen skating across Hickling Broad as if it was frozen.

In the very early 19th century a young soldier was stationed with his regiment in Norfolk and was courting a girl whose home was on the far side of the Broad. One winter, the Broad was completely frozen over so the soldier found it easy to skate across to meet his beloved. He did this night after night. It was a very long winter but in the end the temperature had to rise and the ice had to thaw.

The soldier decided that it was safe enough for one last skate across the Broad before the ice would start to give way. He set off and skated towards his girlfriend’s house, but in the middle he hit a soft patch of ice, which cracked, and he fell in and drowned.

The figure of the soldier has appeared from time to time, skating vigorously over the Broad until he reaches the middle, where it suddenly disappears.

St Benet’s Abbey, Horning, Norfolk

The ghost of a traitorous monk haunts this old Abbey, which was built for the Benedictines in AD 816.

In the days immediately following the Norman Conquest, the monk betrayed his brethren to soldiers of William the Conqueror on the promise that he would be made Abbot. True to their word, the Normans appointed him Abbot and then hanged him. The Normans had no love for traitors, even Saxon ones.

His hauntings are limited to one day a year - 25th May.

Old Ferry Inn, Horning, Norfolk

The modern Ferry Inn was not built until 1955 and stands on the site of a much older inn of the same name that was destroyed when it received a direct hit from a German bomb on 26th April, 1941. 22 people were killed in the attack as they stood drinking at the bar.

There was a ferry across the river since Roman times but it was discontinued in the 1960’s. On the site of the inn originally stood an old meadhouse which belonged to the old abbey many centuries ago. It is from this period of time that we find the origins of the ghost of the inn, a ghost who haunts in a 20 year cycle.

Many centuries ago a group of monks were sitting outside the meadhouse one hot summer’s day, drinking. A pretty young local girl was walking by along the nearby river bank and the brothers dragged her inside the house and raped her. So brutal were they that she died as a result of her ordeal and to hide the evidence of their outrage, the brothers dragged her body outside and threw it into the river.

Since that time the ghost of the girl has been making her appearances every 20 years at the site of her tragic end, but in modern times the phenomena has been restricted to a sudden and inexplicable drop in temperature during the night.

However, on 25th September, 1936, her ghost was seen in a passageway of the Ferry Inn by the then landlord, who was waiting up for the return of one of his guests. He had been dozing in a chair and woke up to hear the rustling of a dress. Looking up, he saw the figure of a girl in her early 20’s who was wearing a greenish dress. What struck the landlord most was the girl’s face, which was beautiful but deathly-white, and had that painful look of suffering.

The landlord tried to speak to her but she glided away from him and vanished through the front door. He followed, and on opening the door, saw the wraith disappearing into the river near the ferry.

The guest, who the landlord had been waiting up for, was returning from taking a stroll before retiring to bed and heard the landlord crying out. He also saw the figure of the girl walking down the pathway from the inn towards the river, where she disappeared into the water.

Hunstanton Hall, Hunstanton, Norfolk

On the death in 1762, of her brother, Sir Roger L’Estrange, the baronetcy becoming extinct and Hunstanton Hall passed to Armine L’Estrange, who had married Nicholas Styleman. One of her most favourite possessions was a Persian carpet, presented to her by the Shah of Persia himself, and almost her last words as she lay on her deathbed, in 1766, were that the carpet should remain with the family. Her servants faithfully packed the carpet into a wooden chest and it was removed to the attic, where it was forgotten for many years.

The carpet was rediscovered years later by somebody who had not heard of Armine’s dying request. It was cut up into squares and distributed among the villagers. The angry ghost of Armine created so much terror that the pieces were collected and sewn neatly together again, just to placate her.

Mannington Church, Mannington, Norfolk

Mannington Church was haunted up until the 19th century by the ghost of a female member of the Scalmers Family, which owned Mannington Hall before it was taken over by the Orfords. It was the Second Lord Orford who is said to have destroyed the Scalmers tomb at the church and the ghost was seen many times, especially in the 18th century.

Until the end of the 19th century, the hearse bearing the coffins of subsequent members of the Orford Family was driven three times round the church, in an attempt to placate the phantom lady.

Mannington Hall, Mannington, Norfolk

It was at Mannington Hall on 10th October, 1979, that Doctor Jessop saw a ghost whilst he was staying as a guest of Lord Orford. Four other people had been present at dinner that evening but had retired to bed early so Doctor Jessop decided to go to the Library to read for a while. By the light of four candles he sat at the table and started reading.

