Hypnogoria: THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDAR - Door 2

Felbrigg Hall is a 17th century manor house which can be found not far from the village of Fellbrigg, in Norfolk. It was originally built to be the home of the Wyndham family, who had been squires of an estate there since medieval times. In December 1969, the last squire of Felbrigg Hall, Windham Ketton-Cremer, the last of his line, died and left the house and all its contents, together with the park and estate, to the National Trust.

However it seems that some family members decided to stay on. For several years a Mr David F. Musson of the National Trust was responsible for the house and opening it up to the public. Mr Musson did not believe in ghosts, however he did have a strange encounter, which he reported to leading ghost hunter Peter Underwood -

“One winter's afternoon at about five o'clock I was working in the library on the first floor of the house sorting through the contents of the library desk. Light was fading fast and it was a very cold afternoon. I had an electric fire close beside me. The only lighting was a standard lamp and a table lamp. I was engrossed in my sorting work when I suddenly became aware of the feeling that someone else was in the room, and I looked up to see a gentleman sitting in an armchair in front of the fireplace, apparently reading a fat leather-bound book. I did not react immediately and carried on with my work, before it dawned on me that there was no-one else in the room. I looked up again; the gentleman was still sitting there but gradually faded from view."

Mr Underwood made further enquiries and asked the butler to the late squire whether there had ever been a ghost in the library. He said:

“Oh yes, — the ghost of William Windham has regularly been seen sitting in the armchair on the far side of the fireplace reading a book. He always likes to read one of the collection of Samuel Johnson's personal library which he bought for the Felbrigg Hall library, and we keep two or three volumes from this collection on the table by the chair."

But while Mr Musson's encounter with this spectre took place on a December afternoon, it is said that the ghost can be summoned up by placing a certain combination of his favourite books by an armchair. However as no one is entirely sure exactly which books they are, and the library contains several thousand volumes, you best bet is still just to pay a visit to Felbrigg Hall on a dark December day...