After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal - Britain's First Ghost Hunt

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

It was the original modern ghost hunt, the one that set the template for all the haunted houses to come. When a wealthy plantation family moves into a crumbling Georgian mansion in the 1760's the haunting begins. By the end even royalty were on tenterhooks. Eleanor Janega joins Anthony Delaney for this episode.Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Stuart Beckwith.You can now watch After Dark on Youtube! www.youtube.com/@afterdarkhistoryhitSign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Looking for more shady and sinister stories, sign up to History Hit. You can join us to explore the tragic life of the Bronties or discover the chilling story of Burke and Hair. Plus, with your History Hit subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe to start exploring the past. Deep in the English countryside stands the Grand Hinton Manor, centuries old and whispered to be haunted. Strange lights flicker in empty halls, doors slam on their own, and those who stay too long tell stories of footsteps, whispers and shadows that should not exist.

In this episode, we enter Hinton Amner, long spoken of as one of the great haunted houses of George. England. We'll follow the reports of midnight disturbances, investigations in the age of enlightenment, and a spirit said to stoke the rooms long after death. Join us as we step beyond the candlelight and into the shadows of Hempton-Ampner to witness one of England's earliest ghost hunts and to confront the darkness that stirred within its walls. Hello and welcome to a spooky edition of After Dark. My name's Anthony. My name is Eleanor.

And today we are, well, before we get into that, I should acknowledge that, of course, Eleanor is not Maddie. You may have seen this and noticed this before. Maddie, of course, these two women are different people. That's crazy, me. I know, it's crazy the way women can have individual lives. This is because Maddie has been... in the Andes discovering a new civilization of people that has hitherto for being unknown to us. It's just that's Maddie all over.

That's right. That's right. Plus she's had a baby, of course. Yeah, I mean, but listen, that's not what defines her. No, the baby's on the back. Yeah, she's gone to the Andes or whatever I said earlier. That's right. Or whatever.

Yeah, whatever lie I made up and by lie, I mean, the absolute truth. And she would love this episode. I'm talking about like, she's died now. Like, calm down. She's coming back. It's fine. But she would have loved this. this because we are talking about a ghost story today and it's an 18th century ghost story so

she would have loved it even more. There's so many people that I just went ghost story. Ghost story. Oh God, I hate myself. Anyway, Ellen, you suggested this and it is an infamous ghost story, as I said, from Georgian England. And it is a story that even though it is mid to late 18th century, it has all the hallmarks of a gothic ghost story that we might know from the 19th century, let's say. It centers around a family called the Ricketts, very glamorous. They are a wealthy family from a Jamaican plantation, which of course is underpinned by the transatlantic slave trade. They rented the mansion Hinton Ampner in the south of England and endured escalating knocks, groans, crashes and apparitions that terrified guests and resisted

all attempts at rational investigation. The story reaches its its climax, and the house is declared uninhabitable in 1772 when they abandon it. And the story becomes one of Georgian England's most famous hauntings. Taking us back to this story today is not me. I get to sit back and enjoy George and Ghost Story. But it's Eleanor. Yay! Thank you for guiding me through an oaky-spooky history.

You are so welcome. I'm so excited about this because, listen, am I a very important medieval historian and broadcaster? Yes. But also known spooky bitch. Categorically known spooky bitch. But also currently writing a book on the history of ghosts. That's correct. And this is the thing.

And my current research is focusing on ghost stories in different eras, how they change and why we tell them. And I'm telling you, Hinton Ampner is so cool because it is, in my opinion, one of the most modern ghost stories that you can possibly have. So this is when you think. think we see the pattern that we understand from a haunted house history start to really kind of materialize. Yeah. As we tell a story, I think one of the things you were really going to say is like, oh yeah, this is the classic haunted house story. And it's because this is the classic haunted house

story. In many ways, this is where it all began. This is really the beginnings of investigations into hauntings, and there's just a really different and very modern take on what ghosts are here. If you look at ghost stories from the medieval period, if you look at ghost stories from the ancient period, they look very different. Well, let's talk about that as a way to kick this conversation off them, because we all try to, with these stories, and I know you'll be doing exactly the same in your new book, we try to situate these ghost stories with the history around it. And you're hinting at it already there, which I love, this idea that what a ghost was in potentially 1238 is not necessarily what a ghost looks like or does or whatever in 1772. So let's talk about this moment in time, late 18th century. What is a late 18th century ghost? Are we at the spooky bed sheets thing yet or are we not quite there? Like we're getting there is the answer. And part of what is happening here and part of what a ghost is is they begin to do things. like the knocking.

Yes. So noises, unexplained noises, things like this, objects moving. Mm-hmm. And now, this isn't to say that doesn't happen before. Unfortunately, in the past, in the medieval period, in the ancient period, we very rarely get to hear from individuals who tell ghost stories that would line up with things that we would expect to hear, right? Really?

We hear, like, from the church in the medieval period. Okay. We hear in the ancient period from, you know, the myths of Gilgamesh. Sure. Right? Like that's where ghosts are. Of course, normal people are not recording their ghostly experiences in 1200. Yeah.

Like not that the Ricketts are a particularly normal family, but, you know, they're able to really write this down. But you have to also understand that what is kind of happening with ghost stories at the time is we are having an interesting time religiously. In the late 18th century. Yes. Right. So, you know, we have now come on to like here in England very particularly. the Protestant era, right? And so as a result of this, one of the big things that happened is Protestants say there's no such thing as purgatory.

