Wollaton Hall

The ghost is, like most stories, authenticated in the minds of those who believe in them, but improbable in the minds of those who don't. One or two stories are known of a presence in the minstrel's gallery in the main hall. Those of a sensitive nature have perhaps felt a frisson or a drop in temperature, but the main tale comes from a retired attendant. One day he was walking along the gallery when he walked past Room 19, now the place of an exhibition, but then an empty room - Wollaton Hall is full of them: only some of the rooms are in use. The temperature suddenly fell sharply and he was aware of a very strong presence. In fright he left quickly and related the event to his colleagues. One by one, they told their tales of similar happenings: a hostile presence, a sudden drop in temperature, a door slamming, but no draft to make it close: footsteps, the odd imagined(?) groan, a creak - but then aren't old building always creaking?
One day a party was being shown around (and by this time room 19 had been converted to a geological exhibition site). One woman, particularly sensitive to the supernatural, was overcome with grief. Overcome, she sat down. Subsequent investigations found that this was the room room to which she had been confined in her later years, in agony, after she fell down some stairs. Other stories involve strange lights, particularly seen in the dovecote, off the stable yard, where there are some residents' flats. The lake has been the site of suicides over the centuries and, less unhappily, it would seem that from a more recent past, a woman walking a dog, can still occasionally be seen at dusk, much as she had been doing in her lifetime.