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Hertford
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General
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A brief note about the area
A ghostly woman who leans over you whilst you are in bed An unknown force that threw someone several feet The ghost of a woman wearing Victorian clothes A building haunted by a half-man, half-beast figure The sounds of muscians tuning their instruments A horse in the bedroom An old woman who walks down the stairs and through a wall The sounds of clanking chains and raised voices The sound of a ghostly violin being plated The ghosts of a Victorian man and woman The ghost of monk who walks the grounds Creaking floorboards and the sound of footsteps Unaccountable noises and uncomfortable feelings Strange noises and the feeling of a presence The ghost of a man who killed himself The ghost of a woman in a long black skirt A grey female ghost with two children A man out of time An unfriendly presence in a back room Two Roman soldiers on guard The smell of burning tobacco when no one smokes A ghostly procession on the way to the gallows A young man who vanishes A ghost in a matron’s uniform The ghost of a middle-aged man dressed in black Strange knocking noises that follow you around A bedraggled young girl who walked through a wall Bottles that form themselves into a pattern A house haunted by three male ghosts The ghost of a woman in Victorian clothes Strange occurrences in the store room |
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Hertford is an old town with a history stretching back to Roman times. It is believed that the first Church Synod was held at Hertford in 673. During the ninth century the Danes sailed up the River Lea and captured the area setting up camp just outside Hertford. At that time the River Lea was the boundary between Saxon and Viking England.
Numbers 63 to 65 Fore Street used to be a private residence in Georgian times when it was known as Cupboard Hall. At one time it was occupied by Susan Brown who remembers waking up suddenly during the night to find a lady leaning over her wearing a dress made out of a very rich material. Susan described her attire as being that of a Georgian woman who may therefore have been one of the first residents of the house.
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Balls Park Mansion is currently owned by the University of Hertfordshire and has a ghost which has been seen by many of the university staff. One member of staff had worked late into an October evening in 2001 and was trying to leave at 19:00 when she found that the front door had been locked by security staff. She turned round to find another exit and saw a grey figure standing under the balcony. In more recent times a member of the security staff was walking towards the door when he was suddenly flung backwards for several feet by an unknown force. In each case the event took place in the autumn.
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One evening at 17:30 one of the members of staff was locking up in the vault when she felt something brush against her shoulder. She turned round to be confronted by a woman dressed in Victorian clothes walking past her.
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The building occupied by Caffe Uno is said to be haunted by a half man, half beast and paranormal investigators believe it to be the most malevolent haunting in Hertford. Before the time of Caffe Uno the building was used as a charity shop with members of staff using the public toilets in the Gascoyne Way car park. This wasn’t because the building hadn’t got a toilet but was because the room had an evil atmosphere. The room made the staff feel so uncomfortable that they were willing to walk to the public lavatory instead.
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In recent years the Corn Exchange was empty and looked after by a caretaker. During the day the caretaker would hear the sounds of musicians clearing their throats and tuning their instruments along with a sound as if scenery was being moved. In the nineteenth century the Corn Exchange was used for musicals and shows.
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Not all indoor haunting is by the ghosts of people, some are unusual, especially the haunting of a modern flat at Cowbridge. A four year old boy told his mother that he had seen a horse in his bedroom. The child insisted that he had seen the horse on several occasions and it had frightened him. A search of the local archives revealed that a knacker’s yard stood nearby some years prior to the building of the flats. The horse was not the only spirit to haunt the flat as an old man had also been seen.
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Fred Roche’s Shoe Shop used to stand in St. Andrew Street and used to be a cottage prior to 1950. Fred always felt that the building was an unhappy one and he soon realised it was haunted. His sister was badly frightened one day when she witnessed an old woman who walked down the stairs and through a wall. The ghost was seen several times and would walk through the wall where there had once been a door.
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On Gallows hill the sounds of clanking chains and raised voices has been heard in addition a figure clad in grey has been seen there. Are these the shadows of a condemned man and the angry mob that awaits his execution? It is also reported that the ghostly procession travels through a house at Pinehurst (and possibly at another house in Hertford).