Yep. Okay. So for a medieval ghost, for example, the major medieval ghost has come from purgatory. I see. Okay, so in purgatory, I say this all the time, but purgatory isn't like limbo. People think it's like limbo. It's neither here nor there. Pergatory is hell with a timer.

Okay, so you're experiencing everything that's happening in hell, but you're going to get let out of it. eventually. And ghosts are able to show up and be like, oh my God, please. Yes, this is bad. This is, I'm having a bad time. I'm having a bad time. Go and pray for me. Yeah, please pray for me. Please, I would go to the church and have 12 masses. Yes, it'll cost you a shilling a mass. You know, like said for my soul and then I'll be let out of hell. And that's what ghosts are usually doing when we hear from them in the medieval period. Great. We don't have that anymore in English, right? So basically it's like, well, in theory, a ghost should either be in heaven or in hell. Like, there shouldn't even be ghosts around in the area, right? This will be a big thing in

the German lands. Like Germans will be like, there's no such thing as ghost. You can't have a ghost. But people are still experiencing things and relating to them as though they are ghosts. It is some kind of a haunting or a spiritual intervention thing. Do you know what's really interesting listening to you talk there. I grew up Catholic very much not that now, but culturally and socially, you have that idea of purgatory still, even in the 1990s,

floating around, and this is very much a place that one might go to. So it's so easy for us to be able to distance ourselves from these ideas of the places that the dead are going, but up until relatively recently, depending on how you worshipped, etc., this is still part of religious conversation. And therefore, you can imagine this.

being the case. I want to move now to Hinton Ampner, which by the way, sounds like a character in Wuthering Heights. Yeah, it's really good, isn't it? First of all, I adore the thing. Tell me about the house itself, what's the history around it? And I believe this is not the first time a scandal has attached itself to this house. New. Okay. So, like, this is one of them estates. Right. Right. It's down in Hampshire. It's near Alersford. And it has been going through various noble hands basically since the conquest. Okay. Right?

There have been various iterations of this house, but the house in question that we're talking about is an 18th century house. Is still there? No. Okay. They tore it down because it was too haunted. Spooky house. So we have essentially a Palladian building, probably what, early 18th century when they were doing all the rebuilds and stuff?

Yeah. But they're keeping the name because it's like, it's too fancy. So Hempton Amtner, it's coming from old. Old English or Middle English. And it comes from Higna, which means homestead. Right. And like oftentimes kind of connected to monks. And then Almand, which is like a church.

Is it like arms? Officer, yeah. Oh, okay. So, and then by the time of it, listen, it's the 18th century now. Yeah, nobody's getting arms now. Yeah, exactly. So, and this is one of these places that it's changed hands, a million, a billion, bajillion times.

During the Civil War, it's going back and forth, constantly in the way that these places do. And it's because it's a very desirable property. You know, like, have share in print. Like, I mean, particularly at the time in terms of how important shipping is. Close to London. Exactly. And like, listen, you know, for this particular family, they are back and forth to Jamaica all the time. This is the sort of place they need to be. So important to kind of say then, I suppose, that this is underpinned by the enslaved labor of transported African people. That is how they're funding the building and rebuilding of this house at this particular moment of time in the 18th century. Absolutely. And I think that one of the most scary things about the story is generally that we're

just not talking about that part. Everyone's like, the spooky ghosts. Oh my God, this poor woman is being terrorized by ghosts. And it's like, uh-huh, and where's her husband? Yeah. Yeah. Where's the money coming from? The scary thing is like what's happening in Jamaica. Like, that's the frightening thing. There are actual terrible things happening to people over in Jamaica, but we're worried about like one rich lady in Hampshire, okay. And this is why these stories often are useful tools in the telling of history, because it does exactly what you're just saying there. You look at the details, fine, and you can extract some history from there, but then you also look at what's being left out. And as you say, the narrative is, I'm presuming, some kind of an haunting that unfolds, but there is nothing

about the actual human degradation that is happening to enable this to be able to take place. We talk about dark history on this all the time. That can come many different forms. That is one of the darkest of all histories. That's just percolating away in the background of everything 18th century. You know, I was talking about this at a queer Georgians talk recently, where I was like, you know, you can get so easily lost in the big houses and the frills and the skirts and the wigs and as 18th centuryists, this is one of our things that we have a responsibility to constantly say so much of this is upheld by the enslaved labor of transported African people. And I think it, unless you're saying it, you're not doing the history properly.

Exactly. Anyway, so we've established that that's the background to this now. Purgulating in the background. Yeah. Untold bloodshed and human misery. Okay. But by 1719, we've got a woman named Mary Stokely, and she marries Edward Stowell, who is the fourth Baron Stowell.

Right. So we're in minor. aristocracy, but with plenty of money because they're in transportation, they're in shipping, they're in the Trondon slave trade, they're in plantations in Jamaica. So these guys are, they're living down in Hympton Amnter, and they are living together with Mary's sister, Onoria. Okay. And then Mary dies kind of unexpectedly in 1740. Mary kicks the bucket. Okay.

Now then, allegedly, Edward takes up a relationship with Honoria. The sister. The sister. And the village is like, ooh, they're at it. Oh, girl. Oh, girl. They're at it in the big house. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right? Like, so 100%. And everybody's kind of staring and they're like, I'm telling you, rich people have no morals. Yes. True. Correctly. Right. People have a rumor going around that honoria is pregnant.