He was reading the last of six books that he had selected when he noticed a large white hand resting on the table near his elbow. Turning his head, he noticed a large man bending over the table, apparently examining the books that he had already read. The man was dressed in the habit of a monk and his hands were clenched, showing large blue veins on his left hand. Doctor Jessop looked at the newcomer for a few seconds and realised that the man who had joined him was a ghost, although at no time did he feel alarmed. His first instinct was to grab hold of a pencil and make a sketch of the visitor. At that point the apparition disappeared.

Five minutes later the apparition appeared once more and Doctor Jessop tried to say something to him but found that he could not utter a word. After a short while the figure vanished again.

Throwing himself back in his chair, Doctor Jessop sat for some time looking at the fire and wondered whether the figure would return a third time. After a long wait, and there being no return of the figure, Doctor Jessop retired to bed, still thinking of his very unusual experience.

Curat House, Norwich

Curat House is an Elizabethan house standing in the middle of Norwich in an area known as the “Old Jewry”. It was in this area that the old Jewish Quarter was situated and was totally destroyed by fire in the 13th century.

In 1889, cellars at Curat House had to be enlarged to make room for more stock, as the then owners of the house ran a successful wine merchants business. During the excavations, evidence of an old synagogue came to light, including burnt earth and part of it’s crypt. The bones of a long-dead woman were also discovered, said to be the remains of Mrs Isaac, wife of Rabbi Isaac, who murdered her and then set fire to the synagogue, starting the blaze that was to burn down the entire Jewish Quarter.

During the late-19th century, the ghost of Rabbi Isaac was a regular visitor to Curat House. His footsteps were heard regularly walking along the gallery, especially during the third week in November. Before the house was converted into a grocers’ establishment, the family had great difficulty in keeping staff.

A great deal of structural alteration was made at the end of the 19th century, when the premises were converted into a gentlemen’s outfitters, and this seems to have stopped the visits of Rabbi Isaac.

Oxfam Shop, 19 Magdalen Street, Norwich

Originally this shop in Magdalen Street, now leased by Oxfam, was part of an old public house, which is now divided into three separate properties. During the days when the shop was leased by Radio Rentals, the staff had good reason to believe that it was haunted. A figure had been seen standing at the foot of the stairs and cold draughts had been experienced in most unusual circumstances. When the lease of the shop was passed to Oxfam, the new staff paid little attention to the reports of a ghost, but were soon forced to think again.

It was shortly after Oxfam had taken over the shop in 1972 that the sound of footsteps mounting the stairs were heard several times. The cold draughts that had previously been reported by the Radio Rentals staff became very obvious to the new tenants.

Then one day, a typewriter in an upstairs room was seen to be working by itself and there was a strong sense of a presence felt in the same room. The ghost of a woman was seen on the landing outside the room by four people on separate occasions. Back in the room, a sheet of paper, pinned to a notice board, was seen swinging as if in a breeze, but the windows were closed and there was no breeze. It was then noticed that similar sheets of paper pinned to the same notice board were completely still.

The ghost is said to be that of a woman who was murdered in the old public house in the 19th century.

Norwich

In 1851, Julia Sheward was married to William Sheward, a Norwich tailor. She was plain, houseproud, totally dislikable and drove her husband to drink through her domineering manner. How the two of them ever married in the first place is a total mystery because she was several years older than him and they had nothing in common with one another.

Julia Sheward had a great passion for funerals, which she attended when she had the opportunity, treating them like social occasions. She was to rather prematurely attend her own, for William finally got fed up with her nagging and stabbed her with a pair of cutting scissors, the first weapon he could lay his hands on.

After stabbing his wife, William sat and stared helplessly at her corpse and it was not until dawn that he realised the full implications of what he had done. He cut the body into small pieces and then buried them separately among the trees in Deepdene Lane, on what was then the outskirts of Norwich.

He told friends and neighbours that Julia had left him, which did not surprise them too much because Julia had already made it known that she intended doing just that, and after the recent arguments that had taken place between the two of them, they were probably very relieved that she had finally gone. It was generally assumed that she had returned to London, where she had lived before she had married William. A very clumsy killing had, to all intents and purposes, turned out to be the “perfect crime”. However, William had not reckoned with Julia’s vengeful spirit. Not only had she been murdered, but worse than that she had been robbed of her own lavish funeral that she had always said that she wanted, when it came to her time.

