Littledean Hall is a stately home in Gloucester, England, haunted by multiple Ghosts. The house, a converted Saxon church, was built on a Roman-Celtic settlement, possibly an iron works. Original Saxon rooms can still be seen beneath the main floor of the house. Littledean has been continuously occupied since the 11th century.
The main haunting of Littledean dates to the English Civil War, (1642–48) when the house was garrisoned by both the Royalists and the Roundheads. Two Royalist officers were murdered in the dining room. A phantom stain resembling a pool of blood appears on the spot where they fell.
The stain also is linked to a later death in 1741. Charles Pyrke, son of Thomas Pyrke, owner of the house, raped the sister of a black manservant. The manservant murdered Charles. The ghost of a black man is seen near the area where the stain appears.
A story also tells of a pistol duel fought in the house around 1740. A man was killed, and his ghost haunts the house as well.
Littledean has been occupied by the Macer-Wright family since 1979. It was opened to the public in 1982. Many visitors report encountering apparitions, especially on the drive and by the courtyard. One ghost is a hunched figure dressed in a long cloak, believed to be John Brayne, a Roundhead captain during the civil war who spied on the Royalists. Brayne is said to have disguised himself as a gardener in order to observe the king’s men.
Psychics and ghost investigators, includingEddie Burks, have visited Littledean. Burks sensed the presence of a Roman woman who was a priestess at an ancient temple on the site; a woman taken from the hall in the 13th or 14th century and condemned to death as a witch; a woman associated with the house during the Civil War; the man shot in a pistol duel, supposedly over a gambling incident; the two murdered Royalist officers; and two Victorian or Edwardian men.
FURTHER READING:
- Burks, Eddie, and Gillian Cribbs. Ghosthunter: Investigating the World of Ghosts and Spirits. London: Headline Book Publishing, 1995.
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SOURCE:
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits– Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – September 1, 2007