Right. But we never see the baby. Okay. The baby never materializes. So onoreas looking really voluptuous with it. Yes, no, sure. I was going to let you find that word. Yeah, there you go.

Because I'm a man and I'm not going to feel that guy. I love that for you. Thank you. Fantastic. Now, and then eventually, Anoria dies in 1755. So she's gone too. Okay. Yeah, RIP.

And then Edward dies the year later in 1756. So this is that scandal. Yeah. This is the scandal. So you've got to have a scandal. For a haunting. For a house, yes. In enter the Ricketts.

Okay. Okay. So we've got William Henry and Mary Ricketts. there was only five names to choose from so you could be a memory Don listen so okay we got another Mary

but this is Mary Ricketts so she moves into Hinton Ampner in 1765 from that London that you may have heard about London yeah wow

and they move in with their two month old son and also you know just like the whole corduery of servants untold numbers of servants. It's just like there's a village in there. Yeah.

Like I'm telling you. William Henry, as we state, has a family business in Jamaica. Oh, I see, right. I thought you were going to say something like weird going on privately, but no, something devastation going on in Jamaica. Mary Jervis, meanwhile, has made his acquaintance because she's from a naval family. This is wife. Yeah. Yeah.

So it basically boats, girl. Yes. So, you know, boat people. You know how it is. It's like, listen. Like, I don't know. They were insufferable then and they're insufferable now. They're never going to change.

Dan Snow, I'm talking about you. I love Dan. I don't want to see a boat around in the area. Listen. I don't think. This is not Master and Commander, girl. I don't know. Listen.

Okay. So. Dan's an adventure boat person, though, not like a yacht boat person. That's true. And that's important. I can take that one. It's much more master. and commander, it's much less

cruise, I suppose. Go on. Now that you've dug yourself an early grave. I simply love to insult my boss. You know, it's great. So, okay, here we go. They're all ensconced in your Hempton Ampner. And in the year that they move in, it's a really bad winter.

Like, this is something that we need to kind of, like, keep in mind. It's so it's very, very cold. It's very, very snowy. We're still in this period where things are quite cold. Yes. Cold. Yeah. Yeah. And around this time, Mary starts reporting that she's hearing things at night. Okay. Okay. And she says this. Go on. Soon after we were settled at Hinton, I frequently heard noises in the night as of people shutting or rather slapping doors with vehemence. So William is like, listen, girl, you stay in bed. I'll go out. So William still,

William's not in Jamaica. He's there. At first, he's set when he's set Linwifie. Yeah. And he's like, okay, well, I'm going to go look out in the hallway and I'm going to see who's making all this noise. Because who do we think is making all the noise? Kids?

Servants. Oh, servants. Okay. Wow. These people don't know their place. Right, right, right. Oh, these disgusting pores in my house are slamming the doors. I love the way I go directly to, there's a problem.

Blame the children. Probably kids. But they're going, okay, servants. And they're like, I hate. these servants and they at first are just like the servants are intentionally messing with us like the servants are trying yeah which is and the servants are like my good friend you do pay me yes so and like it is the 18th century yeah yeah so for real where am i going i do know it's the 18th century right like you get like where am i going to go right where are we going to go and i know that i know that

you're not going to like give me a reference if i get like oh so whatever no no they're not going to Yeah, they would just never really. Yeah, okay. Okay, so next, they're like, okay, apparently it's not going to be the servants. Next up, the villagers. So I just wonder, again, and I know I'm harping on about this, but they are not turning to the children with any suspicion at any point during this, but they're now turning to the villagers.

Okay, so if it's not coming from within the house, it's the weirdos beyond the walls in the village that should never be interacting with us. Exactly. And maybe the, like, oh, maybe the pores are freezing to death out. there. And so they're trying to come into our house to warm up. Oh, because it's really cold. Other disgusting things such as that, you know, or maybe they're just messing with them. That's another, that's another one of the ideas here is that maybe they're mad that a new rich family is in town and they don't like it and they're just stirring trouble up.

Villagers are again, sir, it's the 18th century. I'm trying to survive. Like, I am, wow. I don't have stuff from my fire. I don't have time for, yeah, I'm angry at you for having everything you have, but I'm over here. But also, who's milk and this cow? Yeah, yeah, yeah, right? Like, I got other things to do. These people are too busy. And then, like, they kind of realize, yeah, that probably seems stupid too.

Okay. This is going on for six some months or so, right? And eventually, their nurse, Elizabeth Brawoldzford, says she sees a dark-suited man walking through the hallway outside and then passing through the doorway. into Mary's room. Now, this may be a question you don't necessarily know the answer to because it's hard to track these things. Was there between the last family that the previous Mary where there was on Noria and Mary and your man, was there any reconstructive work done between then and this one?

We don't know. I don't know. Okay, fine. Yeah, sorry. So, no, because I assumed you wouldn't know, how could you? But what I mean is, when does she think this particular dark-suited man is coming from? What ear is she seeing like a... It seems to be that it's kind of like looking...

It's looking as though he is more or less of the era. Yeah, that's the impression I'm getting. Yeah, you know, like now we're always like small Victorian child, right? And like she's just like, that's a guy in a suit. Yes. That's a guy in a suit. So much so that she goes out to investigate. She's like, who's that guy?

Walking through walls. Walking through walls. Who is in the house now and who has gone into my mistress's bedchamber, right? So she freaks out. She grabs the housemaid Molly Newton. I love the 18th century. You guys get to know the names of everyone. I can't believe this.

