Haunted UK House Where Real Life 'Woman In Black' Is Said To Roam
Ham House in Surrey is reputed to be one of the most haunted properties in Britain
There's a haunted house in the UK where a real life 'Woman in Black' is said to roam the corridors - and this time you won't have Daniel Radcliffe there to protect you.
Ham House in Surrey is a 'unique 17th-century treasure trove', which sits on the banks of the River Thames in Richmond.
According to its website, the house was owned by the 'tenacious' Duchess of Lauderdale and her husband, the Duke, who together transformed their home into one of the grandest Stuart houses in England.
These days, however, it's not always the grandeur that visitors end up talking about, as the house is also reputed to be one of the most haunted in Britain - with some visitors reporting the 'ghostly aroma of the sweet Virginia pipe tobacco that the Duke smoked after meals in the dining room'.
The National Trust, which owns the property, says: "Cold spots, the sound of footsteps and an inexplicable scent of roses have been reported at Ham House in Surrey. Glimpses of mysterious characters all around this place has won it the reputation of being one of our most haunted places.
"At the centre of it all seems to be the restless spirit of Elizabeth Murray, Duchess of Lauderdale. She inherited Ham House from her father in 1655."
Elizabeth was said to be 'ambitious and ruthless', and often took family members to court if they crossed her.
When her first husband died suddenly, she swiftly went on to marry the recently-widowed John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale.
"Some speculated darkly about how the suspiciously close deaths of both her husband - and the Earl's wife - facilitated Elizabeth's rise further up the social ladder," the National Trust continues.
"But, in the end, she ran out of luck. After the death of her second husband came financial problems. This, along with ill health, forced Elizabeth to confine herself to a single ground floor apartment at Ham House."
Elizabeth died in 1698, but, more than 300 years later - it seems she still likes to knock about at her former abode.
"A woman in black, believed to be Elizabeth, has been seen on the stairs nearby," the National Trust warns, saying there is also a 'haunted looking glass' dating from the Duchess' time, which people are too scared to look into.
"So powerful is the force that dominates the room that staff have been known to mutter, 'Good afternoon your ladyship' before entering, just to be on the safe side."
According to Ghost-story.co.uk, rumours that Ham House was haunted started way back in 1879, when a written account by a man called Augustus Hare said: "There is a ghost at Ham. The old butler there had a little girl, she was then six years old.
"In the small hours of the morning, the child, waking up, saw a little old woman scratching with her finger against the wall close to the fireplace. She was not at all frightened at first but sat up to look at her.
"The noise she made in doing this caused the old woman to look round, she came to the foot of the bed and, grasping the rail, stared at the child long and fixedly. So horrible was her stare, that the child was terrified and screamed and hid her face. People ran in and the child told what she had seen.
"The wall was examined where she had seen the figure scratching, and concealed in it were papers, which proved that in that room, Elizabeth had murdered her first husband to marry the Duke of Lauderdale."
The website also says that, in Elizabeth's latter years, she used a cane at night to get around the house, with guests reportedly hearing tapping in the corridors at night.
And Elizabeth isn't the only spirit to haunt Ham House, as the National Trust says people have also heard 'the ghostly screams of a suicidal young nobleman who fell in love with - and was rejected by - a servant girl' at the property.
If you're brave enough to visit, Ham House and Garden is £13 for adults and £6.50 for children - although the first floor is currently closed until 2 August following the completion of a conservation project.
It has also previously hosted ghost tours, so keep an eye on the website for any future dates.
Featured Image Credit: Flickr/foundin_a_attic
Topics: Ghost, UK News, News, Woman in Black
Jess Hardiman