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Haunted Houses

Spectral stagecoach is seen passing former rectory

A former rectory in Suffolk has been in the same family for 100 years. During that time, a spectral coach and horses has been known to pass by in the dead of night. Current owner Rose told “PN” about the phenomenon and other unexplained activity in the three-storey house.

former rectory in Suffolk has been in the same family for 100 years. During that time, a spectral coach and horses has been known to pass by in the dead of night. Current owner Rose told “PN” about the phenomenon and other unexplained activity in the three-storey house.

When Mum was young, she watched what she described as a highwayman walk straight through the garden wall – there’s an arch that has been bricked in.
“When Mum was young, she watched what she described as a
highwayman walk straight through the garden wall – there’s
an arch that has been bricked in.”
MY Great Aunt Violet bought the property in 1923 and ran it as a residential guest house. It has seven main bedrooms and three rooms in the attic for servants.

When my mother Pat was three years old, she was brought to the house to live here, supposedly to ease the strain on her parents, who had five other children.

When Mum was young, she watched what she described as a highwayman walk straight through the garden wall – there’s an arch that has been bricked in.

This was in broad daylight. She said he had high boots and a tricorn hat. Dressed in that way, I suppose he could have been a vicar from olden times.

They must have seen more because after my parents inherited the place, they arranged for someone to come and exorcise it, before my brother and I were born in the 1950s.

It clearly didn’t work. When I was a baby, I was sleeping in a cot at the end of Mum and Dad’s bed. They slept in what had been the butler’s bedroom – it was warm from the fire in the room down below.

Dad woke up in the night and saw what looked like a butler standing over my cot. He had a pair of trousers over his arm and was brushing them while looking down at me.

Father saw him in detail. He said to the ghost, “Don’t you touch that baby!”

Dad might have been a bit psychic because when he was working on his uncle’s farm at dusk he spoke to a man he thought was his Uncle Lionel, the farmer. When the man didn’t answer he looked again.

He looked at the man’s feet, but as his eyes moved up to the torso the man disappeared. They believed it may have been a man who committed suicide there some years before.

"When Mum was young, she watched what she described as a highwayman walk straight through the garden wall – there’s an arch that has been bricked in."
“When Mum was young, she watched what she described as a highwayman walk straight through the garden wall – there’s an arch that has been bricked in.”

“When Mum was young, she watched what she described as a highwayman walk straight through the garden wall – there’s an arch that has been bricked in.”

At the top of the list is a Pup Psychic in Residence, who will share their doggy communications.”
“Dad woke up in the night and saw what looked like a butler standing over my cot.”

This was in broad daylight. She said he had high boots and a tricorn hat. Dressed in that way, I suppose he could have been a vicar from olden times.

They must have seen more because after my parents inherited the place, they arranged for someone to come and exorcise it, before my brother and I were born in the 1950s.

It clearly didn’t work. When I was a baby, I was sleeping in a cot at the end of Mum and Dad’s bed. They slept in what had been the butler’s bedroom – it was warm from the fire in the room down below.

Dad woke up in the night and saw what looked like a butler standing over my cot. He had a pair of trousers over his arm and was brushing them while looking down at me.

Father saw him in detail. He said to the ghost, “Don’t you touch that baby!”

Dad might have been a bit psychic because when he was working on his uncle’s farm at dusk he spoke to a man he thought was his Uncle Lionel, the farmer. When the man didn’t answer he looked again.

He looked at the man’s feet, but as his eyes moved up to the torso the man disappeared. They believed it may have been a man who committed suicide there some years before.

“Dad woke up in the night and saw what looked like a butler standing over my cot. He had a pair of trousers over his arm and was brushing them while looking down at me.”
“Dad woke up in the night and saw what looked like a butler
standing over my cot.”
Dad was very religious, but also superstitious. Before the stroke of midnight, at New Year, he’d have a piece of coal in his hand and spit on it.

“He would go outside and walk around, then come back in after twelve o’clock to bring good luck. Even now, if I see two knives crossed, I have to separate them otherwise it’s believed to be bad luck.

When Dad was sowing seed on the farm, if he missed a bit, he would have to fill it in with extra seed as the corn came up because he said a gap in the crop was a sign of a death coming to the family.

After the electricity was put on at the rectory in 1959, Mum became fed up with the Bakelite switches being flicked on and off when nobody was near them. One night my brother heard one of the switches on the landing click, but he didn’t venture out to see if anyone was there.

“One night I woke up and saw a luminous monk standing in my room reading a book. His hood up, I could see that he had the full habit on.”

The main road used to be closer than it is now, as it was straightened some years ago. When Mum’s sister Dorothy was staying here, they were all in bed and heard the sound of brass and jingling, with leather straps rattling.

Mum got out of bed, pulled the curtains back and saw this luminous white coach and horses. It had all the people on it the driver and coachman. The lights were swinging on it.

She called our dad, Frank, but he was too tired to get out of bed. Her sister Dorothy was in the next room. They both watched the vehicle go down to the corner and up the main road.

When she talked to other people about it, a local farmer reckoned he’d seen it come into his yard and pass out again one night.

When I was ten years old, I slept in a bedroom which backed onto Mum and Dad’s. One night I woke up and saw a luminous monk standing in my room reading a book. His hood up, I could see that he had the full habit on.

There was no moonlight coming in, but I could see him clearly. He was near an armchair in the corner by the end of my bed. I pulled the covers up and froze. I didn’t tell Mum until after school the next day.

My parents had been given the armchair from an old house in the next village. They must have thought he had come with it, because they moved it out of my room. This was in 1972.

One night I woke up and saw a luminous monk standing in my room reading a book. His hood up, I could see that he had the full habit on.
“One night I woke up and saw a luminous monk standing
in my room reading a book. His hood up, I could see that
he had the full habit on.”
Our mother died of cancer four years later. Towards the end of her life she was in a bed downstairs. Again, Aunt Dorothy was staying in a room upstairs.

In the morning, Mum said to Dorothy that she had heard the coach and horses go by. “Did you hear it” she asked her sister.

“I more than heard it,” said Aunt Dorothy. “I looked out of the window and saw it.”

Eventually, I inherited the house. It doesn’t bother me to be here because ghosts aren’t going to hurt you, are they?”

"One night I woke up and saw a luminous monk standing in my room reading a book. His hood up, I could see that he had the full habit on."
“One night I woke up and saw a luminous monk standing in my room reading a book. His hood up, I could see that he had the full habit on.”

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