And so they are like, where is that guy? They look around. They're not seeing anybody. They're not seeing anybody. Guys just disappeared, right? And so they're like, well, I'm pretty freaked out and I don't love it. But like, what are you going to do? Okay, so I know Mary 2, Mary Ricketts.

I know she's heard a few slimy, bangy door stuff. And it's really loud. And it's really loud. Slapping, actually, she calls it, doesn't she? Yeah. So that's that thing. So first of all, we're focused on the women mostly because it's Mary. And then it's Molly and who's the nurse?

Her, the nurse. Her there, that's great. So it's Mary. It is Elizabeth. And then it's Molly. And Elizabeth, who were part of the servant staff. So I'm wondering, is there a gender thing here in the telling? And I'm wondering if there's a class thing here.

Oh, are we going there? Congratulations. Congratulations. Yeah. Okay. Like, absolutely. So, yeah, Mary's the first to hear it, right? But Williams running out in the hallway with a big, bold man.

And then he's like, don't worry your head, little lady. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you will note that the escalation to the apparition phase, as we call it. We do. Yeah, we do. This is from a working class woman. Ah. Like a servant sees it.

Yes. Right. And a serving woman in particular. And now who's going on the lookout to... With another servant woman. Yeah. And this is where the frenzy... There was a kind of a polite, honorable reaction from those in the upper class to this slight disturbance.

Now we're into frenzy and we've lost control and it starts to unravel. And... And this does pick up steam, right? Because we have a new sighting a couple of months later. All right. And this is by George Turner, who is the gardener's son. Okay. So again, you know, one of the workers.

The staff are seeing this, yeah. And he says that he's crossing the Great Hall. He's going to bed. Why is he crossing? Okay. He's going to bed. He's going up. He's going up to bed.

And he sees a man in a dark coat at the far end of the room. Okay. Oh, so another man, well, sounds like the same man, in another dark coat. Yeah. Yeah. Now, this is Dooley reported to Boss Mary. Yeah. Yeah.

So we've got two sightings of the sky in a coat. And what do you think she has to say about all of this? I would imagine it is, oh, worker, titlettle, get back to your jobs, cop on to yourselves. This is, you stop wasting my time. 100%. Okay. This is like, yeah, you pores would think that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, you know how the pores are, always telling ghost stories, believing in silly things. Like, we must understand, okay, there's not just the Protestant thing going on. It's the Enlightenment girl, science girl. So it's like, actually you are stupid if you think that you saw something. Like you couldn't possibly, you have a disordered mind. And of course you have a disordered mind because you're poor. Yep. Right?

Not like me. Mary, right? And don't for a second think about picking up a book, by the way. Yeah, absolutely. I swear to God if you educate yourself. I will beat you. Yeah, yeah. Right.

So we're going to fast forward. It's 1767. Yeah. Rolls off the tongue. It does. Yeah. And they have another son. This is Edward.

Uh-huh. And in that summer, they have another siding. Oh, I thought you were going to say another son. I was like, calm down. Right. Okay. So another siding.

Now, who's seeing, so this will be the third. Oh, and three, of course, three is a really important number. these haunting stories because it, you know, the Trinity and all that kind of thing. Yeah.

So who sees the third one? It's someone who's coming into the house. It's like a collar. Okay. Sees a tall woman this time in dark clothing kind of like rushing past out of the house as he's going in.

And he's like, who was that woman when he gets into the house and everyone's like, what woman? And he's like, that woman who just ran out and everyone's like, I don't know who you're talking about. Bro. Huh. So we've got like we're escalating.

We've got now two ghosts in theory. We've got two dark figures who are running around. And this is a person who is like unconnected to Hinton Ampner. He's just kind of coming in. He's just a visitor. Which adds credence, right? It gives this idea of going, oh, we're not going mad in this house. You know, in the telling of this.

Somebody who is impartial who has come in and they have experienced the same thing. And I would imagine the story would go. And they didn't even even. know about it. Exactly. Exactly. And so that's why this kind of gets recorded. Right.

I think even though we don't have the name associated with it because they're like, you see, you see. You know. And so now it's 1769, Mary and William have had a third child. Okay. Okay. This is a daughter. She's also called Mary because, again, five names. Five names.

Okay. And then... We've already had three Mary's in the story. And so now that William has saddled his wife with three children. children, he's like, well, I'm off to Jamaica. Yeah, yeah. Goodbye. I'm going to go and brutalize my fellow man. Thank you very much. Mary, of course, stays at Hympton Ampner because, you know, it would be unbecoming, were she to clap eyes on all the human misery. Yes. That funds her haunted house and her lavish lifestyle,

right? So, here she is. She's got three kids. She's got eight members of the domestic staff. Right. Okay. Looking after them. Yeah. So that's nice. Isn't it more than two per? She's comfortable, yeah. Love that, love that. Okay, let's talk a little bit about these horrible people. About the Ricketts? The Ricketts. Okay.

Yeah, okay. So William Henry Ricketts, as we say, he's from the Jamaican branch of the Ricketts family. I wonder if they're in any way related to Adam Rickett. Do you know who that is? You didn't grow up in this country. Neither did I, but we still got Adam Rickett. Adam Rickett was a soap star in the 90s, I guess. I don't know.