Suspicion began to fall on William when he began to frequent Deepdene Lane every day, poking away at the undergrowth with his stick, and a keen-eyed policeman began to get suspicious. He discovered that Julia was missing and decided that there was a distinct possibility that she hadn’t gone to London, but had been killed by her husband and then buried in the undergrowth of Deepdene Lane. He searched the area with the aid of his dog and his efforts were rewarded when he unearthed a human hand.

This discovery started a massive police search of the area and further parts of a human body were discovered and the remains were sent into Norwich for examination. The only major part of the body not recovered was the head.

The surgeon who examined the remains deduced that they were those of a woman aged about 25 -30, with light-brown hair and weighing about eight stones. Julia had been 56 when she died, had black hair and weighed at least two stones more, and this misleading medical evidence gave William Sheward a reprieve. He began to prosper and bought several other shops and properties, but he was convinced that Julia was with him all the time and he was also certain that the police knew that he had really killed his wife but could not arrest him for lack of evidence.

He thought that the police had found the evidence they needed when a policeman called round to his shop one day, asking questions about Julia. The relief in William’s mind can only be imagined when he learned that the policeman only wanted Julia’s new address, for she had been left an inheritance of £3,000 and had to appear before a magistrate to claim it. He told the policeman that he didn’t know where his wife was living and that he had not seen her since the day she had left.

Ten years after the murder, and being constantly haunted by the ghost of Julia, he married again in order to gain some companionship. The second Mrs Sheward very quickly got fed up with his hearing “imaginary voices” and his habit of walking down Deepdene Lane, thrashing the undergrowth with his stick. They were heard to have many blazing rows.

In December, 1868, Mrs Sheward suggested that it would do them both a lot of good if they were to go to London for a few days. She made the necessary arrangements herself, and it was not until they had reached the hotel where they were to stay that William began to feel very uneasy. He could not tell his wife that they were staying in the same square where he had met Julia 30 years previously.

From their bedroom window, William could see Julia’s old home and his mind became totally absorbed in remembering their meeting and marriage, and her death. Everywhere he looked he could see Julia. Even after 18 years he was still being haunted by her.

Giving was to an uncontrollable impulse, William Sheward dashed from the hotel and confessed his crime to the first policeman he could find. He was arrested, tried, found guilty and executed in 1869. Julia Sheward had waited 18 years but she had won.

Potter Heigham, Norfolk

Sir Godfrey Haslitt married the beautiful Lady Evelyn Carew on 31st May, 1742. At midnight, during the course of the wedding celebrations, the bride was seized from the Hall and carried out screaming to a waiting coach. The coach tore down the drive and headed along the road towards Potter Heigham. Arriving at the bridge, the coach, which was travelling too fast, smashed into the wall and was flung, with it’s occupants, into the River Thurne below.

At midnight, on the anniversary of the fatal wedding night, the journey is repeated by the phantom coach. It was certainly seen as late as 1930.

Old Hall, Ranworth, Norfolk

Colonel, the Honourable Thomas Sydney lived at Old Hall and was a hard-drinking, roisterous huntsman, and he did not enjoy losing bets. On 31st December, 1770, at the biggest meet of the season, he challenged a neighbour to a race. When he found that he was well behind, and obviously going to lose the race, he pulled out his pistol and shot his opponent’s horse, causing the rider to be thrown and break his neck.

Whilst at dinner that night, a thin stranger is said to have appeared at the Old Hall, thrown the Colonel across his saddle and galloped off into the darkness. According to legend, every year on the 31st December, the same scene is repeated as the “stranger” takes his own.

Ranworth Broad, Norfolk

Ranworth Broad is haunted by the ghost of Brother Pacificus, who is seen occasionally in the dawn light wearing a black habit, rowing a small boat with a dog sitting in the bow.

Brother Pacificus was a monk a St Benet’s Abbey in the 16th century and every day at dawn he rowed himself and his small dog across the Broad to his place of work. In the 1530’s he was restoring the rood-screen in Ranworth Church, and one summer’s evening, his work almost completed, he rowed back across the Broad to the Abbey, to find that it had been pillaged by the King’s troopers and many of his brother monks were dead.

