Athelhampton House

History:

Athelhampton house is based in Dorchester, Dorset, and is considered to be one of the most haunted houses in England, which isn't surprising given it dates back to 1485 and has changed ownership many, many, many times over the years. The great hall is one of the oldest sections of the location, dating back to 1485 when the house was first built by Sir William Martyn. Martyn was a land owner and collector of the wine duty at Poole. He was also highly Catholic, and it is suspected that the Martyn family may have worshipped in private with their own priest on the site. It is also said that he owned a pet ape, which he would have acquired access to through his profession as a trader. I will discuss the ape a little more later on in the post when I talk about the specific hauntings.

The great hall itself is mostly untouched from when it was first built. The next addition to the house was the west wing which was added by Robert Martyn back in the early 16th century. From here, the house keeps being passed on, and between 1710 and 1825 the house isn't visited often and falls into disrepair. In 1825, it is inherited by William Pole-Tylney-Long-Wellesley, although he doesn't own it for too long as he then sells it 23 years later, in 1848, to George Wood.

The new owner does some repair work on the house, and even builds a church at Athelhampton, but then he dies in 1866 which meant the house was passed on yet again, but this time to his nephew George Wood Homer. This new ownership stint lasts for 24 years until Homer sells it, in 1890, to Alfred Cart De Lafontaine. Alfred restores the house and enlists Francis Inigo Thomas to create the architectural gardens which are still there today. 

This ownership period lasts for 28 years until, in 1918, George Cochrane becomes the new owner. He builds the North wing in 1920/21 and when his wife unfortunately dies in 1929, he sells the property. It changes hands a few more times until it fell into the hands of the Cooke family, and then Patrick Cooke come to own it in 1992. It was under his ownership that the Most Haunted team investigated the location as their very first episode. In 2019, the house was bought by Giles Keating, who is the current owner. 

Hauntings:

1. The Martyn Ape

2. The Grey Lady

3. The Hooded Priest

4.  A Poltergeist

5. The Dualists

6. The Cooper

7. The Soldier

8. The 'Hello' Lady

9. The Bride

The Martyn Ape:

As mentioned earlier in the blog, it is said the first owner of the house, William Martyn, owned a pet ape. The story goes that one of his daughters tried to marry outside of the church, and so to hide from her family she hid in a secret room behind the paneling of the great chamber. The ape followed her into this space, but somehow she didn't notice, and when she left the area the ape was left behind in this secret room which it couldn't escape from. It was stuck there and starved to death. Derek Acorah, who was a medium on Most Haunted, and an iffy one at that, claimed this was not the case during Most Haunteds investigation. He agreed that the ape haunted the location, but said it was loved and that it was never trapped. It is reportedly seen in the great chamber sitting and looking into your eyes. At night people have heard scratching from behind the paneling, which is thought to be the ape trying to escape. 

The Grey Lady:

No one knows for sure who the Grey lady is, but it is suspected that she could be the wife of James Long Esq who died in bed from fright after tackling debt collectors. The Grey lady is seen in the great chamber and doesn't interact with anyone who sees her, so it is thought she is friendly. It is also suspected that she is more recent as she's been seen in passages and corridors that were built after 1650. She has also been seen passing through walls on the upper floor. 

The Hooded Priest:

This spirit is seen wearing a dark hooded cloak. It also walks down the drive, and through the great hall. It is suspected that this could be the Martyn's Catholic priest who would have led their worship, had they done so in private. This spirit hasn't interacted with anyone and is usually caught out of the corner of the eye. 

The Poltergeist:

This troublesome spirit suddenly became active in the 1990s within the North wing of the building which was built around 1920. Doors slammed, doors locked on their own, lights switched themselves off, drawers dropped out of their chests, covers would be pulled off of beds as people slept, and doors would only unlock if you nicely asked the spirit to open them. Also, children would often have a bad feeling in these rooms. This is the only haunting where professional help was used, and since these professionals have helped the spirit to move on there have been no further reports of the poltergeist haunting. 

The Dualists:

Two swordsmen have been seen in the great hall a few times. There isn't a great deal of information out there on this one aside one account of a woman who witnessed them while reading, went back to reading after assistance didnt arrive upon her ringing a bell, and then when she questioned someone about who the men were the response she got was that there couldn't have been anyone with her that she didn't know at that time.

The Cooper:

Some of the wine William Martyn collected was stored in the wine cellar at Athelhampton, and the wine cellar door was even widened to accommodate barrels. Tapping can be heard in this area of the house as though metal is being tapped against metal. 

The Soldier:

A soldier has been seen a few times in the gardens, and it is thought they could be a soldier who fought during the second World War as soldiers were at Athelhampton in the run up to D-day. Reports vary on what uniform the soldier is wearing, but it is highly suspected they are from one of the world wars.

The 'Hello' Woman:

This is a recent haunting which is thought to have begun due to furniture being sold. It is thought that this has disturbed this particular spirit. Three staff members since July, I'm assuming 2022 and have gotten this information from the house's website, have been spoken to by a disembodied female voice while they were working alone. All this female voice does is say 'hello' and nothing else.

The Bride:

This apparition was seen by two visitors in 2018. It wore an out of fashion dress, and the visitors thought that there was a wedding being held at the event due to this. They asked about this, and commented on seeing the bride, and thought they would disturb a photoshoot if they passed through the gardens. There weren't any weddings, brides, or photoshoots present on that day. 

My thoughts:

If you are interested in visiting this historic location, I've included a screenshot of the prices above. I can't really give any comment yet as to how haunted I think the location is. I can't do that until I've investigated it myself as that is the only way to be sure on what occurrences happen. I will do an episode review of Most Haunted's investigation of the location as that is available on YouTube to watch, but that won't be for some time. 

The activity in the location seems to be entirely apparitions, aside the tapping in the cellar, scratching from behind the paneling, the disembodied 'hello', and the now 'extinct' poltergeist activity. Just as with the Warren's, I'll do another post on each location after I've thoroughly looked into external investigations into the property and I will make a judgement then. I would also like to create a scale rating how haunted a location is. I think that could be useful. As of the moment, if I was to rate this location based on what I've just written about, I would probably give it a 4/10 if I was to do a basic scale. I do think nine apparition hauntings to its name is a lot though. It is clear why this location is considered one of the most haunted houses in England. 

I really hope you enjoyed this blog post. If you have any comments whether that be about the blog, experiences of your own, or even places you would like for me to investigate, then you can comment and follow on here, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit, and you can email thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com for a quick response to any questions.