And he was from many of the. a gay, a gay awakening. And for many a teenage girl or young girl, I would imagine also some other type of awakening. Yeah. You can't have gay awakenings too. Not through Adam Wicked, they can't. If you

Google him later, you'll understand what I mean. You have lovely hair, God love him. But anyway, that's a side point. I would imagine he's probably not related to Adam Rican, but there you go. You can continue apologies. Now who they are related to is your man there, Captain William Ricketts. He's one of Cromwell's.

officers. Boo. We hate. We hate. But he basically settled into Jamaica after the English conquest in 1655. Okay. Right? It's like, obviously he's got to get out of here because it's getting a little hot up in the

block for various members of the parliamentarian force. So he's like, well, I was being a jerk in England. Going to go be a jerk in Jamaica? Hey, why not? So by the 18th century, they've got huge plantations, right? So Ricketts basically holds. somewhere in the thousands of acres in Westmoreland. And William Henry is very expressly down in the records as a transatlantic slave owner.

So he is involved in the triangle trade. Yes. He's like doing the worst of it, right? Like, not a good guy. I couldn't think of a better dude to be haunted. Yes. I hope that this happens, right? So he's moving people between England and Jamaica.

He's doing the worst, right? And he's now in Jamaica? Oh, yeah, you said. So he's gone back. He's gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he is kind of like running this sugar plantation, right, that the Ricketts have had for ages. So he is making tons of money off of like, you know, the sugar plantations in Jamaica.

Yeah. The, oh, Jesus Christ, like, it's awful. So it's bad news. It's very, very bad. And he does come back to England here and there in order to knock his wife up. But he's always like that. like, oh, I'm being called back to Jamaica from kind of like the 60s onwards, 1760s onward, right? And so he's kind of going back and forth. He's, you know, involved in kind of like

schemes to try to start plantations in Florida, these kind of things, right? And this is like one of those Georgian things, right? Like, oh, you live as a gentleman in England. You have your big house and then you go and you terrorize some people. And then like you go back and forth. We no longer need to be polite in the same way once we enter Jamaica. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, basically when he gets married to Mary Jarvis, you know, she's the sister of the admiral.

The admiral is named John Jarvis. So he's like the first Viscount of St. Vincent. Right. So this is a status. It's establishing a dynasty that is underpinned by misery and exploitation. And then you have that polite distance back in. England, which I think still a lot of people when they're looking at the 18th century in England really are still uncomfortable to really stand face to face with the idea that the China

teacups that are clattering, that's oh, isn't it all very pretty and cozy, or the sugar that's being dropped into the bowls or the decoration that's on the walls, there is, again, this idea of this kind of plausible deniability of going enslaved peoples. I don't know. Well. And there was this idea, of course, of our family black and white. which was just propaganda to ensure that these people could. Our family black and white is more of a 19th century idea.

But it goes, actually we're taking care of these people. We're looking after them because we are, again, it is disgusting. I was going to say it sounds disgusting, but is disgusting because there's this idea that we're civilizing them. We're giving them a life that they couldn't have had if we had let them be in Africa. Now we have this thing. So it's the most despicable thing that humans can do to humans

and yet it's being carried out. What's even more insidious about it is the veneer of respectability back in England and just the swanning around in the dresses kind of a thing. And we really have to, sorry, I'm getting on a bit of a pedestal here but I do think it's important where it's like there is this thing about going,

you know, oh, but it was only the elite. Well, it was also the people who were involved in transporting beef around, you know, as part of that thing and how that was exploited through the transatlantic slave trade. It's also people who are involved in different forms of trade that are underpinned in different countries. So many people, not just the elite, certainly the elite, and are at the worst of it, but so much of what's happening in trade and commerce and the money pouring into England at this time. And there's a lot of it is happening because of this particular trade.

So, you know, that's haunting in itself. I mean, let's be so for real. The servants at Hinton Ampner, where's the money coming from? that pays their salary. Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fundamentally. Yes.

Right. Okay, so that's the horrors in Jamaica. Back to the horrors in Hampshire. Right. So, okay, so this is the scene that we have there, and then back to the polite thing in Hampshire. Yeah, okay. So basically, off goes William, and here's Mary alone.

She's in bed one night, and she wakes up, and she hears very distinctly the sound of a woman's skirts kind of swishing around. It sounds like a woman in a silk dress is in her room. Right. So she hears this, right? Real auditory and very specific. And, you know, they would know at the time. There's like a lot of things. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. For them, that is like a very familiar. It's not just a curtain. It's not just the bed curtains, whatever. They know the difference between that. That's a really good point. Yeah. In 1770, she then wakes up and she hears the sound of boots walking across the room. And she says about it, I plainly heard the footsteps of a man with a plodding step walking towards the foot of. my bed. I thought the danger too near to ring my bell for assistance. Oh yeah. So she was essentially frozen in her bed. Yeah. And she's like, a man is in my room. He has come to kill me. Probably rightly, girl, come the revolution. So she's so frightened. She can't even like ask for any of the staff to come and help her. But to her, it is so real and so plain she thinks someone has come to attack her.

Right. So she is not necessarily, well, it's not that she's not believing that it's a haunting. I know she dismissed the servants, but there's a danger that is present, whether or not she thinks it's a ghost or a real person. And that's actually interesting because when we're listening or when you're describing these apparitions or these sounds, nobody's actually saying it was see-through. Nobody's saying, oh, I could, you know, it was this otherworldly thing. They think they're people. Yeah. They think they're real things that's happening. The major thing that happens is they're like, I am going to go look for this person. I've heard a person.

