I HAVE always been interested in local ghost stories and as Halloween is fast approaching, I thought the following article might help get you in the mood!

This story also appeared in the Sunday Express of December 16th 1928 and stated,

“The spirit of Viscountess Grey of Fallodon has appeared at Wilsford Manor, the country house near Salisbury, where she lived and died. This belief is firmly held by members of her family, who have been deeply impressed by the recent strange happenings in the manor house. Mysterious footsteps were heard at dead of night in the house. It is reported, but not confirmed, that the form of Lady Grey was actually seen, and that it appeared quite distinctly in a bedroom, called the Rose Room, which Lady Grey had often used.” On her death Lady Grey left Wilsford Manor and £90,000 to her son, the Hon. David Tennant, who married Miss Hermione Baddeley, the actress.

Miss Baddeley was sleeping one night in the Manor House, when she woke up at midnight with an uncanny feeling that someone was in the room. “It was not that I actually saw Lady Grey” Miss Baddeley told the Sunday Express “but I had a most uncanny experience, and when I talked the matter over with my brother-in-law Stephen, he had no doubt that his mother had been in the room. I was asleep in the bedroom, and awoke when I heard the sound of footsteps…. The footsteps were perfectly distinct. It was eerie and I was scared… I had the feeling that someone was kneeling in the room, and I was so frightened that I woke my husband. We then switched on the lights, but there was nothing to be seen.”

If you enjoy all things ghostly and a three course meal, you might like to attend ‘Nightmare on the Square’ at the Ox Row Inn at 7.30pm on Tuesday, October 30 and Wednesday 31. Ghostly Historical Tales and Spooky Experiences!

Tickets and details from the Information Centre, Fish Row. (01722 342860)