Demolition workers photograph 'ghost of former guesthouse worker'

Demolition workers were given a fright after photographing a ghostly figure peering through the window of a derelict Victorian guesthouse.

The photograph showing a figure standing at the window of the derelict Victorian guesthouse in Kendal, 

The image is said to bear an eerie resemblance of Frances Grimshaw, who worked at the guesthouse and stood for hours at the same window taking bookings.

David Grimshaw, a former resident at the property, said he was convinced the figure is the ghost of his mother, who died nearly a year ago aged 87.

He believes her spirit may have appeared to protest at the demolition of Meadowbank House, which she adored.

"That is my mother. I'm totally convinced – no one else looks like that. She had glasses and big earrings and she used to wear a dress with a bow at the front," he said.

"She used to stand in that room for hours on the phone – it was the guesthouse reception and she took bookings from there.”

Mr Grimshaw, 59, a managing director, who now lives in Bedford, said: "She would have been horrified if she had known the house was being demolished because it was beautiful, so maybe that is why she's turned up."
Demolition supervisor Robert Johnson, 38, of Heysham, took the photograph of the house shortly before it was knocked down, earlier this week but it was only later that he noticed the ghostly figure.
"It wasn't until I got home and showed my wife that we spotted the woman," he said.
"You can see the jewellery on her and everything. I've always been a sceptic but I'll have to believe in ghosts now."
Colleague Stuart Shan, 34, from Blackburn, Lancashire, said: "The day before we took the photo we were stripping the building inside and I noticed the chandelier swinging on its own.
"We said at the time the place felt strange. My hairs were standing on end when I saw the photo. I believe it is a ghost."
Dave Armstrong, of Kendal contractors Cox and Allen, said the five-gabled building, which was originally a dentist's in the early 1900s, has been taken down to be replaced with a new commercial property.
He said he could not explain the image of the woman. "There was only a black wall behind the window, we had taken everything out – there were no visible features or anything with a skin colour."

Littlecote House Ghost

The story of the Littlecote House ghosts relates how a local midwife was woken late one night and offered a large sum of money if she would attend to a woman who was in urgent need of her services, but she had to be blindfolded. She agreed and was taken to a big house where she was instructed by a masked man to deliver a baby to a masked woman. The baby, a boy, was safely born whereupon the masked man grabbed the child and threw it on the roaring, open fire and held it there with his boot until it was dead. The midwife was devastated but as she made a final check on the progress of the mother, she had the presence of mind to tear a piece of cloth from the bed curtains. And as she was led, once again blindfolded, down the steps of the house, she counted them one by one.
The poor midwife kept her silence until, on her deathbed, she revealed the terrible secret. Immediately, suspicion fell on 'Wild Will Darrell' of Littlecote House. It was even suggested that the mystery masked mother might be his sister and that Darrell himself may be the father. The number of steps up to the manor agreed with the number given by the midwife and when a search was made of the house, in one bed-chamber a hole was found in the bed-curtains that matched exactly the piece torn out be the midwife. Darrell was arrested but it was said that there was not enough evidence to convict him and he walked from the court, a free man.
Divine Justice
But there is a higher law and it is a matter of history that Wild Darrell was killed when he was thrown from his horse while hunting in 1587 at a spot now known as "Darrell's Stile". His twisted spectre has been seen both at the scene of his death and in a bedroom in the house itself. But Wild Darrell is not the only Littlecote house ghost. In 1970, a journalist saw the figure of a midwife carrying a baby in the haunted bedroom. He rushed to fetch his camera and when he returned, the figure had vanished.
The phantom mother
Another Littlecote House ghost seems to have appeared to Peter de Savary soon after he became owner of the property. He decided to hold an auction sale of unwanted furnature and other stuff from the house. As he was walking around the house on the morning of the sale, he encountered a mid-aged woman dressed in modern clothes in one of the corridors. Before de Savary could ask her how she came to be there, the woman spoke. She told him that he was wicked and evil for removing her baby's clothes from the chapel. She told him that if he returned the box to its proper place, he would prosper. However, she warned him, no good would come if he failed to do this. She then seemed to disappear before the startled man's eyes.
de Savary remembered the box. He had removed it from a window ledge in the chapel. He eventually found it amongst the other items for sale. When the box was opened, it did indeed contain baby clothes and some paper that dated them to 1861. Not surprisingly, he put the box back on the chapel window ledge where he had originally found it.
Blue Lady
A woman in a blue gown has also been spotted by a guide on the staircase. There was a rope across to prevent access by visitors and the apparition walked straight through it. Perhaps, not surprisingly, there is heard the sound of a crying baby in the haunted bedroom.
And there is also an animal ghost at Littlecote.

