Post by alicecoopersgirl on Nov 8, 2006 10:08:02 GMT
Strangest of all, though, was the strong smell of Lily of the Valley' perfume that often permeated the house without explanation
Spectral Monk
The half ruined arches of Chester's St John's Priory and Church , close beside the Legionary Fortress's Roman Amphitheatre, are the atmospheric scene for one of the city's best known hauntings.
Over the years, all sorts of people have witnessed a strange cowled figure in the vicinity. The mother of a barmaid due to be married at St John's was amazed to see a ghostly monk standing on the steps of the so-called haunted alleyway' that leads down to the river beside the church on her daughter's wedding day.
A schoolboy returning home one evening by another narrow path to the river on the far side of the church, was also surprised by a strange apparition. Looking up across the nearby bowling green, the ordinarily sceptical 12-year-old saw the misty outline of a monk looking at him from the edge of the churchyard above. It was there for a moment or two, he said, before it vanished. After that, his mother said, her son seemed to have changed.
Icy room
At the top of what is reputedly the steepest city street in England Chester's charming St Mary's Hill is the strange and haunted Old Rectory.
Not far from Chester Castle, where criminals were executed until as late as 1883, sits the former vicarage of nearby St Mary's Church. (In a corner of its churchyard are the unmarked graves of three witches found guilty at Chester Assizes of magick and conjury' - and summarily hung by the neck until dead.)
According to two separate accounts from people who have worked at the Old Rectory, there is a small room at the top of the house that is always icy cold. Its door bangs shut when there's no one near, and there's not a breath of wind. Why? Nobody knows.
Whatever the cause, it's not something to dwell on as you walk down spooky, cobbled St Mary's Hill on a dark and moonlit night.
The house noone wants
Close to the old Watergate that led out to the Port of Chester, is number 102 Watergate Street the house where nobody wants to live.
For years the large, rambling Georgian house has been used as offices. Back in 1937, the building housed the drawing offices of the Chief Engineer for the army's Western Command. Staff were used to hearing inexplicable noises. But when two colleagues working late one night heard a long, drawn out rattling followed by a loud crash coming from a first floor room, their hair stood on end. A careful search, however, revealed nothing.
Several months later, a man dropped in unannounced to show his wife the haunted house. Staff were surprised when he told them he had been billeted there during World War I. Even then, he said, strange noises had come from the first floor room at the front. People eventually refused to sleep there. The house, he said, seemed destined to be offices forever.
Spectral Monk
The half ruined arches of Chester's St John's Priory and Church , close beside the Legionary Fortress's Roman Amphitheatre, are the atmospheric scene for one of the city's best known hauntings.
Over the years, all sorts of people have witnessed a strange cowled figure in the vicinity. The mother of a barmaid due to be married at St John's was amazed to see a ghostly monk standing on the steps of the so-called haunted alleyway' that leads down to the river beside the church on her daughter's wedding day.
A schoolboy returning home one evening by another narrow path to the river on the far side of the church, was also surprised by a strange apparition. Looking up across the nearby bowling green, the ordinarily sceptical 12-year-old saw the misty outline of a monk looking at him from the edge of the churchyard above. It was there for a moment or two, he said, before it vanished. After that, his mother said, her son seemed to have changed.
Icy room
At the top of what is reputedly the steepest city street in England Chester's charming St Mary's Hill is the strange and haunted Old Rectory.
Not far from Chester Castle, where criminals were executed until as late as 1883, sits the former vicarage of nearby St Mary's Church. (In a corner of its churchyard are the unmarked graves of three witches found guilty at Chester Assizes of magick and conjury' - and summarily hung by the neck until dead.)
According to two separate accounts from people who have worked at the Old Rectory, there is a small room at the top of the house that is always icy cold. Its door bangs shut when there's no one near, and there's not a breath of wind. Why? Nobody knows.
Whatever the cause, it's not something to dwell on as you walk down spooky, cobbled St Mary's Hill on a dark and moonlit night.
The house noone wants
Close to the old Watergate that led out to the Port of Chester, is number 102 Watergate Street the house where nobody wants to live.
For years the large, rambling Georgian house has been used as offices. Back in 1937, the building housed the drawing offices of the Chief Engineer for the army's Western Command. Staff were used to hearing inexplicable noises. But when two colleagues working late one night heard a long, drawn out rattling followed by a loud crash coming from a first floor room, their hair stood on end. A careful search, however, revealed nothing.
Several months later, a man dropped in unannounced to show his wife the haunted house. Staff were surprised when he told them he had been billeted there during World War I. Even then, he said, strange noises had come from the first floor room at the front. People eventually refused to sleep there. The house, he said, seemed destined to be offices forever.