How Long Might a Ghost Haunt a House?

Editors note: We missed publishing this on National Ghost day, and published this a little late, but the article stands alone on its own merit.

A Practical Consideration for Ghost Hunters & Paranormal Enthusiasts

​​When in active search of spirits, many ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts will seek to visit a reputedly haunted house in the thought that since ghosts have been seen there by other people in the past, then there’s a chance that they might (eventually) be seen there again. But how long might a ghost haunt a house? While being somewhat rhetorical, this question may be a rather important one to ponder over, even for just a moment, when trying to decide whether our chances of encountering a ghost at a particular site with a haunted reputation may even be modestly slim or not.

One of the difficulties we face in pondering this question is that there tends to be relatively little data to go on: Not very many places with haunted reputations seem to continually keep records of all the times that their spectral inhabitants have been sighted. And even when they do, they may not be too detailed. But some partial records are known to exist in some cases, and even these might be useful in lending a bit of insight on the matter.

Revisiting the Case of the Cheltenham Ghost

One such case that can be found in the early psychical research literature is the classic Cheltenham (aka. “Morton Ghost”) case of the late 19th century, which was partly chronicled by 19-year-old medical student Rosina Despard, under the pseudonym “Miss R. C. Morton” [1-2]. From 1882 to 1889, Rosina and several members of her family reported seeing the spectral figure of a lady in a dusky-colored widow’s dress that would wander through their rented home in Cheltenham, England. The path taken by this spectral widow tended to be repetitive and semi-regular in pattern, being rather akin to the kind of repeated, unwavering actions that are often said to be exhibited by ghosts in residual hauntings.

In her documentation of the case, Rosina noted down several of the occasions in which she and/or her family had sighted the spectral widow over the course of their occupancy of the Cheltenham house, and some of the descriptions she provided were detailed enough to roughly infer the approximate time on the calendar in which they took place. Then nearly a century later, psychical researcher Andrew MacKenzie interviewed a few additional witnesses who reported having haunt-related experiences in the vicinity of the Cheltenham house [3]. Some question might be raised about these later experiences, considering that some of them took place at night, and that there was already wide public awareness of the Chelteham haunting in the local area by that time (which could’ve shaped the witnesses’ perceptions). But if we momentarily assume, for the sake of the present argument, that at least some of them do represent genuinely anomalous experiences, then at least two were seemingly in line with a sighting of the same spectral widow figure (based upon their closest matching descriptive details).

This made it possible to roughly approximate the yearly chronology for 23 sightings of the spectral widow (which is likely to be only a relatively small fraction of all the sightings that ever occurred). When plotted on a graph, the chronology looks something like what is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Approximate yearly chronology of a small subset of 23 sightings of the spectral widow figure in the Cheltenham (“Morton Ghost”) case, as reported by Rosina Despard and Andrew MacKenzie. The dotted line roughly represents the estimated trend in sightings over time.

​While remaining mindful of the caveat that there’s only a relatively small amount of data involved, the estimated trend (dotted line in Figure 1) would seem to suggest that a cluster of spectral widow sightings took place throughout most of the 1880s, with a peak period in sightings during the summer (particularly August) of 1884. After that period, the sightings began to decline over time, which would be consistent with Rosina’s own observation that: “The figure became much less substantial on its later appearances,” and was seen less and less as time went on [1, p. 321].

A Similar Pattern Among Ghost Sightings?

If the estimated trend seen in Figure 1 happens to be anywhere close to reflecting the actual pattern of ghost sightings, then it bears a notable degree of similarity to another kind of pattern seen in survey studies of reported apparition cases. This other kind of pattern was also first noticed in the 19th century by early psychical researchers Edmund Gurney and Frederic Myers [4] when they were looking at the number of spontaneous spectral sightings being reported before, at the moment of, and after the time of death. As can be seen in the graph reproduced in Figure 2, they found that the spectral sightings initially “...increase very rapidly for the few hours which precede death,” and then “...decrease rapidly in the few days after death, then more slowly; and after about a year’s time, they become so sporadic that we can no longer include them in a steadily decreasing line” [4, pp. 426 - 427].

Figure 2. Pattern initially observed by Edmund Gurney and Frederic Myers in the number of 19th century ghost sightings reported before, at the moment of, and after death. [Source: Reference 4, p. 327]

​A somewhat similar kind of pattern seems to hold for more modern reports of ghost sightings, as well: Back in 2012, Icelandic researcher Erlendur Haraldsson reported a survey of 449 cases that he’d collected of spontaneous sightings of apparitions of the dead [5]. When I’d graphically plotted his case reports over the long term (Figure 3), they seemed to indicate that the number of reported sightings gets progressively smaller as the years pass from the time of death (with a slight upswing in reports occurring more than ten years after) [6].