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The owners of Gays Newsagents in Fore Street have reported hearing the sound of a violin on more than one occasion but they can never find the player.
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The ghost that haunts the Good Food Shop also haunts the shop next door (formerly Wiggingtons toy shop) but with a companion. The ghost is that of a Victorian lady accompanied by a Victorian gentleman wearing a high collar.
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Very little is documented about the ghosts of Hertford Castle but there must be a few due to the age of the site. One legend tells of the ghost of a monk who walks the grounds of the castle holding an apple but no one knows why. It is possible that the tale is an adaptation of another story of a phantom gardener dating from the eighteenth century. This spirit was said to bang loudly on the door of the castle when it was being used as a private residence. His ghost had been seen by the castle residents gliding through the grounds with an apple in his hand.
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In the Hertford Club creaking floorboards and footsteps have been heard but there is never any one there to cause them. One day at 18:00 the barman returned to the club to open up for the evening and was surprised to hear the sounds of laughter and voices coming from the snooker room. He thought that he may have locked someone in when he closed up in the afternoon but when he went into the snooker room there was no one there. Instead the snooker cues were shaking in their rack as if they had just been replaced and the snooker balls were scattered about the table as if a game was in progress.
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Several of the members of staff at the Hertford Museum have spoken of unaccountable noises and a decidedly uncomfortable feeling in the building. One particular part of the seventeenth century structure is said to have a chill feeling about it. The area lies around the staircase and it is said that it feels as if someone had just passed through the area but there is no one there.
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Many of the members of staff who have worked at the Hertfordshire Mercury building have reported hearing strange noises and having the feeling that someone is there. One member of staff, Gary Matthews, was a sceptic who was soon changed into a believer during Christmas a few years ago. Gary was working alone late one night when the lights suddenly started flashing on and off. His computer was functioning normally so he knew it wasn’t a fault with the power coming in to the building. Then he heard the handle of the door moving and on looking round found it to be moving up and down. Gary thought someone might be playing a trick on him so he searched the building but he couldn’t find anyone. He returned to his chair whereupon the lights went off completely then came back on and the door handle once more began to move. Gary, deciding he had had enough, packed up and went home.
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The ghost which haunts Jenningsbury Farm is believed to be that of Benjamin Cherry who killed himself for no known reason just before Christmas 1785. Cherry was an Alderman of Hertford and an eminent butcher and cattle dealer who, when he died, left a fortune of some £30,000.
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Leahoe house was built in the mid 1800s for Dr. George Elin and has been in the hands of the County Council since 1935. It is used as a recreation and leisure facility. One night in the late 1980s the voluntary barman, Tony Joshua, was locking up the bar. As he passed through the snooker room at the back of the bar he felt all of the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. His heart began to race and he was overcome by a feeling of fright. As he walked out into the corridor he looked up and saw the figure of a woman dressed in a long black skirt and wearing a nun’s grey habit. As he looked at the woman all of the feelings of fear slipped away from him until he felt totally at ease. He stood looking at the woman for some time until he finally turned off the lights and left the building.
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In a modern house in Hertford there is a particular spot in the drawing room that is always cold. A paranormal investigator reported that she could see a woman in grey with two children in that particular corner of the room. They were walking above floor level and appeared to be going uphill. The occupants of another house in the same area have regularly seen a shadow that appears in the house and they have also experienced electrical problems.
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On 30th September Marshall’s Furnishings in Fore Street suffered a major fire in the warehouse at the back of the shop. As a result of the fire the back of the building was virtually open so the police offered twenty four hour protection to prevent looters from invading the shop. The overnight duty was assigned to a woman officer who had the unenviable task of guarding the premises on a dark, windy night disturbed only by the sounds of falling glass from the damaged windows. When she looked up at the building she saw a man peering down at her from one of the upper windows. She described the man as having long curly black hair and a moustache; most importantly she said he looked like he had come from the times of Cromwell. She called for assistance and two male officers arrived. They searched the burned out premises but could find no one.
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The proprietor of the Good Food Shop in Hertford once worked at Mill House in the town and sensed an unfriendly presence in a back room which had been used as a kitchen in the past.