For many years afterwards he lived the life of a hermit in the ruins of the Abbey and eventually died there. Knowing of his love for Ranworth Church, the villagers buried him in the churchyard on the far side of the Broad from his beloved St Benet’s.

Sandringham, Norfolk

Sandringham, bought by Edward VII in 1862 when he was Prince of Wales, has been a favourite Royal holiday retreat since that time. There have been many reports of hollow footsteps being heard in the servants’ quarters, walking down empty corridors. Doors have been seen opening by themselves and lights have been frequently switched on and off.

The disturbances always seem to start on Christmas Eve and continue for a few weeks. Christmas cards have been found moved from one wall to another and the ghost also takes great pleasure in stripping the bedclothes from freshly-made beds.

Heavy breathing noises have been heard coming from an empty room on the second floor and housemaids refuse to enter this room to clean up unless they are accompanied by somebody else. A footman, who used to sleep in this room, asked for a change after seeing something one night that resembled a “pulsating paper sack that breathed like a grotesque lung”.

In 1977, four workmen had to dive for cover when three bricks whizzed through a window. They ran outside but there was nobody to be seen.

In the 19th century, a service of exorcism was held to dispose of the troublesome spirit, and for decades it remained dormant.

Syderstone Hall, Syderstone, Norfolk

Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, who died at Cumnor Hall, in Berkshire, and whose death was thought to have been caused by her husband and Elizabeth I, lived at Syderstone Hall before her fateful marriage. Her ghost was seen at the Old Hall shortly after her death and continued to appear there until the Hall was demolished.

When the Hall was pulled down her ghost moved across to the nearby Rectory, where windows started to be found opened by themselves after being carefully closed and bolted the night before. Other poltergeist activity was also reported there periodically.

The village is also haunted by a phantom highwayman, who has been seen on his ghostly mount, silently galloping towards the village green.

Houghton Hall, Houghton, nr Walsingham, Norfolk

Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, built Houghton Hall in the 1730’s on the site of the family ancestral home, and it is haunted by the ghost of his daughter, Dorothy Walpole, who spent the happiest part of her life there until her marriage to the Second Viscount Townshend, when she moved to Raynham Hall, which she is also said to haunt.

Wayland Wood, Norfolk

The two ghostly children who haunt Wayland Wood are thought to be the original children of the story of the Babes in the Wood.

At the spot where the two little children were left to perish by their uncle’s servants, two ghostly little figures have been seen wandering hand-in-hand through the trees, looking for the path that would lead them home. Unexplained wailing noises have been heard in the dead of night at this spot.

The Crown Inn, Bildeston, Suffolk

The Crown Inn was originally built as a private house for a local wool merchant in 1495. It has a well-deserved reputation for being haunted.

The most famous manifestations occurred there in the 1950’s when the landlord of the pub was disturbed by a series of knocking sounds that were heard coming from the front door, which he originally attributed to the antics of local youths. He looked from an upstairs window, where he had a completely clear view of the front door, to see who the culprits were, but was astonished to find that there was nobody there although the door was still being pounded quite loudly. A policeman kept watch for a few nights. Although the door was knocked heavily on several occasions, there was nobody present at the door.

The mother-in-law of one of the landlords was sitting at her dressing room table on one occasion when she saw through the mirror the strange shape of a man standing behind her. When she turned round the figure had gone.

Loud mysterious footsteps have been heard in the corridor outside the bedrooms and dramatic drops in temperature have been recorded for no accountable reason. Visitors to the pub have reported the icy sensation of being touched on their faces by cold invisible hands.

On one occasion, a man wearing an old overcoat and an old-fashioned type of hat, was seen standing at the bar but he disappeared as soon as he was seen.

The White Hart, Blythburgh, Suffolk

The White was originally built as an ecclesiastical court house in the 13th century but there are 15th century additions and it has been an inn for many centuries.

Knocking sounds have been heard on an old oak door which leads from the bar to the living quarters and the sounds are those made by a hand with a ring on it. Footsteps have also been heard in the house but both phenomena stopped abruptly when a mysterious fire seriously damaged the pub in 1967.

Before that time, a little old man, dressed in a monk’s habit, was seen on several occasions and it is thought that he may have been connected with the building in the 14th century when it was the church court house.