Figure 3. Long-term pattern observed by Erlendur Haraldsson of a decrease in apparitional sightings as time (in years) passes from the moment of death. [Source: References 5-6]

​And as observed by researchers James Matlock, Beth Hilton, and their colleagues, this kind of pattern even holds for reported sightings made of animal apparitions (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Long-term pattern observed by Matlock et al. of a decrease in animal apparition sightings as time (in years) passes from the moment of animal death. [Source: Reference 7, p. 64]

​A Possible Practical Take-Away Tip

When considered altogether, these findings seem to suggest that the number of reported spectral sightings tends to get less frequent as more time continues to pass. And if this happens to extend more widely to a number of haunting cases, then it may further suggest that while hauntings tend to last a long time, they don’t go on forever.

That would seem to further reinforce a practical consideration suggested earlier to ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts [6]: Be mindful of a location’s history of haunting, in order to see whether a visit might be worthwhile or not. Try to check up on the latest witness reports beforehand in order to determine how long ago phenomena were last reported there, and what was experienced. Has anyone seen the ghost there lately? If the location is a publicly accessible one, then there might be some time-stamped reviews and vlogs available on the Internet from other visitors who have been there, which can give hints about what has occurred (if anything) and how recently.

In doing this, it’s also good to be mindful that some publicly accessible locations may hype their reputed haunt as a tourist attraction. This means there’s a possibility that even though the haunting may have stopped, these locations could be aiming to keep the legend of haunting going, for the purpose of keeping up interest and drawing in more visitors - after all, who wants to visit a place that may no longer be haunted? When faced with such a potential situation, it may be good to further look into the quality of the witness reports coming from the location lately: Are the witnesses describing phenomena that come anywhere close to matching the kinds of phenomena that were experienced there in the more distant past? Or do the phenomena being reported lately seem relatively mundane? Weighing thoughts of this may be useful in deciding whether to make visit to the location or not.

​For more details on this and other practical take-away tips that may be useful to consider on future ghost hunts, check out this article in the pages of PDN’s new Parawize Journal.

​References

[1] Morton, R. C. [Despard, R. C.] (1892). Record of a haunted house. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 8, 311 - 332.

[2] Collins, B. A. (1948). The Cheltenham Ghost. Psychic Press Ltd.

[3] MacKenzie, A. (1988). Continuation of the “Record of a Haunted House.” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 55, 25 - 32.

[4] Gurney, E., & Myers, F. W. H. (1889). On apparitions occurring soon after death. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 5, 403 - 485.

[5] Haraldsson, E. (2012). The Departed Among the Living: An Investigative Study of Afterlife Encounters. White Crow Books.

[6] Williams, B. J. (2026). Seeking spectral insight: Some possible practical lessons for ghost hunting from parapsychological research. Parawize Journal, 1, 1 - 23. https://dx.doi.org/10.66589/rnc13b29

[7] Matlock, J. G., Hilton, B., Sheldrake, R., Smart, P., & Nahm, M. (2024). After-death communications (ADCs) from non-human animals: Parallels with human ADCs. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 38, 61 - 78. https://dx.doi.org/10.31275/20243087

Insane Guide to England’s Most Haunted Asylums

Don't arrange to have me sent to no asylums...

England has an unfortunate reputation of pioneering some of the most iniquitous mental asylums in Western history; existing buildings and surviving ruins still retain some of their sinister atmosphere -and other, more dreadful things.

Let us visit some of these reminders of (slightly) less enlightened times, including one particular establishment that I might have resided at - but hasten to add, not as an inmate. Or indeed as an overseer/doctor.

Bethlem to Bedlam

Interior of the Bethlehem Hospital

​National Library of Medicine, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

The notorious Bethlem establishment was founded in 1247, located just outside the London city walls in Bishopsgate Without. It moved a short distance to Moorfields in 1676, then St George's Fields in Southwark in 1815, and lastly to Monks Orchard (Beckenham) in 1930.

The word ‘bedlam’, meaning uproar and confusion, is derived from the hospital's nickname, representative of the worst excesses of the old asylums and some of the modern ones. What tormented spirits stalked the various homes to the hospital?

The Madness of Bedlam

Madness of Bedlam

The Bethlem asylum has inspired several horror books, films, and TV series, including 1946’s Bedlam, starring Boris Karloff.

Bedlam

Haunted Bedlam

(Excerpt from The Lordprice London Experience)

The most famous ghost of (modern) Bedlam is the sad spectre of poor Rebecca. At a merchant’s house by London Bridge lived a lovely young girl by the name of Rebecca. She fell head over heels in love with a handsome young Indian man who had come to lodge with the family. So besotted was she that when he packed up his bags to return to India she was shocked that he hadn’t loved her quite nearly as much as she’d loved him. She helped him to pack his things, hoping all the while that he would change his mind and agree to stay. But all she received was a gold sovereign that he slipped into her hand before leaving forever. The grief of her spurning was too much for her mind to handle and she snapped, soon being admitted to Bedlam Hospital.