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The Old Vicarage was at one time used as on osteopath’s clinic. A patient visiting the clinic said that she had seen two Roman Centurions guarding the front gate as she entered. Another ghost has been seen walking across the entrance hall or around the waiting room. The ghost is described as a woman dressed in Victorian clothes who only appears from the knees upwards, the rest of her seems to be below floor level. As with a lot of ghosts this reflects the changes in floor levels over the centuries with the ghost walking on the original floor.
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In Pearce’s bakers in Railway Street (now Loftcat Ltd.) no one was allowed to smoke in the shop but that didn’t stop the smell of tobacco from appearing in the cellar. Several times members of staff had smelt cigars and had had cold shivers when they went down into the cellar. In addition pictures had been known to fall off the counter and objects flew off the shelves when no one was standing nearby.
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A house in Pinehurst lies on the line that condemned prisoners would have followed from the jail in Hertford to the gallows on Gallows Hill. It has been said that a ghostly procession passes through the house. It is possible that this is the same house were a woman and two children are seen but we are unsure.
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One afternoon a woman was out for a walk with her daughter and they were proceeding along Port Hill when the woman noticed a young man approaching. The woman moved off to one side to let him pass but when she looked up he had vanished. She asked her daughter where he had gone but the daughter claimed never to have seen him.
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The Red House in Fore Street was built over four hundred years ago and was once part of the Christ’s Hospital for the orphaned children of London. A woman dressed in a grey matron’s uniform has been seen on several occasions carrying a tray up the stairs.
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The Salisbury Arms Hotel in Fore Street appears to have the ground plan of a mediaeval inn. Once, when the cleaners were working on the first floor, a middle-aged man dressed in black crossed the corridor and walked into the room where a hotplate was kept. He was seen by a cleaner who thought he may be a lost guest and went to assist him. But no assistance could be offered as the room was empty and there were no other exits.
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Sheffield’s lies in the very haunted Fore Street in Hertford. One Thursday in May of 1996 the pharmacist heard a strange knocking coming from the floorboard on which he stood. He moved away but the knocking followed him, no matter where he went so did it. The next day, Friday 13th, a bottle of diabetic medicine was seen to move down a passageway and smash itself in front of witnesses. This was followed by a shelf which crashed to the floor. One member of staff, Pat Blake, said ‘I felt nervous at first, but as time went on we got used to it. In fact we used to talk to it in the end and it would respond with one knock for yes, two for no’.
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The Three Tuns in St. Andrew Street has had a varied history especially recently when it became Thirsty Brandons and now a Thai restaurant called Baan Thitiya. Prior to the seventeenth century it was the Black Lion. When it was still a pub members of staff reported seeing a bedraggled young girl who walked through a wall in the bar then climbed a non-existent staircase to her room. The room was one she shared when the pub was a workhouse (after 1720). It is believed that the girl died of malnutrition. At the time the members of staff were not bothered by the haunting and even had a plaque over the toilet which read ‘Beware of the Ghost!’
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The manageress of Threshers wine store in Fore Street has experienced the supernatural first hand. In the cellar she has felt a chilling feeling which has made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. On several occasions members of staff have turned up at work to find a tap turned fully on and the floor flooded.
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Wallace House is now a doctor’s surgery in St. Andrews Street but was once the home of Arthur Russell Wallace who developed the theory of evolution before Darwin. The house is said to be haunted by three male ghosts. One of them walks along the first floor corridor, the second has been seen standing in a corner and the third looks out of a window. The members of staff have seen these ghosts on numerous occasions but no one knows why they are there.
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Wiggingtons toy store has several ghosts all with different natures. When Roy Roberts managed the shop customers who had been browsing upstairs would come down and tell him that they felt that his shop was haunted. One lady sensed a spirit in what was formerly the back bedroom, according to her husband the lady was psychic. Employees were too scared to go upstairs to the room above the shop as they felt a presence there.
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Three members of staff at Woolworths in Maidenhead Street have experienced strange occurrences in the store room which lies behind the stores audio section. A two metre clothes rail moved away by itself even though it was very heavy and clothes have been scattered around the room.
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