Blythburgh Common, Blythburgh, Suffolk

Blythburgh Common is said to be haunted by the ghost of “Black Toby”, a Negro drummer said to have been stationed with the Fourth Hussars in the village, in the middle of the 18th century. On 26th June, 1750, Tobias Gill, after getting extremely drunk and having been ejected from the White Hart Inn, wandered onto the Common where he met a pretty Walberswick girl, Ann Blakemore, whom he raped and strangled with his scarf. The following morning, three farm labourers found him in a drunken sleep by the side of the cold, lifeless body.

He was tried for Ann’s murder, found guilty and sentenced to death. In spite of a plea that he should be allowed to die quickly by being dragged at the end of a rope by a stagecoach, he was hanged near the scene of this crime on 14th September. His body was hung on the gibbet for two weeks as a warning to others of the penalty for the crime of murder. His body was later interred by his comrades in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church.

The ghost of Black Toby has been seen many times, even in recent years, in the area now known as Toby’s Walk, still bemoaning the fact that he was hanged. He has been seen thundering over the Common on a hearse pulled by four black chargers, with him urging the horses forward at even greater speed. His appearances only occur during the month of June.

Burgh Castle, nr Bradwell, Suffolk

On the 3rd July every year a ghostly body, wrapped in a white flag, is seen to be thrown from the ruins of this old castle onto the foreshore. This haunting is said to go back to the time immediately after the Roman Legions had left Britain to defend their homeland. Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Picts moved into the country and plunged it into a time of war and uncertainty.

It was a clash between the Saxons and the Danes which brought the haunting of this old Roman fort, which stands three miles south of Yarmouth. A large band of Saxons arrived at what is now known as Horsey, commanded by a man called Siberg. To expand their territory they had to face the Danes who had taken over the fort, led by a cruel man called Gonard.

Siberg decided to attack the fort but to do so he needed help, so he sent a messenger to his half-brother, Cerdag, who had settled in what is now South Yorkshire. The journey to Cerdag took a very long time and in the meantime Gonard had learned of Siberg’s presence and attacked his camp, killing a large number of Saxons. He then sent an arrogant message to Siberg telling him to come to Burgh Castle with the remainder of his men. Siberg went to the castle alone.

Gonard is said to have received Siberg arrogantly and demanded to know why he had not brought the rest of his men. Siberg replied that his men would come quickly enough if he did not return within a specified time but said that he hoped that Gonard would respect the fact that he had come in peace. Gonard ordered the Siberg be bound and thrown into a pit.

After four days, Siberg, who had been deprived of food and water, was woken by the familiar war-shouts of his fellow-Saxons as they attempted to storm the castle. They could not breach the walls of the fortress, the Danes counter-attacked and by the end of the day the ground outside the fort was littered with Saxon dead. Gonard feasted that night, surrounded by the dead and dying, who by that time had been tied to stakes.

Two days later, Gonard was said to have seen a vision in which he saw a white angel and a black angel fighting in the skies. At the end of the battle, the white angel clutched the black angel by the throat and both fell downwards into the sea. Knowing that Siberg was an interpreter of such visions, Gonard had him released and brought to him, asking what the vision meant. Siberg said nothing for a while, then motioned towards the sea. On the horizon was an armada of Saxon ships sailing towards the fort. Cerdag had arrived with the relief force.

Siberg grabbed Gonard’s axe and struck him whilst the Dane was still watching the Saxon fleet. Gonard’s dying scream was not heard by the Danes as they rushed around the fort preparing to defend themselves. Cerdag sent a messenger to the fort demanding the Danes surrender. The gates were opened to let the messenger into the fort but instead of discussing the Saxon terms, the messenger was killed and his body wrapped in his white flag. The body was then thrown over the walls of the fort.

Cerdag gave the order to attack and after a short while the Saxons got inside the fort. The Saxons saw the cruel sight of their dead brothers, slaughtered in the fighting two days previously, still tied to stakes, and were so enraged that they took no prisoners.

Cerdag climbed to the highest point of the fort and found his half-brother lying next to the dead Gonard, with an arrow in his chest. Cerdag removed the arrow but Siberg died within minutes in his arms, not having been able to speak.