The golden sovereign he had given her was gripped firmly in her fist for the remainder of her short life, the final token from her lost love, never to be given up. When she finally wasted away into death it didn’t go unnoticed by one of the guards who prised the coin from her hand and then buried her without her most prized possession. It was after that the guards, inmates and visitors all began to report a strange sight indeed. A wan and ghostly figure began to roam the halls of Bedlam, searching for her lost love token, her spirit refusing to be put to rest until she had it back in her hand. It is said that she still wanders the halls to this day, looking for that stolen coin to make her whole once more.

Nearby where I used to live, a wall was built with some of the bricks from one of the previous incarnations of Bedlam, although it doesn’t say so here, but I’ve seen ‘em.

Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum

Friern Hospital (formerly Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum) has now been converted to Princess Park Manor and Friern Village; I was tempted to buy an apartment there once, but tales of its former use and possible unwelcome inhabitants put me off, together with the vaguely ‘off’ feel to the place - and this was before I knew of its former use.

Popstar Adam Ant stayed there following a suicide attempt in1976; I met him a couple of times in 2000s Soho when he was again semi-unhinged, but he’s apparently better now.

"After my suicide attempt, there was nothing to lose. It was time to become Adam Ant" Eighties icon Adam Ant went from the top of the charts to a psychiatric ward. He tells Peter Ross about falling in love, falling apart, and that golden period when his

"HELLO, " I said. "I'm here to see Adam Ant." The hotel receptionist looked at me. He raised an eyebrow. It shot straight…

www.heraldscotland.com

Asylums in literature

P.G. Wodehouse's novel The Code of the Woosters (1938) has a scene where Jeeves suggests that a character is ‘eccentric’. Wooster responds: "Eccentric? She could step straight into Colney Hatch, and no questions asked." The asylum is also mentioned in C.S Lewis’ The Magician's Nephew (1955). When evil White Witch Jadis demands that residents of London bow down to her, the Cockneys reply, "Three cheers for the Hempress of Colney 'atch!"

In G. K. Chesterton's The Man who was Thursday (1908), the asylum is again referenced as a byword for madness, “And now, in the name of Colney Hatch, what is it?”

Bracebridge St. John’s Hospital, Lincolnshire

Now unsurprisingly a luxury housing estate, the hospital was designed by John Hamilton and James Medland in the ‘Italianate’ style as the Lincolnshire County Lunatic Asylum, opening in 1852, becoming Bracebridge Pauper Lunatic Asylum in 1898 and Bracebridge Mental Hospital in 1919.

Much strange phenomena has been reported from within the hospital grounds; when it closed, two removal men were employed to clear the building, but unholy shrieking made them leave pronto. People walking near the former asylum have regularly heard ghastly screaming, whilst the fire brigade has even been called to the building when residents have reported sightings of strange lights. Back in September 2010, a photograph taken by a miscreants who snuck into the property was printed in the Lincolnshire Echo, showing a creepy white figure looking out of one of the windows.

The Homestead tavern in nearby Bracebridge Heath is set on the former hospital grounds, with staff and customers reporting seeing ghostly nurses and patients in the pub. Presumably not asking for booze and salty bar snacks.

Severalls Hospital, Colchester, Essex

Severalls Hospital

​Glyn Baker / Severalls Hospital

Severalls hospital opened as the Second Essex County Asylum in May 1913. Villas were constructed around the main hospital building and there was a detached building for the medical superintendent. The hospital's history consists of almost unrelenting misery...

In August 1942, the hospital was bombed by Hitler’s Luftwaffe. Three 500-lb bombs were dropped on its west wing and thirty-eight patients were killed. Ten years later in the 1950s, psychiatrists experimented with new ‘treatments’ at the hospital, such as frontal lobotomies - most of the 'patients' here were healthy people, admitted by their own families or friends for non-medical reasons.

Diana Gittins writes in Madness in its Place: Narratives of Severalls Hospital, "...often women were admitted by their own family, sometimes as the result of bearing illegitimate children or because they had been raped. As they would not always (or were unable to) carry out daily tasks, they were considered to be insane and some were even subjected to electroconvulsive therapy and lobotomy." By the early 1980s, the hospital went into a state of decline, most of it closing in the 1990s, with the final section shut down in 1997.

There were the usual plans to redevelop the area into residential homes, although most people would obviously prefer not to abide in a place of awful tragedy and mistreatment. Nowadays those brave enough to explore the building report hearing female screams, as well as apparitions and shimmering orbs hovering in the air.

Nocton Hall, Lincolnshire

The original structure dates back to a stunning 1530. Since then, there have been two reconstructions. Several prominent people have been residents of the house, the most notable being Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon (1782-1859) who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a brief 5 month period across 1827-8.

During the First World War, the house was used as a convalescent home for wounded shell-shocked US officers. During WWII, the British Army used the house, after which it was taken over by the RAF, with an extensive hospital developed on the grounds. The house reverted to private use in the 1980s, but in 2004, a major fire left the building in a parlous state, a burned out shell:

Nocton Hall

Given that Nocton Hall has stood in various iterations since the 12th century, it's hardly surprising that the Nocton Hall estate is on the haunted asylums list.

