27th October 2006

Luton Paranormals end of October investigation took them to the site of a murder, an execution and a road used by a phantom car.

The main part of the investigation involved the area around Gubblecote where John and Ruth Osborne were tried as witches, the result of which saw the death of Ruth and the later execution of one of the people accused of her murder, this was in 1751, 16 years after the witchcraft act had been repealed.

From the data available the gibbet where the body of the murderer Thomas Colley, hung was in Lukes Lane just to the north of a moated site whilst the pond was in Watery Lane opposite where a bridleway from Wilstone met Astrope Lane. The latter is most likely to have been the path which crosses Watery Lane (referred to as Astrope Lane on some maps and Tring Road on others) just to the southwest of Gubblecote Farm, especially as locals say that the owner of the farm filled the pond in and cut down the trees which overhung the lane in November of 1971. This area is extremely wet and is a likely candidate for a natural pond. It is also said that locals refuse to walk down there at midnight for fear of meeting the ghost of ‘Dinah’ (Ruth’s nickname). We, of course, planned to be there at midnight.

These two sites constituted the main part of our investigation but an additional site was added. This site is in Vicarage Road, Marsworth and is said to be haunted by the ghost of Tom Pratt. Tom came from Great Farm (now called Moat Farm) and was killed in a car crash. Since then the headlights of his car have been seen as he drives up to the farm on dark nights.