Yeah. And there's no person forthcoming. Now, we have a situation where Mary, you know, she is currently the head of the household because Williams in Jamaica. Yeah. She is scared. She feels vulnerable. What's she going to do about it? Well, at this point in time, because things keep amping up, it's like now we're hearing murmurings in the house, other servants.

are hearing things. There's moaning. There are footsteps. It's getting worse. It's getting worse. It's getting worse. Eventually, you can hear a distinct woman's voice and two men's voices. Really ramping up then. Yeah. She calls her brother. Okay, fair enough. She calls the admiral. So here comes John Jarvis. He's an admiral in the Royal Navy. Sensible man. Yes. Sensible man. No nonsense. Army man. Yep. And he is back from... Also, can I just say, so sorry to interrupt, but also as a Navy man, superstitious. Yeah, that is true. That is a good point. But both things exist. So he's been down med as one does when one is an admiral and he comes back and he comes back obviously by way of Hampshire because like where else you're going to land and he's like going to go check in on my

sister. And at first like Mary doesn't want to tell him. Sure. What's been going on? Because it's embarrassing, right? Like I mean, beneath her. Yeah. And like listen, it's one thing if the servants think there's a ghost. It's another thing if she does. Right. And things are getting worse at night. And here's the thing. She ends up having to kind of confess because her health is in decline. She's so stressed out. She's so scared about by this.

It's like, you know, like, oh, she's got the, she's got nerves. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 100%. We love it. We love this for a Georgian queen, right? Okay. So her brother comes back in August. And she's like, listen, let me fess up.

And she's like, something needs to be done. And John is like, girl, we are looking into it. Right. Like, oh, here's the thing about the Enlightenment. There's got to be an explanation for this. I'm going to measure this. 100%. Right.

So he goes and he calls one of his good friends, Captain James Luttrell. And they're like, we're just going to stay up all night, girl. Classic ghost hunt. Yeah, absolutely. We see this in the 20th century. We do it now. We do it now. Like, we're just going to stay up all night.

Like, if they could have one of those like electrospectrometers, they would have done it. They would have done it. And they're up at night and they're like, yeah, there's footsteps walking across the lobby. Oh, so they hear it too. Yeah. And Luttrell gives it the who goes there. Not the who goes there. Classic.

And he feels something kind of like. Pass by him. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And so both men are like, okay, we heard all of these noises. Yeah. But they've got all the doors locked.

Okay. They go check them all. Totally secure. Totally secure. Then at dawn, they hear them. the doors slamming and slapping that Mary refers to, right? So that morning, they're like, girl, this house is haunted. You are right. Listen, we got a ghost. It is inhospitable. Inhospitable, is what they say. Got again, this language of politeness. So it's like everything has this veneer of

perfectness, politeness, steadiness, control, and something is now out of control in this house. And I love this because that sort of idea of the inhospitable, is still something that really underpins our idea of the haunted house now. So, for example, in the Shirley Jackson classic, the haunting of Hill House, she says that some houses are born bad. And it's this unwanted guest, right? Inhospitality. I love it. I love it.

So Mary's like, girl, I'm getting onto the landlord, right? But in the most 18th century way possible, homeboy has got gout. Of course. Who, the landlord does? The landlord does. He's got the gout. And he's like, girl, I'm too. too gouty for this.

Can't make it today. So basically I'm sending down my grandson and they're basically like, we're kind of like too embarrassed to kind of talk about it, right? Like, this is kind of weird. So here they come. And like, John, meanwhile, keeping up the vigil every night. He's out there. He's looking around.

And at one point in time, Mary gets woken up because she hears a gunshot be fired and like groaning. So she's like, who got shot? Like, who's been shot? Like, what is going on? And she's like, okay, that is it. Like, we're done. Like, I can't be having the gunshots and the groaning and that kind of a thing. So, John, her brother is like, I'm off to Port Smith.

And he sends his lieutenant, who's a lieutenant of the Marines and one of the friends of the family to kind of like watch after her. Okay. Like, it's like, everybody's taking it very, very seriously. Yeah, yeah. I mean, this is a lot of man hours that's going into this now. 100%. I think you're right. I think it does indicate that this is now being taking their.

very seriously. This is a real thing as far as there. Something's happening, whatever, whatever they think it is, who knows, but something's going down. And at this point in time, he's like, also, I'm writing to William in Jamaica about it. Man to man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Man to we can solve this. And he says, he writes and he says, to keep you longer in suspense would be painful. I therefore proceed to tell you Hinton House has been disturbed by such strange, unaccountable noises from the end of April to this day with little or no intermission that it is very unfit your family should continue any longer in it. Yikes.

Further, after the most diligent search and serious reflection any way I count for, Mr. Luttrell had then no doubt of the cause being beyond the reach of human understanding. So they're like, it's a mystery. Another word for that is supernatural. Yeah, exactly. Or paranormal. Yeah, yeah. So it's like it's happening.

It's out of the ordinary. We cannot explain this, right? So apparently William agrees it's too hot. Too hot in the house. We got to get out of there. So in 1772, they leave. They abandon the house. It's been going on for years now.

Yeah, ages. They put it with it for ages. And it is one of these things that we will also see in kind of a classic haunted house case now. The amping up of events. Yes. Everything's fine when you get there. There's a few things that are off and then it gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse and it gets worse. unsustainable and you can't stay there, yeah.

So basically, they take off and Hinton Ampner becomes known as like incredibly, incredibly haunted, right? And basically the rickets, they just settle elsewhere in Hampshire, can't leave Hampshire, obviously. Got to be able to have quick access to Jamaica. Still need a good address. And eventually, in 1793, the house has demolished. Oh. Because no one will live in it. And a new house gets rebuilt elsewhere on the site.