‘The ghost of a crying young woman was said to roam the halls and particularly enjoy haunting one specific bedroom in the building. Several staff members who stayed in this room were awakened on separate occasions at four-thirty in the morning to find the apparition of a young girl standing at the end of the bed. She was sobbing, speaking incoherently and crying about a 'devilish man' who had 'done this to her.'

It’s believed that this was the spirit of a young servant girl who was murdered by the owner’s son after he got her with child.

UK’s Scariest Haunt

‘The Grey Lady’ apparently stalks the Nocton Hall grounds but there is no clue as to who she was. Other hauntings include that of a soldier who is seen standing on a staircase of the derelict building and some of the previous patients.

St. Andrew's Hospital (formerly Norfolk Lunatic Asylum)

Originally named the Norfolk County Asylum, the establishment opened in 1814 and later became known as the Norfolk Mental Hospital and then St Andrew's Hospital in 1923, closing in April 1998. People who either worked at or visited the hospital reported experiencing paranormal activity. One ‘witness’ said they saw apparitions whilst working on turning the building into apartments, which included the morgue (nice).

Inside Abandoned Asylum & Morgue

Talgarth Asylum, Wales

Talgarth Hospital

​Jonathan Billinger / Talgarth Hospital

From Totally Haunted (2018):

The site is in such a bad state of dereliction, I think it has to be one of the worst we have investigated. We eventually found a way in and that was more by luck than judgement. Everything seemed quiet for some time with no activity and the place felt peaceful and calm. Then things started to happen. We started to hear footsteps coming from all around the hall, not being able to pin point where they were coming from. Maybe it was the residual sounds of the long-forgotten patients as they danced around the ballroom.

We also heard a few knocks coming from the far end of the hall but our cameras were struggling to pick up sound or picture from that far away. There was a chair on the stage where we were stood and I asked if anybody would like to come and sit in the chair, then something was thrown. By this point the atmosphere seemed to have changed a bit and it wasn’t so peaceful anymore.

Almost straight after the first thing was thrown something else was thrown but from a different area and it was closer. After that it seemed to go quiet again, but not for long. I heard what I thought was a growl but to be sure I asked Cameron who was stood beside me if it was his stomach to which he replied “No” but he and Jack had both heard it too. Then straight away I heard it again behind me so I turned to film that area and then something was thrown right by me.

Denbigh Lunatic Asylum

Abandoned Asylum

Designed by architect Thomas Fulljames, the Denbigh asylum was opened 1848. A hospital for up to 200 people with psychiatric illnesses, but by the 1950s it housed 1,500 patients. The institution was gradually wound down as a healthcare facility from 1991, finally closing in 1995. Now (of course) being thought of as luxury apartment complex.

Said to stand on grounds cursed by witches who were once tried and executed there, it is believed that their spirits still roam the ruined hospital and surrounding land. Here were performed early remedies for malaria, insulin shock treatments, use of sulfur-based drugs, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and personality-changing prefrontal lobotomy treatments, introduced in the early 1940s. Paranormal investigators have reported their evidence on the website Totally Haunted.

TV show Most Haunted Live paid the asylum a visit in October 2008; unexplained bangs, crashes and unusual sounds and sightings were recorded and a special Halloween live exorcism conducted.

Asylum (1972)

Further afield, in New York City, the asylum at Roosevelt Island, formerly Blackwell’s Island/Welfare Island, before that Varkens Eylandt, and originally Minnehanonck (‘Nice Island’ in Lenape).

Stories include encounters with the spirits of former patients and staff, weird sounds, cold spots, lingering old cigarette smoke, and former resident ‘ Big Jim’ who murdered another patient with a bedpost.

Punishment Of Luxury - Laughing Academy

Laughing Academy

Michael Sembello - Maniac

Maniac

The Nutt House (1989) Episode 1

The Nutt House

Stephen Arnell’s novel THE GREAT ONE is available now on Amazon Kindle; his new work, THE FORTUNATE ONE, will be published later this Spring.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-One-Secret-Memoirs-Pompey-ebook/dp/B0BNLTB2G7

References

1 https://nyghosts.com/the-madness-of-roosevelt-island/

2 https://www.gothamcenter.org/gothamed-february/blackwells-island-home-for-the-poor-sick-mad-and-criminal-in-19th-century-new york

3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59163480

4. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/spine-chilling-picture-shows-something-11133602

5. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/4308032.stm

6. http://totallyhaunted.co.uk/denbigh-mental-asylum.php

7. https://www.thecaterer.com/news/broadmoor-hospital-hotel-plans-sale-nhs

8. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6631565/Haunting-images-faces-troubled-souls-Victorian-pauper-lunatic-asylum.html

9. https://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/hauntings/nocton-hall/

10. https://hauntedhistoryoflincolnshire.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/surrounding-areas/bracebridge-st-johns-hospital/

11. https://lordpricexp.uk/the-haunting-of-bedlam/

The Mysterious Ash Tree - Beware or Befriend?

