Ghost Story of the Day: Haunted Hampsthwaite

A young maiden is said to haunt a farmhouse in Hampsthwaite where she was beheaded centuries ago. Local legend says the farm is still visited by her ghost, an upstairs door opening and closing of its own accord and a stain on the stone flags - no matter how many times it is cleaned - won’t wash away.

In A History of Hampsthwaite; Villagers’ Reminiscences, one villager recounts the tale as it was told to her. Annie Pawson was born in 1901, and her grandmother owned the farm.

“It was known as the boggart house’ by everyone, ” she said. “Grandpa never allowed the girls to sleep in a particular bedroom, which had red stains. It was always said that a lady had been beheaded there and that she was heard, but never seen. Actually, people were frightened when they had no cause to be.”

Another tale that Annie recounts is of some spooky woods near to the old well. She said: “There were some old elms down near the well trough that shone silvery white in the moonlight. We had to stand on tiptoe to look down into it and that was haunted too.

One night a man was so frightened that he would not go past and he told Grandpa that the boggart was at the well. Grandpa went to look and found that one of the elms had blown down. In the space where it had been uprooted there were two florescent eyes as big as saucers!”

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