31^st March 2007

A dedicated team of LPS members explored the haunted sites of Flamstead at the end of March. They met up in the The Three Blackbirds Pub before venturing out to the first site, Delmerend Lane.

The sighting in this Lane goes back to 1922 when a local man came upon a woman in a grey shawl and bonnet with a child walking along the road in front of his dustcart. As he approached them, they disappeared, by walking through a hedge.

Members walked the lane taking various readings and footage along the way. As they came to the bottom of the road, a footpath goes off to the right up through some fields and back up to Flamstead. This was chosen to walk as the footpath leads back up to Flamstead, through the churchyard of St Leonard’s and comes out behind the Spotted Dog PH, which is opposite River Hill. The same apparition has been seen in River Hill (see below for more detail).

Time was spent in the middle of River Hill taking photographs, footage and a short vigil to see if anything was picked up. A strange bright light appeared on one photographs but on closer inspection of the photograph later, turned out to be reflection off small stitching on a member’s jacket. Steph felt a presence come up beside her when she was scrolling through her camera pictures whilst standing away from the group.

After a good walk around the sites, members relocated to the bottom of Delmerend Lane, split in to vigil groups and concentrated on different parts of the route around Delmerend Lane and the footpath. Andy and Richard investigated back up the Lane, Elaine walked over the first field to the left of the footpath while Bill and Steph chose a gated point half way up the footpath.

Members regrouped and shared the results of the vigils to conclude the night’s investigation. Some noises and lights were seen during the vigils but most could be traced to camera flashes and works coming from the nearby M1 widening. Bill saw a small flash of light in the field whilst on the footpath vigil. Elaine heard someone walking behind her on her field vigil, which she described as someone walking through long grass. LPS members noted that the area was hard and muddy with no grass except on the tree line where it was difficult to walk due to the tree branches jutting out. Members tried various methods of walking along the area but the sound could not be re-created.

Background Information: Legend has it that in 1922 a dustcart was travelling along Delmerend Lane on a dark winter’s morning. The driver noticed a woman in a grey shawl and bonnet leading a small child by the hand in the road in front of the dustcart. The woman and her charge walked into a hedgerow and vanished leaving the refuse collectors convinced that they had seen a ghost. From then on they were reluctant to use the road after dark. In addition the apparition of a woman in a grey shawl and bonnet leading a small child by the hand has been seen in River Hill. These ghosts match the description of the ones seen in Delmerend Lane so it is likely they are the same ghosts. Another ghost has also been seen in River Hill, this time dressed in white and believed to be the ghost of a Miss Reeve.

We do not know the exact location of the sighting in Delmerend Lane so we are uncertain of where she would have been walking from and to. That said if you look at a map of the area then you will find that there is a footpath that runs from the lowest part of Delmerend Lane (furthest from Flamstead) and heads in a virtual straight line to River Hill (though part of it now takes a detour as it is under houses). This footpath was around at the end of the 1800s and is a likely route for anyone to be following who is travelling from the direction of Redbourn towards Luton or vice versa. This then becomes a likely route for the ghost to have been following. For this reason we chose to investigate Delmerend Lane, River Hill and the footpath in-between.

Research and Map produced by Bill King

Some of the team complete with orb

To view more images see: Flamstead Album