Okay. And here's the thing, though. They basically turned that area into like an orchard, right? So that's like a garden, where the old house was. So they're like, look, it's a good estate. It's just like no one is ever going to rent this house out. Again, it's simply too haunted. So, yeah, whatever.

That's the story everybody knows about it. Here's the explanations that people come up with kind of like. So basically, eventually people say, okay, well, maybe the Stalwell family, you know. That was the first law. Yeah, you know, Marion and Honoria. Yeah. They think that basically the two major apparitions are Lord Stawall and Honoria, right? Like, that's who you're seeing.

You know, the adulterers, you know, the sister shagger. Yeah, yeah. Sister Shagger and the shagged sister. If we're going to be saying who ghosts are, it might as well be them, I suppose. Yeah, sure. And now they say that in 1793, after the Ricketts had left, while the house is kind of like getting torn apart, construction workers claim they find a tiny human skull in a box under the floorboards. Oh, this missing baby?

Mm-hmm. I forgot about that. Like, no one heard any baby, but like, I don't know, maybe the guilt is keeping the ghosts walking. Yeah, nobody did hear any baby. That's true. But there was a potential missing baby from, was it Mary or Enoria? Onoria. Yeah, so, and that's what the locals are saying.

Word on the street is that's the dead baby. Okay. Okay. By the 19th century, because people love this. It's persistent. Yeah, absolutely. They're saying that, okay, this is like all happening because of these aristocratic people shagging about. And like, you know, this is kind of like...

It becomes a moral compass to go. If you live a dissipated life, you will be damned to purgatory. Okay, not pergatory because it's, you know, it's Anglican. but you will be damned to roam the earth in a very actually Wuthering Heights type thing where you will not ascend to heaven, you will not even go to hell. You'll just, if you're living so dissolutely, you'll wander the grounds. And this is also tied up with the fact that by now in the 19th century, English people decided to stop having slavery, which is why they invented it in the first place,

was, you know, just so that they could abolish it. Yes, yeah. Congratulations everyone. So it's like, oh, well, you know how they were. disgusting stick people. So the story is specifically told with us like moral lens. So it does. So that idea of the freedom of enslaved people comes into it in the 19th century. It's very much there. I thought you were going to say that, but I thought we were maybe going to say it in the 20th century that that's what it takes on. But even in the 19th, it's there.

To their credit. To their credit. They're like, yeah, that seems bad. Seems like that would be bad. And even then they're saying, right, everything that was happening on the plantation in Jamaica it was somehow unsettling the house, and because it was fueling this, it was somehow bringing about this haunting. They're like, this is a sick bunch of people who are doing terrible things, and that's why hauntings happen. It's interesting that it's that early. Yeah, I mean, like, shout out to 19th century people, you're not always that bad. Not always, yeah. Mostly. Okay, like, then the other explanation, are these some Londoners who moved into a big old creaky house in the winter and got freaked out? Yeah, yes. We can't rule it out. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it's a possibility, right? It's, yeah, it's going, oh, we're suddenly in the middle of nowhere and yeah, yeah, okay, I see it. And you know, as you say, by the time we get some other people in to have a look at it, who do we get in? Sailors. Yes. Sailors are prone to beliefs. Yeah. I do like the idea that he reports on what they have undertaken. And it does sound all very logical and very methodical and all that kind of thing, you know, very enlightened in bookmarks.

but it is yeah, yeah, it's trying to measure the haunting and again, that's what people have done for the last 250 years where it's like, where's that noise coming from?

What are they saying? Let's record it. Because in so doing, we can collect the data and we can control it somehow or understand it somehow. So I see what they're doing there. So those are three main theories

as to what's going on. Do you have a, are you drawn to one of them in particular? I'm trying to think if I am. I mean, I think, that, like my theory on ghosts is, like, I don't know, like, what a ghost is, but I know that it is a phenomenon that people claim to experience. Yes. And that's real. Yes. A phenomenon that people

are experiencing is happening. And it might be happening in this case because, yeah, these are bad people who are doing terrible things, right? And so, like, maybe it's nicer to kind of, like, bog it off on, like, some adulterers. Like, I'm, I mean, yeah, like, a dead baby under the floorboards. We don't love that, but I'm going to tell you, I just don't think that like shagging your sister's husband is as bad as enslaving people. I'm crazy like that. Call me crazy. And they wouldn't have thought that either. But they also wouldn't have had, if we were to go about this kind guilt complex thing that's invoking, this haunting. I just don't think it stacks up. It stacks up for us as a modern, that absolutely makes sense for us. But for them, they are not guilty about

this. No, they don't care. They don't care at all. We can't give them that kind of credit. They're they're not thinking. Some people are. I think it's really important to say that there is, even in the late 18th century, there is a movement to abolish the transatlantic slave trade. Absolutely. And enslavement generally. But the people who are doing it and benefiting from it are not.

Yeah, they're like, actually, I don't see a problem with this at all. Yeah. That's why they keep doing it, right? So we get this cool story, though, because this was like big news at the time. Like the royals. Yeah, the royals were interested in it. They were corresponding with Admiral John about this, because they were like, girl, what is going on with that ghost?

Because people loved it, right? And this becomes more public knowledge in the 19th century. It's published in 1872 as a Hampshire ghost story in The Gentleman's Magazine. Right. So it's like... Polite again, though. So again, right? It's interesting because now it's kind of circulating because now it's the 19th century and everybody loves ghosts.

