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Ghost story about Littecotte Manor, U.K.Littlecote Manor, a stunning house, parts of which date back to the 15th century. This beautiful grade II listed building has a history going back many centuries, and there is evidence that the land on which it is set has been lived on since the Roman occupation. It is easy to appreciate why people have chosen to inhabit this outstanding piece of land; it’s peaceful, charming, and alluring; it has its own exquisite landscaped gardens amid the handsome Littlecote country estate. It has attracted royalty, it is said that Henry VIII courted Jane Seymour here, and that Charles II and William of Orange also stayed at the manor.
However, this lovely house was witness to a most heinous crime, which will forever be etched in to the history and very fabric of the house. Murder is the most appalling sin that one human can commit against another, but when it is meted out on the most innocent, a newborn baby only seconds into its life, then the crime becomes even more despicable and shameful.
The Darrell family inherited Littlecote in the early 16th century after William Darrell married in to the Colstone family who were the owners of the estate at that time. It is the vile deeds of William ‘Wild’ Darrell that many believe has lead to the haunting of Littlecote, however, it is not his spirit that visits the manor – it is that of a lonely female looking for her murdered infant.
The actual month is unknown, but sometime during the year of 1545, William Darrell sent for a Midwife to deliver the baby of a woman who was in labour at the house. A man, sent by Darrell, escorted the midwife to Littlecote and she was also blindfolded as a means to ensure that the destination remained a secret to her. The midwife arrived at the Manor and was lead to a bedroom on the first floor where a masked woman was laying in a bed, and was clearly heavy with child. The midwife, whose name is lost in times past, delivered the baby in to the waiting arms of the mother, but the woman and the midwife were unsuspecting of what was to follow next. William Darrell snatched the baby from the arms of the mother and threw the child on to an open fire in the next room and held it down in the flames with his boot. The child was burnt alive.
The midwife, no longer required, was taken back to her home - again blindfolded and with a heavy purse for her unwitting aid. The identity of the masked woman remains a mystery but some stories identify her as the sister of Darrell, and say she became pregnant after an incestuous relationship with him, or possibly a woman with whom he had improper relations. Whoever she was, she has not rested and has chosen to remain on this earthly plain, perhaps as atonement or maybe she searches in vain for the child she was so cruelly parted from.
Eye witnesses’ accounts have stated they have seen the ghost of a woman in white walking along the corridor of the first floor landing that leads to the bedroom where the terrible slaughter took place, and then simply disappears. People have heard strange noises from the same areas, and one visitor staying in the house made a tearful complaint to reception staff regarding a terrifying experience she had in her room and refused to return to it.
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