​In my front garden stands a typically fast-growing Ash tree, one whose roots are perilously close to destroying the garage.

Which got me thinking about the Ash tree in folklore and in the paranormal world; my cultural touchstone being M.R. James’ disturbing tale The Ash Tree (1904); links to two BBC2 versions are linked below.

The Ash (or Fraxinus) is generally regarded as a positive member of a genus of plants in the olive and lilac family, or Oleaceae. Indeed, in Norse mythology, the World Tree Yggdrasil is held to be a sacred Ash tree and was regarded across Northern Europe as a symbol of cosmic connection, healing, and strength.

The Old Ash Tree

​Symon Parsley / Old Ash Tree

In popular culture, the World Tree recently featured in season 2 of Marvel’s LOKI (2023).

For the Vikings, the first man, Askr, was formed from an Ash, whilst the first woman Embla was made from an elm. In the Norse poem Hávamál, Odin described hanging himself from a "wind-swept (Ash) tree" for nine nights, wounded by a spear, in a self-sacrifice to himself to gain wisdom and learn the secrets of the runes.

​In Celtic and British folklore, the Ash is one of the three sacred trees, along with Oak and Thorn; a healing tree, particularly used in rituals to cure poorly children.

For the ancient Greeks, the Meliae were nymphs associated with the Ash tree, born from the blood of Uranus falling onto Gaia.

​The Askafroa (wife of the Ash tree), or in Danish ‘Askefrue’ is the guardian of the Ash tree, a malicious creature. To appease her, it was necessary to make a sacrifice every Ash Wednesday by pouring water on her roots and declaring: "I am offering to you so that you do us no harm".

​Ash Wednesday, while nowadays of course, a Christian observance marking the start of Lent, has roots in pagan customs of purification, mourning, and the return of spring, including using ash for protection, fertility, and renewal. Ashes were used to mark the forehead for Odin’s protection often done on "Odin's Day" (Wednesday). In Celtic tradition, ashes were used to bless livestock and ensure fertility during the transition from winter to spring, frequently associated with Imbolc celebrations.

There are fictional takes on less than benevolent Ash trees, including in the 1990 3-part BBC television adaptation of Kingsley Amis’s novel, The Green Man (1969), where it puts in a truly terrifying appearance at the beginning of the first episode:

​Note: Green Man sculptures are often created from fallen Ash trees.

The Green Man in Lesnes Abbey Woods, London Borough of Bexley.

​Ethan Doyle White, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The UK - in ‘real’ life?

1869’s Haunted Ash of Lampits (Scotland), part of The Ghosts of Carnwath series of supernatural reportage

An account in Scotland’s Hamilton Advertiser of 28th August 1869 detailed a melancholy apparition and haunted Ash tree near Lampits Farm, to the east of Carstairs Junction in South Lanarkshire:

“There long stood a solitary, melancholy-looking ash tree in a field on the Lampits Farm, in the vicinity of Cockysyetts, which was cut down to make way for the Queen’s branch of the Caledonian Railway, and which was still more melancholy, in my imagination, from its dismal associations; for here, on one of the branches of this dowie-looking tree, a poor heart-broken girl of Cockysyetts closed her earthly sorrows and her earthly pilgrimage. No mavis or blackbird was ever seen to nestle in it scanty foliage, no merry note of music was ever heard from its dull half-blasted branches; the raven might croak and the pyot chatter there by day, and the owl scream by night, but no other merriment, dear tree, was thine. Ghosts love the darkness and the shade, and the ghost of poor Jessie was often seen gliding at midnight among the shadows of the fearsome neuk.”

Today, few trees grow on the flat windswept carseland around Lampits. There remains, however, a solitary ancient ash tree that commands a view across the flat fields towards the Caledonian Railway. Many of its upper branches have been lost to past storms, and disease ravages others, however new growth continues to sprout from a gnarled and weathered old trunk.

With scanty foliage and half-blasted branches it has an uncanny resemblance to the melancholy old ash tree described in the newspaper article over 150 years ago. Ash trees can live for up to three hundred years, therefore it’s possible that the surviving tree could have witnessed Jessie’s melancholy end, early in the 19th century. It might even have sprung from a seed of the haunted ash.

The Hardy Tree (St Pancras Old Church, London)

​David Edgar, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The Hardy tree was an Ash tree located in the very ancient, possibly Roman St Pancras Old Church's churchyard in London. Notable for the stacked gravestones embedded at its base in around 1860, when graves were moved by writer-then-architect Thomas Hardy to make way for the Midland Railway to run through the churchyard.

In 2014, the tree was infected with fungus, and with storms further weakening it, the tree fell in December 2022.

