A structure has stood on the site occupied by Knebworth house since the 1300s when a fortress was built there. Unfortunately two wings which contained the most haunted rooms were demolished in 1812. But these rooms weren’t the only haunted places in the house.

Knebworth was the ancestral home of the Lytton family and belonged for a while to Edward Bulwer Lytton. Lytton was a writer and student of the occult and his works included the story of Eugene Aram the murderer. His guests were numerous and many fell victim to his cruel sense of humour. He would spend the evening entertaining a guest with tales about the Knebworth ghosts then send them off to bed with just a candle to light there way. This was not the end of it as the room in which they were to sleep was haunted by a ghost called The Yellow Boy. As if that wasn’t enough the final trick was that the ghost would foretell the death of any who stayed in the room. One such visitor/victim was Lord Castlereagh who was Foreign Secretary in Pitt’s government. After spending the night in the room he told Lytton that he had woken during the night to find a boy with long yellow hair sitting facing the fire. The figure rose, drew back the curtains at the bottom of the bed then as Castlereagh looked on he drew his fingers across his throat. The tale ended when on August 12th 1822 Castlereagh took his own life. Wracked with pain from gout and under tremendous stress because of his position in government he sat in his dressing room and cut his throat with a penknife, as the Yellow Boy predicted.

Knebworth’s second most famous ghost is known as Spinning Jenny. It is said that jenny worked in a room with a strangely carved door at the end of the long gallery. There she would sit at her spinning wheel humming to herself. Jenny was locked away to keep her from a man she loved who was classed as being beneath her socially. She is purported to have taken her own life in the room and now if you stand in the room with the door open as it gets dark you can hear the sound of her spinning wheel. Her ghost has even been seen and described as having a pale countenance and a red ring around her throat. One gardener who worked at the house in the middle of the twentieth century claimed he had seen her in the kitchen garden. According to the local historian W. B. Gerish, Jenny was an invention and created during Christmas 1800 by Elizabeth Maria James who was staying at the house. She and the other guests had amused themselves by making up ghost stories. Miss James later published the story in a pamphlet written in the middle of the nineteenth century. It is interesting to note that an inventory of the house taken in 1797 mentions ‘Spinning Jenny’s room’ so did the tale have a basis in reality.

Other ghosts include a girl with long blond hair who haunts the Queen Elizabeth room. Recently an American guest woke to find the girl leaning over her. She may be the same ghost that haunts the picture gallery and has occasionally been seen though no one knows who she is.

Edward Bulwer Lytton had strong ties with the house so it is not surprising to find that his presence is still felt there. His study remains much as it was when he was alive and visitors speak of strange uneasy feelings when they are in there. This feeling pervades both the study and the adjoining drawing room and is so strong that cleaning staff refuse to work there on their own.

The house was originally a Tudor mansion which was much admired by Queen Elizabeth I but Edward Bulwer Lytton changed all that when he had it transformed into a Gothic fantasy now used as the backdrop for films etc. The most celebrated medium of his time, Daniel Dunglas Home, was welcomed there when he first arrived from America. Later he took part in several séances which were held at Knebworth House which included phenomena such as levitating tables and messages from the dead.

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Knebworth House Lodge

A phantom Second World War tank has been seen driving from Knebworth Lodge along the road to Old Knebworth and Codicote. A soldier wearing a steel helmet stands in the turret frantically gesturing everyone to clear the road and take cover as if an air raid was in progress.

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