And it's 100 years later. So you have this, there's always this thing with ghosts, yes, but even older ghosts. is even more compelling in some ways. Like, we see it, say, you know, when we talk about, like, the 1960s and 70s, when so many of those haunted house things come out, we are really interested in them now, more so I'm not aware of any contemporary haunting that's happening right now, although I'm sure some people will claim that there are. But if you talk to me about the Battersea Poldergaiser, I don't know about that, but that's going back quite a bit. So there's something that we like to cast back on these hauntings. And that really draws us in for some reason. Yeah, I think that there is this veneer of reality, that historicity, these ghost stories.

So it's like within that, you can kind of talk about it. You know, it's that old joke. It's like it's always a Victorian child. It's never a ghost from 2008 screaming it's Britney Bitch. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which it should be. And it is Britney bitch. You know what?

That's so true. And I've always said that. So we then have this particular ghost story kind of pass into the public consciousness. and it sort of becomes the template. Yeah, I can see that. You know, the manor house in the countryside, we think that this helps to inspire Henry James' is the turn of the screw.

Yes, I can see it. Which is written in 1890. The sounds, the knocks. Now, listen to me, have you seen the 1960s black and white ghost movie version of it, The Innocence? No. Freak yourself out, girl. Oh, go and see it.

Oh, stop everything that you're doing. Watch the Innocence. Well, I need to continue presenting this podcast for another few minutes. Listen, no, let's just turn it off. Come back. Anyway, okay. So this is interesting, though, right? Because this is a ghost story that this is not happening in the 19th century spiritualism thing.

Like, no one is like, oh, I'm going to go get my Ouija board. We're not, like, going to try to communicate with the ghosts. But they are trying to make some sense of it. Right. They're ghost hunting, but they're not attempting communication with the dead. Yes. So it's interesting because it is, there is a sense of modernity to it, but it's happening. You see the development is.

in what they were doing and now what we're doing in this age of spiritualism. And I also think it feeds into this thing of going, things with histories have more legitimacy, right? And here, this is at a time

when you say 1870s, it becomes really popular. This is when the spiritualism thing is in full swing and people are doubtful, but other people are really convinced. So here's the history of this that is now 100 years old.

So actually, you think this is new? No, our ancestors. have been talking about these other worldly things coming in. And where the history of this is important, you know, first of all, thank you for sharing just a really good story. That's number one. But number two, it's useful for us as historians because it shows that blueprint of so many of the identifiable features that we now understand as a haunted house mystery.

And even like, think about it, in the 19th century, certainly there was this idea that definitely big houses lend themselves to it more. more so. Because they come with ancestral lineage, they have, you're able to add in this whole thing of what's going on. How did the money funnel in as well? That brings that dark element in there. So the fact that our 19th century ghost story is actually an 18th century ghost story shows how important it is to track the history. Well, I mean, you're writing a bloody book on it. Exactly. And, you know, listen, because of the wealth involved, we get to have everybody's names, there's a whole staff of people that we have written down. Your average house in the 18th century, we don't know who lived there. I mean, like, we might be able to have deeds with who owns it, but we don't know. Yeah, what that means, really. Yeah. So it's kind of like there are people are in and out, they're up and down. This is something where we can point and say, aha, it was these guys, right? Which is something that people really enjoyed doing. Like, when they're telling the ghost story, they want name names and they want a why. Right. And so this is one of the big things, this sort of.

story is introducing even though, in theory, we're away from this purgatorial ghost story. You know, the ghosts are here because they're suffering for these reasons. We still have ghosts who are here who are suffering for these reasons. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And this is going to be like the Gothic blueprint. Yes.

For the rest of time. Well, I think a ghost story is the perfect way to finish our month together, Eleanor. Oh, I'm going to miss you, Anthony. I know. We've fallen into our little pattern of our little stories every week. Thank you for keeping me company over the last few weeks. You know what? It's been such a pleasure.

I know that I can never take Maddie's place, but I mean, I can for a month. And it turns out you did. I'd grow a little bit, but we can't wait to have her back. I will let you do the sign-off then. So you can say goodbye to our After Dark listeners, who of course will be coming over to hear you again on Gone Medieval and the love when you appear anyway. So I will say goodbye now, but I'll say goodbye now, but I'll say goodbye. I'll leave Eleanor to say the real goodbye.

Well, thank you so much to listening for After Dark and for keeping me company. And, you know, I know I'm not Maddie, but I'm trying my best here. Obviously, obviously, come check out the After Dark on YouTube. Yes. You can see my great earrings. Yes, they are great. And also, you're very Princess Diana dress. Thank you.

Thank you. So many people have said that I'm like a modern-to princess Diana. It's true. You can also, please, if you haven't already, leave After Dark a five-star review, wherever you listen to your podcasts. And, you know, why not drop one for Gone Medieval? Might as well. Well, you're at us.

Come on. And now, you can absolutely do that wherever podcasts are listened to. And basically, the reason we want you to do that is it helps other people find the podcasts and come gossip about ghosts with us. Now, if you want to come find me on social media, you can find me at Dr. Eleanor Yanaga on Instagram. And Anthony, where can the good people find you? It's Anthony Delaney History. Well, listen, we also want to hear your ideas for future shows.

So if you have any, why not drop us a line at After Dark at HistoryHit.com or if you got any medieval ideas, hit me up at Gautomneal at HistoryHit.com. Otherwise, thank you so much for hosting me and I'll see you soon.