HOUSE OF MYSTERIES

Evening Star, Issue 19848, 23 April 1928, Page 12

HOUSE OF MYSTERIES

HORRORS OF THE ” RED ROOM “ GHOSTLY HAPPENINGS. A rciiuirknbJo sequel to the story of the discovery of the maze of underground passages and vaults at Sugwas Court, near Hereford, which was related recently, has been dis<-loM>d by Miss Mica nor Broughton, who lived with her parents at the Court, many years a g°-, .. ..

miss lire ighton i.ohl of a number of ghostly happenings, which (says the ‘Morning Post’), sounds like a passage from a romance by Wilkie Collins, and which, after two years, drove her family away from tho Court. One ol those incidents is connected with the story that the dead body of King Ethelbert was thrown into tho pond in trout of tins house after ho bad been murdered by King Offa. “ In 1878, while I was still a child,' 1 said Miss Broughton, “my father rented Sugwas Court from tho late Sir Janies Ingham. While we were there wo were greatly troubled by uncanny sounds There was a crying child who sat on the stairs, and a woman, dressed as a nun who used to come into our bedrooms and lean over tho beds, and then glide out again down the passage- “ [ can even now, alter so many years, remember tho sound of tho retreating footsteps, and the board near our door which creaked ns she passed over it One night niv father saw the nun dressed in black robes coming from our room. “The ghost which haunt s the grounds at Simwas Court, was also seen by my father. It appeared to be the figure of a very old man with a flowing white beard, it was standing on the steps' leading up to the front door, as if wanting to enter tho house. When my father approached the figure vanished, though the door was shut. “At certain times of the year, generally about Advent, all the bells in the house would start ringing at once, although no human band had touched them. There was also one room, which became known as “the red room,” mid which for a time would ha brilliantly lighted at night, and then grow dark again. Ihavc seen tin's happen again and again. “My mother slept in this particular room, and otio night as her maid was brushing her hair before tho glass she gave it a violent .jerk, bundled it up m a hurry, an 1 left tho room. Being questioned next day, she wept, and said that she had been frightened by a hand which came out, twice from the curtain, beckoning to her.” MAN WITH A DAGGER, The most weird incident which Miss Bioughton told of Sugwas Court happened to her cousin, Mrs Berkeley Noel, who has since died. Airs Berkeley Noel went on a long visit to tiie Court, but left suddenly one morning, giving no reason, except that she could not sleep in the “led room.” “ Sometime afterwards,” continued .Miss Broughton, “wo received a written account from my cousin of the dreadful night she had passed in the red room. She had been awakened .suddenly, and saw a man in armour standing at the foot of her bed, his face streaming with blood and one arm raised, pointing a dagger at her. “The poor lady, who was terrified, crossed herself, said her prayers, and tho figure vanished. My cousin would never“stav with us again. I believe that the man in armour was the figure of King Ethelbcrt, who is said to have been murdered at Sugwas Court, and thrown into the pond opposite the windows of this bedroom in which Mrs Berkeley Noe.) saw the ghostly figureWe hacl been very careful not to frighten her, and had never mentioned tli© story of the king.” The fear which Sugwas Court inspired in those who stayed there was evidently capable of communicating itself to animals, for on many occasions horses returning to the stables would become panic-stricken, and could hardly bo prevented from bolting. Once, when thus happened, a carriage was overturned near the main entrance to the house, and once a horse which was being ridden by a visitor to tho Court, reared suddenly with inexplicable fright, and threw its rider, who was badly injured. After two years the constant recurrence of these uncanny happenings began to have so bad an effect on the nerves of the household that Miss Broughton’s father decided to find a homo elsewhere, and the family moved to a house not many miles away, where they were left undisturbed.