Spooky happenings at Lacock Abbey

This is a photograph of the hauntingly beautiful Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, about five or six miles from my home town of Corsham. Lacock, which is a wholly owned National Trust village, is home to this ancient Abbey, which was converted to a home after the Reformation. Once the home of William Henry Fox-Talbot, a pioneer of early photography, there is now a Fox-Talbot museum close by. In more recent times parts of the Abbey, such as the Cloisters, pictured below, have been used as backdrops in the Harry Potter films.

I recall an occasion in the early 1960's --- I think it would have been 1961 --- when I was at Lacock Abbey for the local Hunt Ball, where I was to be working for my father for the evening. As a local Wine Merchant, he had been given the task of ensuring that the evening was well-oiled, and my job was to wander around collecting empty glasses and washing them up ready for refilling.

Because I was there to work rather than as a guest I had arrived fairly early in the evening, and there was a momentary panic on because the lights had blown a fuse, something which I was told by the occupier, Col. Burnett-Brown, was not unusual. I walked with him through parts of the Abbey, being shown around on a sort of mini guided tour, on the way to fix the fuse. At one point, walking down the corridor, we passed a room which gave one a strange feeling as we passed by the open doorway. The Colonel explained to me when I commented on this that his dogs would not enter the room willingly. He told me that if you tried to drag them into the room they would struggle to get out as quickly as possible. He then added that even he tended to not enter the room unless he absolutely had to, because it sent shivers down his spine and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand out. I asked him whether he thought the room was haunted and he confirmed that this was definitely his conclusion, although he had never seen a ghost there personally.

The fact that he was very much a 'no-nonsense' sort of man added a sense of authority to his comments, and from the sensations that I experienced walking past the room, and at several other points in the corridor, I have no doubt that the area was definitely the scene of ghostly happenings. I would imagine that this building, part of which is in a semi-derelict condition, is home to many such events. Perhaps another contender for a 'Ghost Walk, for the intrepid.