Hypnogoria: THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDAR - Door 6

In a little village near Basingstoke, there used to be a house called “The Swallows,” standing in two acres of land. The house had been empty for some time, when, in 1840, a Mr. Bishop from Tring bought the place. And after undertaking some renovations, Mr Bishop and his household took up residence in the Swallows in 1841.

But after a fortnight two servants gave notice to leave, claiming that the house was haunted by two very unusual spectres - a large cat and a big baboon - which they constantly saw creeping down the staircases and corridors. If that wasn't disturbing enough, the servants also reported hearing what sounded like somebody being strangled, in an empty attic near where they slept. Furthermore there were more unearthly noises - groans of torment and shrieks of pain - in the cellars just underneath the dairy. Whenever these troubling sounds were investigated, nothing could ever be found out of the ordinary.

Soon other members of the household began to experience similar manifestations, and the Swallows garnered such a reputation for being haunted, folks from nearby villages would come to see if they could see anything, and much like modern ghost hunters, would hold nocturnal vigils in the hope of seeing a ghost or two.

Usually they were of course disappointed. However one night, when several of the watchers were stationed in the empty courtyard, around midnight they all saw the forms of a huge cat and a baboon rise up out a grating leading to the large cellar under the old dairy. The spectral animals dashed by them and vanished into the walls of the house. The same figures were repeatedly seen afterwards by many other persons too.

Early in December 1841, things came to a head for the Bishop family. Mr. Bishop heard fearful screams, accompanied by deep and hoarse jabberings, apparently coming from the top of the house. He ran upstairs, but found that all was silent. After that, Mr. Bishop decided enough was enough, and sold the house to a retired colonel. However by 1842, the hauntings proved too frightening for the colonel as well, and not long after, it was soon after pulled down.

On the site, new cottages were built. But the hauntings persisted, and they too were soon empty. Eventually they were demolished as well, and the site on which they stood was converted into allotments.

It was later discovered that the house had been the hideout of a notorious highwayman who had murdered many people there. This may account for the ghostly screams. However no explanation has ever been found for the spectral cat and the ghostly baboon.