Spooks do the fright thing

Well-known for its enigmatic crop circles, Wiltshire is also a favourite haunt of ghosts. As Hallowe'en approaches Gazette reporters brave cobwebs and creaking floorboards to stalk the county's dark corridors in search of spooks...

There is an unruly element among the ghosts of the past who live in Wiltshire's historic towns and villages. Far from gliding quietly about their business, they bang and clang, wreck rooms and throw things at people, or even walk about carrying their heads.

These tales of mysterious goings-on abound in Marlborough with many buildings along the High Street reputed to have resident spooks.

Staff in many of the shops and offices have seen shadowy figures walk through walls and closed doors, and the spectres have not always been friendly.

A quarter of a century ago WH Smith Ltd occupied 132 High Street which has since become the Merchant's House museum and shop.

The manager at the time was called Graham May had an amazing story about a malevolent ghost which stalked the living accommodation over the shop.

Double doors on the first floor at the top of the flight of stairs for which the 17th century building is famed were repeatedly opened after Mr May and his wife had closed them.

Drawers on filing cabinets in what was the shop office, now the dining room at the Merchant's House, used to be noisily opened and shut in the dead of night.

One night a set of shelves in the first floor showroom, now the parlour in the Merchant's House overlooking the High Street, was shattered.

A lavatory on the second floor and immediately above Mr and Mrs May's bedroom was repeatedly flushed during the night. The couple began to live in dread of hearing footsteps as they lay in their bed, knowing the building was locked and secure and they were the only ones there...humans that is.

The culmination of their problem poltergeist came in the middle of one night after Mr May had locked the doors at the top of the stairs leading up from the shop in a bid to prevent whoever or whatever was disturbing his sleep by continuously opening them.

In the early hours the doors were burst open in a shower of glass and even police were mystified as to how it could have happened. Every outside door and window remained locked.

Mr May and his wife were glad to accept the services of one of her family who was a priest and who offered to exorcise the spook. Peace reigned for once for the couple, but staff in what was Dewhurst butchers next door now Leightons opticians complained that the spook had merely migrated through the wall and was upsetting them instead.

One morning, the manager of Dewhurst arrived at 9am and could not find the assistant on duty. When he walked down into the basement where the meat freezers were kept, he found the assistant sitting in a huddle on the floor, too scared to move saying he had been followed by a ghost since arriving for work at 6am.

The assistant described the ghost, who he said was dressed in Elizabethan style, as being headless, but carrying his head under his arm.

Further along the High Street, mechanics in what was Herd and Leader's Garage at number 110 reported regularly seeing this same character ,who one described as looking like a cavalier, complete with head under arm.

Twenty or so years ago, what is now Caffe Uno in the High Street had a design group upstairs occupying rooms including the medieval chantry.

Its principal, the late Brian Strutt, and his staff became fed up with things mysteriously moving around their offices. On one occasion a young draughtsmen was struck by a drawing board inexplicably launched in his direction.

Another worker in the design office saw the figure of a monk robed in white sitting at a desk in the old Chantry.

But it's not only the High Street in Marlborough which has its uninvited guests. It was about this time of year approximately 15 years ago when tenants refused to stay in a cottage in Kingsbury Street because of a resident spook. The occupiers, who were relatively new to the town, kept seeing the shadowy figure of a woman wearing a witch's hat.

Residents of long standing said years before a woman who lived in the same cottage frequently went out wearing a long pointed hat.

Organised ghost walks are not needed in Marlborough, apparently, because the spooks still walk on their own.

In Calne, kitchen staff at Calne's Lansdowne Strand Hotel believe their ghost George saved their lives. Head chef Sandra Sandell has been at the hotel for 10 years and sees George, believed to be the spirit of an old hotel gardener, on a regular basis.

"I think he just keeps coming back to check if everything is all right and I always speak to him," she said.

"One time I was sure I could smell gas and I kept seeing George's shadow coming back and forth to the kitchen archway.

"When the people from the gas board came out they said if I had gone out and switched a light on the whole place could have blown up. I'm sure George was trying to warn us something was wrong."

Mrs Sandell, 55, of North End, says she can never make out a face or any features, just a dark shadow moving about.

"I didn't really believe in ghosts before but now I tell everyone to speak to him if they see him because I don't think you should ignore a spirit.

Chippenham museum manager Mike Stone is open-minded when it comes to spirits after two spooky experiences of his own. When on an archaelogical survey under Box Tunnel he felt strangely cold and later discovered he had been sitting very close to a spot where many miners were killed years beforehand.

Years later when researching at Lydiard House library, Mr Stone had another close encounter.

"I was sitting in the library when I felt slightly cold and there was a rush of air past me and a smell of rather cheap perfume," he said. "When I mentioned it in passing to the librarian he said that'll be the ghost of St John checking up on what you're doing."

Malmesbury also has its share of ghost stories, with tales told of a mysterious grey lady in flowing robes appearing at the Old Bell Hotel, near the ruins of the monastery at Malmesbury Abbey.

The Kings Arms Hotel, in the High Street, is thought to be haunted by Royal cavalier, Sir Ronald Bouchier, said to have been murdered in the bedroom above the hotel's archway by wandering rogues.

The Kings Arms' former owner, Harry Jones, died in the hotel in 1920, and his ghost is thought to be responsible for lights and beertaps turning on and off by themselves.

Malmesbury resident, Paddy Lockstone, who was born in the town 77 years ago, remembered a strange experience forty years ago in the 14th century building, which is now the Rajah Indian Restaurant, in the Market Cross.

He was working in the building when he heard footsteps on the floor above. Puzzled because he was certain he had locked the door, he went upstairs to find no-one there.

There is no shortage of alleged sightings of ghosts in Devizes. Historian and author John Girvan has researched at least 30 references to ghosts in the town and has published two books, called Ghosts of Devizes.

The local ghosts include the Little Old Lady, believed to be called Eliza Bryant, who sits by the fire grate in a 16th century building in St John's Alley.

Mr Girvan said: "It is reputed that she has a bad leg and sits in a little chair. She is quite pleasant, she's not a frightening ghost. I was present when she appeared to two other people in the room."

A sadder story features The Jilted Bride who has been seen upstairs at The Three Crowns pub in Maryport Street.

The lady is clothed in a white wedding dress and sobs, waiting for her fiancee who did not turn up at the wedding.

Another pub, The Bell on the Green in Estcourt Street, allegedly has a ghost.

The ghost of a man seen in the upstairs window is believed to be Decimus Wild, the husband of Eliza Wild who bought the property in 1855. When it was sold to Wadworth brewery in 1903, production stopped in the brewery.