The Hell Tree

From: The Mysterious Hardy Tree | Graves that Circle a Tree….(2021)

It’s thought that during his time here, Hardy actually uncovered the body of a two-headed man during the excavations. Thomas never documented anything regarding and this and more recent photographs of the tree has encouraged speculation if he ever had anything to do creating the design at all. He did write a poem named Levell’d Churchyard. Thomas’s poem suggests that he didn’t have fond memories of the work he did here but its hardly surprising given the job he was expected to do.

In letters that were written by the St Pancras Old Church vicar John Tweed in 1859 to his wife Charlotte, he appeared to have witnessed a supernatural manifestation. The vicar detailed how his churchyard was home to a mass gathering of apparitions and how tombstones seem to appear at the Ash tree and that he had even seen them moving towards this tree by a unseen force.

In December 1859 he wrote to Charlotte: ”More missing headstones. Increasingly certain of connection with my guests. Today I traced strange lines of disturbed earth across the graveyard. Each lead to the Ash Tree. Are they being dragged there? And then where? The ash tree itself is looking increasingly unhealthy, possibly diseased. I don’t like to get too close to it.”

And then: “If I hadn’t seen such as I have seen these past months I may not have trusted my eyes, but trust them I must. I shall record it in as plain a manner as I know how: By the light of the moon last night I saw a gravestone, moving with some speed, and quite of its own accord, across the graveyard. It hurtled towards the ash tree, at the base of which it disappeared, as if plunging in to the very bowels of the tree.” Finally: “Good God. Hundreds of them, of all shapes, just pouring into the tree.” He later refers to the tree being a gateway and it’s believed by some that he felt it could have possibly been a hell gate.

​“Dearest Charlotte, I do so love hearing your news from the vale, it pains me to have to recount the horrors of my life here… At night I am plagued by nightmares so vivid and dreadful that I am afraid to sleep at all. I have been nailed to the cursed iron frontage of a flame-licked and hell-bound locomotive. I have walked through the dark miasma and fetid slime of a London choked by death. I have seen the flagstones of the church floor thrust violently upwards by a sudden eruption of uncertain origin. And these are only the visions I have the constitution to retell… I begin to suspect that it is not just the lost ones that are being dragged down to that place. For how to account for the sheer number I watch descend every night? Where will it end? Must every dead soul in the parish, every dead soul in London be reclaimed for damnation?! No Charlotte, I shall not see it happen.”

​Allegedly John Tweed closed the hell gate in 1860 by burying a Bible under the tree, and scans of the Ash tree show a large book buried within the roots… but nobody has ever been allowed to dig the area. No reports were made from Tweed after 1860, when he lost the ability to record his findings; his writing hand apparently useless.

​And...this from Exit Strategy for the Restless Dead: The Hell Tree of St Pancras (2017)

He wrote to Charlotte: “Every thief, vagabond and ne’er-do-well in London seems to have wound up buried at St P. Which would be all well and good, except that the digging up of late seems to have unearthed more than just bones. Judging by the number of lost souls drifting about the place in one spirit form or another, I would offer that many of my guests are far from welcome in Heaven. I can only assume that having been buried in consecrated ground further precludes them from the other place, which leaves them, it is my horror to say, stuck in the churchyard with me”.

Tweed was not entirely without sympathy for his ghostly companions, going on to tell his wife that they were: “Sad seeming things. I feel quite sorry for them. I don’t suppose I should mind at all if only they kept their mournful meanderings to the night-time hours. Last Sunday I was midway through service when a wraith came down the aisle – an infernal thing, it stalked among the shadows between the shafts of morning light, wailing and moaning like a baleful cat. There were already murmurings amongst the parishioners about the foul stench from the digging up. Dearest Charlotte, I am not sure how much longer I can pacify them.”

The Beatles at Old St Pancras (1968)

Although St Pancras Old Church is in central London, minutes away from the great Victorian Gothic pile of a station, the area can be quite a haunting, lonely place, perched on a hill overlooking the railway junctions of St Pancras and King’s Cross. I remember visiting in the snows and blizzards of Winter 2015, when the church grounds felt like something from one of Grimm’s tales.

The Lively Arts: Thomas Hardy - A Haunted Man (1978)

The Ash Tree - Vampire/Zombie Killer

​In folklore, an ash stake is traditionally used to kill vampires, especially in Slavic, Russian, and Baltic traditions. Ash wood represents protective, "life" energy in Norse mythology, where it can help destroy the Draugr (Undead), or at least weaken their supernatural powers. The Viking version of vampires/zombies are described as bloated “death-blue/black” revenants who ferociously protect their treasure, with the ability to grow to giant sizes and shapeshift.

Note: other words for the Undead or Vampires in Norse legend include:

Aptrgangr (Again-walker): One who walks again.

Haugbúi (Barrow-dweller): One that dwells within its burial mound (howe).

Gjenganger: A ghost or revenant.

​In Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), Abraham Van Helsing utilizes wooden stakes associated with specific woods like ash or white oak to impale vampires by piercing their Undead hearts.

Three BBC adaptations of The Ash Tree by M.R James

The Ash-Tree (1986)

And a later telling from 2000; my idea but ripped off by a then senior BBC colleague:

​A Ghost Story for Christmas: The Ash Tree (1975) - The big reveal...