Bury Abbey, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

The remains of this great abbey are haunted by three ghosts. The figure of a Grey lady has been seen in the Abbey precincts and on at least two occasions in the churchyard. She is thought to be Maud Carew, a nun who was a personal friend of Queen Margaret, wife of King Henry VI. She is said to have poisoned Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, imprisoned there in 1446, on the orders of William, Earl of Suffolk, in an attempt to stop a monk, also a personal friend of Queen Margaret, from being burned at the stake for heresy. Unfortunately the poor nun also died from an accidental administering of her own poison, and it is said that the monk, whose life she had tried to save, cursed her as she lay dying.

The figure of a monk, dressed in a brown habit, has also been seen in the precincts of the Abbey, but it is thought that he had no connection with the incident involving Maud Carew. Another ghost, described as being a regal figure and thought to have been Queen Margaret, has also been seen at the Abbey.

There is a legend that the spirit of St Edmund is said to have materialised in AD 870 at the Abbey and killed a Danish king when he as attacking Suffolk.

East Bergholt, Suffolk

Originally a Benedictine convent called St Mary’s Abbey, the Friary is said to be haunted and indeed there is an atmosphere there which extends across the road to East Bergholt Church. The bells at the church hang in a bell cage because of numerous accidents that occurred when attempts were made to hang the bells in the belfry, including the death of one man.

During the Second World War soldiers were stationed at the Friary and it was noticed that one particular door in the Sergeants’ Mess would open by itself at 10.50 every night. Immediately before the door opened there was always a sudden drop in temperature. No explanation was ever found for this curious phenomena.

One night an 18 year-old soldier was lying in his room when he saw the door open and a vague shape enter. A pair of icy-cold hands were laid on his face and the following morning it was noticed that his hair had turned white. After that soldiers refused to sleep in that room.

The Bull Hotel, Long Melford, Suffolk

The Bull Hotel was built in 1450 and for it’s first hundred years was used as a private dwelling for a local wool merchant. The building became an inn in the 16th century and the poltergeist activity originates from an incident that occurred there in the middle of the 17th century.

In July, 1648, as a result of an argument, a farmer, Richard Everard, was murdered in the hallway of the inn by a man called Roger Greene. The ghost of the murdered man returns periodically to the Bull Hotel, the scene of his tragic death.

An oak door, leading from the hall to the dining room, has been seen to swing open of it’s own accord, accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature on several occasions, and objects in the dining room have been thrown from one end of the room to the other. On one occasion, a waiter had to duck when a copper jug was hurled at him by invisible hands, and on another occasion the same waiter just managed to avoid being hit by a copper urn, which landed at his feet.

Chairs have often been moved around the dining room overnight. Although they have been left in their usual place at the tables the previous evenings, staff at the hotel have long since ceased to be amazed to find the chairs formed in a semi-circular group around the fireplace the following morning.

Footsteps have been heard in an upstairs corridor and on one occasion a former landlord took his two dogs up to the affected area to investigate the phenomena. As soon as they reached the corridor, the dogs refused to advance any further and crouched, trembling with fear.

On one occasion a guest heard footsteps outside her bedroom, followed by a rap at the door. Thinking that the maid had come to bring her an early morning cup of tea, she called out for the girl to enter. Immediately she heard a crash coming from outside the door and rushed to assist what she thought was the maid in trouble, only to find when she opened the door that there was no sign of the maid or any broken china. The corridor was completely empty and she discovered later that she was the only person to have heard the noise.

Hamilton Stud Lane, Newmarket, Suffolk

Hamilton Stud Lane is haunted by the ghost of that great jockey, Fred Archer, who died in 1886 at the age of 29. After a local woman had reported seeing the figure of the jockey riding towards her and her daughter, and disappearing a few yards from them, others reported that they, too, had seen the figure of Fred Archer on a phantom mount at the same spot.

His ghost has also been blamed for various mishaps that have taken place at Newmarket Racecourse, where horses have been seen to swerve, stop or fall at a certain spot, the same spot where, on several occasions, jockeys have reported a white shape that has hung in the air, five feet from the ground.

Oulton House, Oulton, Suffolk

The scene of two separate killings connected with each other is still remembered from time to time when a phantom black carriage, driven by a team of horses, is seen riding up to the house.

In the 18th century, the Squire of Oulton House returned home after a day’s hunting to find his wife in bed with an army officer. The Squire drew his sword and challenged the officer to a duel. In the ensuing fight the officer killed the Squire and fled, taking the Squire’s wife with him, leaving her young daughter behind at the house. When she grew up she fell in love with a local farmer and planned to marry him.

