Home of the Infantry Regiments of Berkshire and Wiltshire
Ghostly Event at the Wardrobe
Besides being a military museum, the Wardrobe, dating from 1254 has a long and varied history so stories are rife of unexplained happenings in the building, or ghosts! Staff and visitors have claimed some strange events, so we have decided to enlist the help of some experts to try and find out what is going on! Paranormal Tours are conducting an overnight investigation on Saturday 13th September. Listed below are some of the stories visitors and staff have told us.
King Charles II, who stayed in Salisbury to escape the plague in 1665, housed his servants here and it is the ghost of one of these, a 'grey lady', who died of influenza who has been seen sitting in the corner of the 'Regimental Room'.
A Cavalier, a recent sighting, moves around the building, he is possibly a poltergeist as staff members have reported items such as documents having being moved or even lost.
The first tenant following renovations in 1830 was Dr John Grove. His daughter Henrietta married James Hussey, a local JP. The house remained in the Hussey family until James and Henrietta's daughter Margaret (who was born in the house) died at The Wardrobe in January 1941 at the age of 90. It then ceased to be a private residence. There have been reports that the ghost of Margaret has also been seen in the Regimental Room.
After use in the Second World War as a hostel of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) it was rented in 1945 by the Diocesan Training College for Schoolmistresses (based at The King's House) to provide accommodation for 25 students and 2 members of staff. In 1951 trainee teachers saw a ghost of a lady in green at the foot of their beds and then disappear into the wall. The next night they all put their beds together! - and saw it again but not thereafter.
This use continued until 1969. The building then remained empty for some years until it became today's museum in 1981.
Current staff members have heard a window slamming shut below them. Upon investigation in the room below they discovered that there was no window there, only the frame remained after being bricked up!
Light anomalies have been seen in the Regimental Room and unexplained ice cold blasts of air felt in the one of the display rooms. Other reports have been, a 'Cavalier' type gentleman and eye witness accounts of poltergeist activity with books jumping out of bookcases for no apparent reason. The attic space also often gives people strange sensations and a most general unwelcome feeling.
If you would like more information or would like to buy tickets for this event you can do this by logging on to the Paranormal Tours website at www.paranormaltours.com