​Ash Wednesday (1973) full movie

LINKS

​The Haunted Ash of Lampits: https://clydesdalesheritage.org.uk/article/the-haunted-ash-of-lampits/

​Askafroa: https://www.stronghold-nation.com/history/myth/askafroa

​Ash Wednesday and its pagan origins: https://susannesanlier.wordpress.com/2015/02/18/ash-wednesday-and-its-pagan-origins/

​What is Imbolc? The Celtic fire festival that welcomes spring—in February: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/imbolc-celtic-celebration-brigid

​Draugr, Haugbui And Aptrgangr – The Undead of Norse Myths: https://vikingr.org/other-beings/undead-viking-age?srsltid=AfmBOooD9FPhdZ_fGZNJpou74mRFiwpS_qX8UmyR39HCDmJHrj0w4hDj

​Thomas Hardy: Gravestone-encircled tree falls in Camden: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64110086

​The Mysterious Hardy Tree | Graves that Circle a Tree….:https://paranormalhauntings.blog/2021/12/26/the-mysterious-hardy-tree-graves-that-circle-a-tree/

​Exit strategy for a restless dead: The Hell Tree of St Pancras: https://portalsoflondon.com/2017/01/20/the-hell-tree-of-st-pancras/

STEPHEN ARNELL’S HISTORICAL NOVEL THE GREAT ONE IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-One-Secret-Memoirs-Pompey-ebook/dp/B0BNLTB2G7

SAMPLE:

The Unquiet Spirits of Clacton-on-Sea

​The Essex seaside town of Clacton-on-Sea is a peculiar place; a faded former holiday resort for London’s Cockney underclass, now best known for being the constituency of former (and maybe again, if he is re-elected on August 13th) Reform MP/leader, one Nigel Farage. Two of my articles on Mr Farage are linked below in Additional Reading.

I knew the area fairly well, as both my widowed grandmothers live in the village of Little Clacton, just outside the town. I used to stay with both for a week during the summer holidays as a kid. One of my grandmothers later married a faith healer, who held free surgeries in his consulting room at her bungalow. A decent old cove, he however did say I possessed ‘The Sight’, which was slightly disturbing for an imaginative youngster to hear, but there you go.

Clacton Pier

​On Clacton Pier by JThomas, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Anyway, the area has an interesting history. I was told of smuggling tunnels linking the nearby church of Saint James to the ancient cellars of local pubs The Blacksmith’s Arms, The Ship Inn and The Queen’s Head, presumably as part of a ‘Dr Syn’-style contraband operation organised by the local vicar(s). Other tunnels were rumoured to link the manor house, Giddy Hall, to the coast (unlikely, as it’s around 2.5m away), so the Clacton gentry were also presumably involved in the racket.

From Hidden East Anglia:

​From a genuine event has arisen an odd little legend. In 1806 the Cameron Highlanders were stationed in barracks at nearby Weeley. At the St. James’ Day Fair (on July 26th) a fight broke out outside the Blacksmiths Arms between villagers and some of the soldiers, with some of the latter being chased along the street. A soldier named Alexander McDonald had hurt his foot, and was caught, struck and slain. On the spot where his head hit the road, it was said that a hole appeared which could not be filled, no matter how hard people tried. His gravestone can still be seen in Weeley churchyard, with the inscription “late soldier in the First Battalion 79th Regt who in the prime of life was inhumanly murdered near Little Clacton”.

Little Clacton’s St James Church itself has a macabre history:

Prudence Lambert (1582): Prudence remarried two months after her first husband died in mysterious circumstances. Consumed by guilt, she hanged herself the morning after the wedding. As suicide was considered a grave sin, she was buried in unsanctified ground at the furthest edge of the churchyard. Legend holds this specific corner of the grounds is haunted by her restless spirit.

The Witch Trial Executions (1645): During the notorious Essex Witch Trials, local rector Henry Waite’s wife was executed for witchcraft, despite being said to be extremely pious.

Additionally, other Little Clacton women were accused of using "imps" to carry out their designs, causing long-lasting dark folklore to imprint the parish.

Nearby St Osyth's Priory is steeped in paranormal lore, most famously haunted by the ghost of its namesake, the Saxon Princess Osyth. She wanders the ancient grounds carrying her severed head after being decapitated by Viking raiders in AD 653.

St Osyth’Priory Gatehouse

​St Osyth's Priory Gatehouse by Marathon, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Other paranormal sightings at the priory include a hooded white monk and a phantom nun who peers into local windows.

A short distance from the Priory sits a 16th-century cottage known as ‘The Cage’, which once acted as the local prison for accused witches. In 1582, Ursula Kempe and others were detained there before being tried for witchcraft. The Cage has gained modern notoriety as one of the most haunted houses in Britain. Investigations have cited both poltergeist activity (former owners reported being pushed, and CCTV has recorded slamming doors and disembodied voices) and apparitions of shadowy figures and sudden temperature drops.