The night before the wedding, a strange coach pulled up at the Hall, and out of it stepped a veiled woman carrying a bottle. The following morning the girl was found dead and it was locally believed that the veiled woman was the girl’s mother, who had returned to prevent her daughter from revealing the identity of the man who had killed her father.

Oulton Broads, Suffolk

The Oulton Broads are haunted by the phantom ship “Mayfly”, which carried goods on the Broads in the 18th century under the command of Captain Stephenson, who was a very violent man. The shallow-bottomed wherry was owned by a Mr Dormer, who was a prosperous local ship owner.

Captain Stephenson was called to Mr Dormer’s office one day and given instructions to carry a box, containing £4,000 in gold, from Beccles to Yarmouth. The owner’s daughter, Millicent, was to travel as a passenger. In those days it was far quicker and safer to carry such good by ship than it was by road.

As instructed the barge set off for Yarmouth, with a crew of four, plus Millicent Dormer. During the course of the journey, the money proved too much of a temptation for Captain Stephenson and he decided to alter course for a Dutch port. He told the barge’s mate of his plans in the hope of obtaining the mate’s full co-operation, but the man was very loyal to his employer and refused. A scuffle broke out between the two men, and in the ensuing fight the mate was killed, his body being dumped over the side into the water. The deckhand, having seen what had happened to the mate, decided that discretion was the better part of valour and agreed to co-operate with the captain. Millicent Dormer was asleep in her cabin and knew nothing of what had happened and of the changes in the plans.

It was the unusual motion of the flat-bottomed barge, as it tossed on the open sea, that awoke her. She approached the captain to learn that she had been abducted with the money. The fourth member of the crew, a young cook, was absolutely terrified about being on the open sea, but he was even more terrified of Captain Stephenson and so carried out his duties without protest, as best as he possibly could under the circumstances.

That night, being the worse for drink, Captain Stephenson went below to Millicent’s cabin. The deckhand was aroused by the sound of screams coming from the girl’s cabin and rushed to her aid. He saw her staggering from the cabin, bleeding from a severe wound in the neck. In defence of the girl, the deckhand attacked the captain, who was more than a match for him. Knocking the deckhand unconscious with one blow, Captain Stephenson threw the unfortunate man’s body in to the sea. Millicent, finding a knife on deck, stabbed the captain through the heart and then collapsed as a result of her wound and died within minutes.

The terrified cook, who was a mere boy, was left as sole survivor of the party. The mate and deckhand had both been thrown overboard and the bodies of the captain and Miss Dormer were lying on the deck. He had absolutely no knowledge of how to control the barge, especially on the open sea. In desperation he loaded the wherry’s dinghy with food and water and set himself adrift. After a few days floating at the mercy of the wind and tide he lost consciousness and did not wake up until he was in Plymouth. There he was told that he had been picked up by a vessel in the North Sea, more alive than dead, and had been taken to the rescuing vessel’s home port.

Three years later, the phantom of the Mayfly was seen sailing on the Oulton Broad, a phenomenon that was to be repeated annually for many years afterwards, and can still be seen occasionally today.

Polstead Rectory, Polstead, Suffolk

The Rev Hayden Foster and his wife, Margo, were delighted when they moved into their newly-decorated 16th century rectory to take up their new living in the small, remote village of Polstead. Yet before the week was ended they had been forced to leave the house.

The Fosters did not know that they were not the first incumbents to have had disturbing experiences in the house. They could have been told by the church authorities that the house had been exorcised on two occasions - both unsuccessfully - once in the early 19th century and again, just before they took up residence.

Their first three nights at Polstead Rectory were undisturbed and they slept well. On the fourth night they changed bedrooms to make room for a guest. It was Margo Foster that woke up to see that the freshly-emulsioned walls had changed to peeling, damp, old-fashioned wallpaper, that had lined the walls many years before. She heard the screams of a child and felt the sensation of being strangled. The following morning the Fosters packed their belongings and left.

The wife of a previous vicar, who had lived at the house for 15 years until her husband’s death in 1976, reported that she and her husband had heard footsteps both inside and outside the house but neither of them had seen anything unusual.

Other reports said that a procession of ghostly monks had been seen walking in procession outside the rectory gates and on at least one occasion had been seen crossing the road at a height of six feet above the ground. Villagers declare that the house is haunted by the ghost of a small boy who was murdered in the house in the 18th century, and by a mad monk who lived many centuries ago. Whoever it is, the ghost has a penchant for attacking the wives of priests.

