This month I
took advantage of one of my Christmas gifts, which was a weekend away with my
husband at Mosborough Hall near Sheffield. Mosborough Hall is a beautiful old
building which was formerly owned by William Carey, the husband of Mary Boleyn,
whose sister Anne spent so much time fighting to marry Henry VIII only to have
her head cut off. The building has recently been renovated and now has a modern
extension which holds the bar, but several of its rooms still retain their
old-fashioned charm – and, in the case of the John Lord Darcy suite, the ghost
of the White Lady.
Guess which
room we were staying in.
The story of
the White Lady of Mosborough Hall goes back to the 1600s, when a governess had
a dalliance with the married squire and found herself pregnant. Being
financially strapped, the squire withdrew his promise to set her up with a
house and money for the baby, and in desperation the girl threatened to tell
his wife – at which point he slit her throat. Guests have reported seeing the
figure of a woman in white as well as hearing the angry voices of their final
argument which led to her death.
Well, how
could I resist? After all, ghost or no ghost, the room was stunningly
beautiful, and the surroundings were just perfect to serve as research for my
current WIP. My husband doesn’t believe in ghosts, but I’d promised to give him
a nudge if any White Ladies showed up at the end of the bed.
None did.
Admittedly I didn't bother with the Yvette Fielding routine - the room was so full of creaks and bangs that I could have been having a conversation with the floorboards. Although we did capture the below photo…
…but I
suspect that the nearest we got to a White Lady was in the cocktail bar.
5 comments:
You are so lucky! I would love to stay at a place like that. And that room is stunning.
Ugh! I'm jealous. ;)
~Jen
It was absolutely gorgeous - and not ridiculously expensive, either. Apparently they give discounts for sleeping in the haunted suite. :-)
Wow, Tanith! Looks amazing. Though to be honest, although I'm not superstitious, the story of the White Lady would be enough to give me pause before I'd sleep in the room where she supposedly died.
Very likely a true story, too. That drama was all too common in the period.
Very cool photo!! Does make you wonder.
Funnily enough I slept like a log. My main concern was if she had a habit of kicking the pipes all night.
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