Clacton itself boasts as variety of supernatural phenomena that continue to defy explanation, including the following:

​West Cliff Theatre Tower Road: Both Staff and performers at West Cliff Theatre have spoken of unexplained eerie noises backstage, footfall in empty parts of the building and the feeling that they are not alone after audiences have gone home.

​Wilson House, Leas Road (no longer standing): In the late-twentieth century, a ghostly white lady was said to have been seen by several schoolgirls when this building was a dorm. Sounds of heavy footsteps could also be heard walking along the corridors late at night.

​The Kingscliff Hotel: A woman in old-fashioned clothes has reportedly been seen walking through the corridors then disappearing without trace. Unexplained footsteps, doors opening by themselves and an uneasy feeling when parts of the hotel are empty have also been reported.

​The old ballroom at former Butlin’s holiday camp: Butlin's Clacton was used as a training base when the Second World War broke out. A soldier was supposedly stabbed and killed in a fight which occurred at the ballroom and took to haunting the area. The camp was demolished and the area redeveloped in the mid-1980s; the ghost left at the same time. There are no official police or historical records of a stabbing in the Butlin's ballroom in Clacton during the 1940s.

​St Johns Road: Phantom monks seen drifting along the roads in this area of Clacton.

​Clacton Pier: Spooky figures have been seen on Clacton Pier after dark, vanishing as people get closer. Workers have claimed to hear footsteps and unexplained voices when the pier is usually deserted. Probably drunk.

Old Kinema: Local history accounts say a fire was started by a projectionist who perished in the building in a suspected suicide in the 1940s. His damned shade disturbed cinemagoers and staff. The cinema was closed and demolished in early 1962.

Thornbury Road private house: In 2003, after a period of experiencing disembodied footsteps, doors opening and closing and electrical items working independently, the occupier saw the manifestation of a young girl. The occupiers were then dragged across the floor by their ankles and creeped out by the appearance of an evil old crone in the box room bed. I couldn’t find much, if any, supporting evidence.

​Jaywick Martello Tower: Visitors to this defensive tower, constructed to combat Napoleon, have reported hearing footsteps echoing through the empty fort, along with strange voices, and the feeling that someone is watching them. Sudden cold spots have also been reported.

Old Lifeboat House: During the late twentieth century, a shopkeeper who hired a room to store surplus stock reported that items would rearrange themselves overnight.

Private house along St Osyth Road: From 1975 until the building was exorcised in 1978, the family living at the house reported spectral singing, ghostly footsteps, and a wee girl, who all could hear but only their four year old son could see. No online supporting material aside from The Paranormal Database.

St John's Church: Ghostly figures have reportedly been seen strolling through the churchyard, whilst whispers and footsteps are heard when nobody else is nearby. The church dates back to the twelfth century and has inspired local ghost stories for generations. Smugglers apparently used the locale, adding to its unsavoury reputation.

Ghosts of monks, the victims of a homicidal innkeeper, a cavalier, a highwayman, and a man torn apart by a mob have all been reported at what are now the environs of the quaint Treasure Holt Garden Centre.

​What Happened To Clacton-On-Sea? A Town Stuck in Time

The Parish Church of Saint James, Little Clacton

​Little Clacton church by Robin Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

​Fun Fact: The "Clacton Spear", a Neanderthal yew spear found near Clacton-on-Sea in 1911 is the world's oldest known wooden spear at approximately 420,00-450,000 years of age.

Down by the Seaside by Led Zeppelin

Additional Reading:

Nigel Farage: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/nigel-farage-pg-wodehouses-roderick-spode-made-flesh

Before Farage’s 5 million: https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/farages-ps5-million-short-tour-british-sleaze

Sources include:

​The Paranormal Database: https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/essex/esspages/essedata.php?pageNum_paradata=5

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2015/jun/05/your-spiritual-home-in-clacton

Haunted Hosts: https://hauntedhosts.com/haunted-places/essex/clacton-on-sea/

Clacton Gazette: https://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/25654622.clacton-group-snaps-photo-ghost-historic-pub/

Clacton Gazette: https://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/1169235.web-exclusive-ghostly-going-on/

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/10/clacton-byelection-nigel-farage-establishment-laurence-fox-reform

Haunted Isles: https://hauntedisles.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-ghost-of-st-osyth-october-haunting.html

Little Clacton Parish Council: https://www.littleclacton-pc.org.uk/little-clacton

St Osyth Museum: https://www.stosythmuseum.co.uk/buildings/the-cage

​The Essex Witch Trials: https://www.eastanglianwitchproject.co.uk/blog/essex1

​The Clacton Spear: https://www.exploringgb.co.uk/blog/the-clacton-spear-oldest-wooden-artefact-ever-found-in-britain

​Treasure Holt Garden Centre: https://www.treasureholt.co.uk/about-us/

Clacton-on-Sea Header image attribution:

​Mark Crombie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons