The Ghosts of Woodchester Park / manor

admin sinfulldude · The Ghosts of Woodchester Park / manor

(was written and posted by madmart former forum's ADMIN )

The Ghosts of Woodchester Park
There are many local legends associated with Woodchester Park and its famous house. Most of these stories have not been recorded in detail but one has recently surfaced which has even captured the imagination of Hollywood, that of an angel which haunts the fifth lake. Some of the other documented hauntings include: a Roman centurion who patrols the gate on the south road, a ragged dwarf, a headless horseman, a floating coffin, a Black Dog which was a death portent and most frequently, a spectral figure which has come to be regarded as the man in his night-shirt who was unfortunately savaged by his own dogs. It's possible that this and the 'angel' were one and the same. It is also worth mentioning that a large black cat has been sighted in the vicinity.

The Mansion itself up until recently was not considered to be haunted, although an unearthed news report from the Gloucestershire Echo dated 28 November 1998 states that a team of volunteers from The Prince's Trust endeavoured to spend a night in the Mansion for the CLIC charity. They reported to the Echo that a glass beaker had been removed from its original place in a room upstairs. The spokesperson had known that one of the upstairs rooms had a resident poltergeist, but this was the first time a reference of this sort had been made. Certainly, the WMT volunteers have never reported anything anomalous over the years, and it seemed strange that the house should 'put on a show' when a team of investigators were there.
Most of the sightings associated with the immediate area seem to be confined to the lakes, of which there are five deeper down in the valley. They have been the sites of numerous tragedies, which are rumoured to have resulted in the loss of well over 20 lives over the years. The principal stage for these dramas seems to be the fifth lake, called Middle Pond, which also happens to be the largest. All five lakes were created when the numerous springs in the valley, and the stream that flowed from them, were dammed and ultimately stocked with fish.

The Catalyst – a hoax!
In February of 2001, a story emerged which has since been revealed as a hoax, namely "Doidge's Angel", which supposedly had captured the interest of Hollywood, at a time when the National Heritage Sites of Britain were suffering heavy losses due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease. At the time the story kicked up a storm. Little did anyone understand the amount of interest in the Mansion that this would cause.

A Scary Place
Due to the national coverage of the news item about the Hollywood connection, on September 7th 2001, an American TV production company called Triage Entertainment Inc. of Los Angeles took over the Mansion for a month. As part of their research for a programme called 'The Scariest Places on Earth', an all night vigil and investigation was arranged, which included two members of the Ghost Club of Great Britain, a small production team and two staff members of the Woodchester Mansion Trust.
Their interest was primarily in the house itself for filming purposes although it was not considered at the time to be particularly haunted.

Hauntings at Woodchester Mansion
According to the reports of two members of the group that stayed at the Mansion on the night of 7 September 2001, the noises began at around midnight with a soft tapping sound coming from the top of a 25 foot Victorian ladder which was left when builders abandoned the house. This was only the beginning of a whole barrage of noise, which centred on the inner wall of the south range corridor.

At around 2.30am the group was in the Drawing Room when they noticed a tapping sound coming from the wall to the right of the fireplace. It was described as a basically metallic sound like a hammer hitting stone, which intensified in pitch and volume over around 15 minutes, until it became so loud, people had to cover their ears with their hands. Upon investigation, the noise was assumed to be coming from the south range corridor on the first floor, but as AL shone his torch from the top step of the Grand Stair around the corner, the noise stopped abruptly. By this time the beat of the hammering had quickened to the speed of a pneumatic drill. Feeling rather shaken, the group descended the stairs to the Drawing Room to discuss what had happened.
At around 4pm, the noise started again, so seven of the group made their way upstairs to the first floor corridor. As they were ascending the Grand Stair, which was restored in 1999, an almighty crack sounded above the heads of the people who were leading, followed by rumbling sounds which gave them the impression of falling masonry. This split the group in two as they leapt out of the way of whatever it was they thought was coming down on top of them. AL reported his conviction that he saw black shapes falling and a piece of yellow–white stone bounce near to his foot at the bottom of the stairs. After checking everyone was OK, they went to look at the fallen masonry, of which they could find no trace, but all were convinced that the vaulted ceiling had been falling down around them.

As the tapping noise was continuing, the whole party decided to check out the corridor above, where they were sure the noise was emanating from. Finally, while they were standing spread out along the walls of the corridor, a noise described variously as a jet engine or train seemed to move up between them, which was overtaken by a sound described as something very heavy being dragged along the floor towards the hall, where it stopped. While this was going on, the group all felt a vibration in the walls and floor of the building.

These were the main events of the night, although the Ghost Club members had left 'trigger' objects in the form of two pence coins about the building, one of which was placed in the Mansion kitchen under the old clock, which is being restored at present. (Note - the clock has since been re-installed in its tower.) This was reported missing by 2pm. However, it has since turned up in another part of the Mansion.

As a result of this experience there has been a revival of interest in the Mansion's paranormal activities and subsequently, three more vigils have taken place to date. Of the first of these, again with the Ghost Club on the 10 November 2001, there was no activity whatsoever, and the group left just after 2.30am. The caretaker was not present on this occasion, and no 'psychics' were present.

The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
ASSAP's investigation took place on the night of 19 January 2002. Present were 16 members of either ASSAP or Parasearch, including two guests from Cotswold Paranormal Investigations. A camera was set up in the first floor south range corridor, which seemed to be the seat of all the noise on 7 September 2001.

Later, while conducting a guided tour of the house, I noticed that the old clock pendulum was swinging by at least two inches, where it was not before when observed two minutes earlier. It was decided that there should be someone present in the kitchen at all times during the vigil. The clock is presently being restored by a volunteer horologist and is generally not wound. The Triage production team had the clock rigged and various parts have since gone missing. It is entirely possible that a person who knows the house well could have done the same, for between the hours of 10.00pm and 1.00am, the clock hands moved from their position of 10.10 to 12.10, and then finally 5.25, as shown in the photograph. They were never seen to move as it always occurred during a break in the vigil. We decided to set up a camera in the kitchen, which seemed to put a stop to it, although the tape shows the pendulum moving slightly. This could be due to the movement of air around the Mansion, or vibrations from under ground.

At 12.04am the bell in the clock tower rang once, very clearly. This happened when the team had assembled in the Drawing Room for a break, as is usually the case. I was immediately suspicious as it happened during a time when people were making noise. There was a search for the culprit but none could be found. There was an awful lot of noise at the time from the Park's cattle, which were obviously unnerved by something. In fact they were noisy for most of the night, as can be heard on the various recordings taken. At the point when the bell rang, they seemed very agitated. It was not discovered what had caused this agitation in the herd; and it was suggested that the black cat was abroad! The bell is static with an external sprung hammer so the wind or a large bird could not have moved it. According to the horologist, it could only have been rung by someone with some nerve and a hammer (or by paranormal means?). None of the members of the vigil had access to the clock tower. It was difficult to get to, having two large iron grilles to unlock, the keys to which are held by the bat man - the Mansion's Bat Expert. A set of keys is given to the caretaker during the winter months when the bats hibernate at other locations. The grilles were there to keep people out and the bats protected. Were the grilles opened that night? They are heavy and move with a sliding mechanism, so any noise they made would have been heard on the recording equipment. The record sheets suggest a loud bang and footsteps that could account for someone entering the grille between 11.16 and 11.49pm, although it has not been established who this might have been.

Falling stones
A week later on 26 January 2002, The Ghost Club descended on the Mansion yet again, with the largest group of volunteers they have ever seen - 32 people. The Parasearch team again set up the infrared camera at the top of the first floor south range corridor and one also in the kitchen directed on the clock.

After arriving at the house at 10.00pm teams were being organised, one of which had already taken their place in the upstairs corridor, the rest of the group were awaiting instructions in the Drawing Room. There was a loud crash, which sounded as if it came from around the Grand Stair outside the room. I immediately went upstairs to ask the first team if they had made the noise as I thought some equipment had fallen over, but they seemed to think it came from downstairs. At this time nothing could be found which could have been responsible for the noise, and it was noted to have occurred at 10.57pm.

The three team leaders, LR, BS and RS were with me in the Drawing Room by 11.18pm where we were discussing generally how to deal with such a large group, when there came from the room next door, the Library, a loud bang very similar to the one which had occurred almost 20 minutes before. Upon investigation, it was found that there was a piece of worked stone on the floor in the southwest corner of the room. After searching the wall above to ascertain where it had come from, another piece was found in the putlog hole directly above it (putlog – hole left to take scaffolding which was never filled in.) This piece fitted the fallen stone perfectly so it was assumed that it had fractured in half and fallen off. It wasn't until another piece was found in the corridor outside in exactly the same circumstances that we literally put two and two together and came up with something rather odd. How had two pieces of worked stone got themselves up into putlog holes in the first place, only for them both to break and fall out within 20minutes of each other? It is possible that masonry students had put them there for some unknown reason, or even the film crew in September, but they would normally have been noticed if they overhung, and would most likely have been removed by the caretaker. The stones were roughly the same size, both worked and of a type not used in the building apart from for training purposes. Assuming the second stone found in the corridor was the source of the first crashing noise, I think it wasn't noticed before due to the general amount of rubble strewn about the house anyway. Both stones fell onto wooden flooring; the second seemed not to have bounced, hence the loud bang being described by RL as a door slamming. This effect could not be reproduced. The first stone, however, fell with a clatter and it could be seen that it fell on a corner where it was chipped and the floor slightly dented. An interview with AF, the caretaker, immediately afterwards revealed nothing. He seemed as perplexed as we were. The possibility that someone could have pushed the stones out was disregarded, as anybody moving around would certainly have been heard tiptoeing on the wooden floor when it was quiet.

Hoaxed again
Because It was felt that some of these events were too good to be true, It was investigated and witnesses interviewed. I can now reveal that a few of the phenomena were hoaxed, notably:

The tapping noises, at least some of them
The ringing bell
The falling stones.
However, hoaxing does not account for the sight of falling masonry documented by RS and AL, the noise of a train or jet engine, and the moving clock (the movement of which has been witnessed on many occasions, without human interference). Nor does it account for the many other instances where people have heard and felt things which seem not to be of this world!

Psychics
Mediums and psychics who have been invited to check out Woodchester Mansion by various paranormal investigators have sensed the spirits of various people throughout the Mansion which, most assume, are attached to the former building, the Georgian Spring Park, or even further back. Although these people have never met or have no prior knowledge of the Mansion, there are a few very specific descriptions which seem to relate to the same people, including the following: One is described as a distressed young blonde woman, possibly called Elizabeth, purported to have been spotted in an upstairs window on arrival at the Mansion by two people, although that particular window has no floor below it! Another is of a young servant girl who roams the scullery area, but the details are less clear.

One of the rumours that have arisen through the years on the subject of the Mansion's abandonment suggests that a stonemason may have been murdered there, but this did not seem to have been picked up. The story of the Mansion is readily available, so the results of this psychic survey seemed intriguing. The search for an Elizabeth connected to the Park's history has been unsuccessful so far. Two psychics unknown to each other have both sensed Roman soldiers marching through the grounds of the house. It is recorded that there was Roman occupation in the area and indeed there was a report from long ago of the ghost of a Roman Centurion who patrolled the road at the south end of the estate. I was told recently of a phone call between a member of the Ghost Club and a psychic lady in Australia who had apparently no prior knowledge of Woodchester Mansion but who seemed to think that the workers abandoned the building because there were seven deaths during construction, one of which was a murder! A trawl through the newspapers of the day has yet to come up with an answer to this mystery. Other characters frequently 'picked up' by psychic mediums include:

A very tall man around the chapel area
A small, possibly scruffy man with a limp in the chapel to servant area
A young servant girl in the scullery and kitchen area
WW2 soldiers around the bathroom and upper north range.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2004
Since the events which have been documented in 2001–2003 the Mansion has been given an unprecedented amount of attention from paranormal investigators from all over the country, especially since appearing on LivingTV's Most Haunted. It hasn't gone without notice after all this time that there are certain elements emerging which as yet are unexplained and possibly paranormal events occurring throughout the building, any time of year, day or night.

Voices
The most common of these phenomena is the sound of voices, either of two men talking in a discursive tone, children playing and of a wailing or shouting woman. It is impossible to give dates for these events as they have been heard randomly throughout the last few years, and, as yet, there is no explanation for them, although a few theories have been suggested, including the possibility that there are subterranean streams beneath the house, causing some of the noises. It is not known whether these streams exist under the house itself, but I will draw the reader's attention to the fact that the house used to be called 'Spring Park' because of the proliferation of springs in the area.There have been numerous recordings also, mostly from the cellars, of alleged EVPs (Electronic voice phenomena – recordings of anomalous voices). Of the ones I have heard, one is a male voice laughing manically, another of a second male voice, this time seeming to say 'bless you!' These voices were not heard at the time of recording but are clearly on the tape.

A more recent phenomenon is of flying stones or twigs. It must be noted that there are many jackdaw's nests in the building, which could account for some of this, although I'm not sure that a bird would be able to throw a stone horizontally, as was witnessed on one occasion, unless it was very clever! This phenomenon has also been witnessed in areas where there are no birds, such as the cellars. At various times throughout the last couple of years, possibly due to the heightened interest in the Mansion's alleged spooks, there have been reports from normally quite rational people who have felt what we call physical phenomena, consisting of touches, shoves and knocks, not to mention bottom pinching and hair pulling felt by female witnesses.

Additionally there are always electrical problems occurring in the Mansion, day or night. Since there has been re-wiring at the time of the 2003 restoration and somewhat before this, the alarms have been going off repeatedly for no reason, light bulbs are constantly popping, there is often loss of power to the house. I believe all this could be explained by a fault in the ancient wiring system, added to over 50 years, which electricians have called 'a nightmare'! However, this would not account for the many times people have noted their fresh batteries being drained and camera equipment refusing to work properly

Levibrawn · Ghosts of Woodchester Park

Ghosts of Woodchester Park
Hidden away in a narrow wooded valley near Stroud is Woodchester Park, a Gothic mansion, which was begun in 1854 but never finished due to lack of funds.

Spooky Woodchester Mansion boasts a series of ghosts.
Nevertheless, Woodchester Park is home to quite an array of ghosts and ghoulies.

Although you can't really fathom any link between the spirits, they all seem to like hanging out there.

The ghostly party includes a headless Roman centurion, a ragged dwarf, a black dog and a coffin that hovers above one of the estate's lakes, which possibly belonged to a Dominican friar who killed himself by drowning!

Not only that but the ghosts of two WWII American servicemen have been seen walking in the park.
The area was occupied by the Romans, who built Woodchester's fantastic mosaic pavement, and American troops were also stationed in the area during the war.