Southwold, Suffolk

The old vicarage is haunted by the ghost of a woman who besides being seen has also produced some very mysterious noises.

On one occasion, sounds of someone falling down the stairs were heard and several people ran to see if they could offer assistance, only to find that the stairway was empty and there was no visible cause for the noises. The sound of the clanking of chains was heard on several occasions, coming from a disused attic, and the creaking of a chair was also heard, followed by the sounds of a deep sigh.

On many occasions, people sleeping in an old four-poster bed in the spare room, reported that they had been woken up to find the figure of a woman standing by their bed.

Thorington Hall, Stoke-by-Wayland, Suffolk

Thorington Hall, a gabled farmhouse built in the late 16th century, is haunted by the ghost of a girl wearing a brown dress tied at the waist with a piece of cord. She has been seen walking along an upstairs corridor and the sound of her footsteps have also been heard in that corridor and in other parts of the house.

St Gregory’s Church, Sudbury, Suffolk

In the vestry of St Gregory’s Church is the preserved head of Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was beheaded by the supporters of Wat Tylor in June, 1361. Today the head is so shrivelled that it looks more like a skull. The body is buried at Canterbury.

Mysterious footsteps have been heard in the church and it is thought that they are caused by Simon.

Blytheswood Lodge, Walberswick, Suffolk

Blytheswood Lodge, sometimes called Westwood Lodge, is haunted by the ghost of a woman, seen wearing a white silk dress. One of the many people to have seen her is an old gamekeeper, who after seeing her several times in quick succession, refused to go anywhere near the house after dark.

In 1972, three policemen stayed one night at the house in the hope of seeing her. She is known to have been there that night, for she was said to have sprung a booby-trap set for her, but she was not seen. The waiting officers felt a drop in temperature at about the same time as the trap was sprung.

Bealings House, Great Bealings, Suffolk

Bealings House was the scene of supernatural bell-ringing in 1834 and 1836. Major Edward Moor, the owner of the house at the time, wrote about the phenomena later and it is thanks to him that we have such an accurate record of what happened.

The bells hung in the kitchen of the house and were used to summon the servants to various rooms.

On Sunday, 2nd February, 1834, Major Moor returned home from church and was told that the dining-room bell had rung three times during the afternoon, between 2 and 5 o’clock. The following day the same bell rang three times, the last time being just before 5 o’clock, and was heard for the first time by Major Moor personally. The next afternoon he was out and was told when he returned, just before 5 o’clock, that all the bells in the kitchen had been ringing violently, and as he was being told of the separate incidents, the bells rang again.

There were nine bells in a row in the kitchen and the Major learned that the five bells on the right were the ones most affected. Within an hour there were two more pealings of the bells. The five bells in question were connected with the dining-room, the drawing-room, a first floor bedroom and two rooms in the attic.

On 5th February, the bells were heard pealing again whilst Major Moor was in the breakfast room with his son and grandson, at 11 o’clock in the morning. The Major immediately went to the kitchen, arriving just in time to witness the same five bells ringing. Five minutes later they pealed again, and this time one of the bells pealed that violently that it almost touched the ceiling.

From that time onwards the bells rang many times and the Major and his servants became convinced that no living person was responsible. They always rang when there was no-one in the rooms concerned.

The phenomena lasted from 2nd February to 27th March, 1834, and then ceased as mysteriously as they had started. During the time that the bells were ringing, Major Moor took precautions to ensure that this was not the work of a practical joker. On many occasions the bells were seen to ring whilst all the members of the household were in the kitchen and the rest of the house was empty.

Then in July, 1836, the bell of the sitting-room rang loudly several times and a short time later all nine bells rang in turn, either singly or in groups. A bell-hanger was sent for and he examined all the wires without being able to find a reason for the mysterious ringing. He had just announced that the bells were in perfect working order when the bells began to ring more violently than ever before. One of the bells, leading from a room over the passage, seemed to be the most affected one and rang continuously for nearly an hour. Then the pealing stopped and was never heard again, except when being used by a member of the family.

The bells still hang in the kitchen, although they have been long-disconnected. Despite the most vigorous investigation there has never been any explanation for the mysterious ringing, or why it stopped as mysteriously as it had started.