Golden Fleece, York

The Golden Fleece is actually a pub. However they have four rooms for guests which is why it is listed under Haunted Hotels. The proprietors actually admit to having no less than five ghosts. Differant accounts of them make reference to different spectres. However, on one Golden Fleece ghost, all accounts agree. That of Lady Alice Peckett, wife of John Peckett who was landlord of the pub in 1702 and Lord Mayor of London.
One of the guest rooms, known as Lady Peckett's Room, seems to a favourite haunt of hers. However, she has also been seen by many guests as she walking up the staircase or gliding along the corridor. It is Lady Pechett who is 'blamed' for objects and furnature being moved. But it couldn't be her who activates the hand dryer in the gents lavatory of the bar in the dead of night, could it!

Cleopatra's Needle - Phantom Suicide

This 3,500 year old, 68 foot tall monument, which has absolutely no connection to Cleopatra, was a gift to the British Government from the people of Egypt in 1819 to commemorate the victory of Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.
There were severe difficulties transporting the obelisk and several sailors were drowned during its journey. It was not until 1878 that the monument was finally erected on the Thames Embankment.
Mocking laughter can sometimes be heard from the area around the stone obelisk as well as unearthly screams. Whether these belong to the lost sailors is not known.
Another River Thames ghost seen here is a ghostly naked man who has been seen dashing from behind the monument and jumping into the cold water which accepts him without the faintest ripple. Strangely, Cleopatra's Needle does seem to be a magnet for those suicides intent on drowning themselves in the River.
It is interesting to note that the two sphinxes at the base of the pillar actually face the wrong way as Queen Victoria thought this was more aesthetically pleasing. When the column was erected, a 'time capsule' was buried underneath. It contained a bizarre assortment of objects including a gentleman's razor, a box of cigars and pictures of female Victorian 'pin-ups'.

Ghost Monkey - Athelhampton Hall, Dorset

This must be one of Britain's most exotic animal ghosts.Athelhampton House boasts a ghost monkey. The house was originally built by the Martyn family who's family crest was a monkey sitting on a tree stump and their motto was, "He who looks at Martyn's ape, Martyn's ape will look at him". And it is Martyn's ape who haunts the hall.

The tragic story is as follows. The ape had freedom of the house and could wander as it chose. One of the daughters of the Martyn family had an unhappy love-affair and determined to kill herself. Maybe the ape sensed something had upset the girl, as pets often able to do. Whatever, as the girl climbed the hidden stairs to the secret room, the ape followed her unobserved. The poor girl put an end to her life feeling, no-doubt, that she was totally alone in the world.
But she was not alone, the ape was with her. What frantic attempts were made to find the girl or how long it was before she was found, we are not told. However, by that time, the poor monkey had starved to death. The ghost monkey is never seen but its spirit can be heard vainly scratching at the panelling of the secret room and staircase in an eternal, frantic attempt to escape.

Drury Lane Theatre Royal Ghosts

Drury Lane has been called one of the world's most haunted theatres. The appearance of almost any one of the handful of ghosts that are said to frequent the theatre signals good luck for an actor or production. The most famous ghost is the "Man in Grey", who appears dressed as a nobleman of the late 18th century: powdered hair beneath a tricorne hat, a dress jacket and cloak or cape, riding boots and a sword. Legend says that the Man in Grey is the ghost of a knife-stabbed man whose skeletal remains were found within a walled-up side passage in 1848.
The ghosts of actor Charles Macklin and clown Joe Grimaldi are supposed to haunt the theatre. Macklin appears backstage, wandering the corridor which now stands in the spot where, in 1735, he killed his fellow actor Thomas Hallam in an argument over a wig. ("Goddamn you for a blackguard, scrub, rascal!" he shouted, thrusting a cane into Hallam's face and piercing his left eye. Joe Grimaldi is a helpful apparition, purportedly guiding nervous actors skillfully about the stage on more than one occasion. Stanley Lupino claimed to have seen the ghost of Dan Leno in a dressing room.