Spooky Walk Around Salisbury

January 2013

To kick of the New Year we decided to get together with our lovely friends and ghost hunting buddies after Dave got a fantastic book for Christmas about hauntings in Salisbury.

Our first port of call was Wyndham House council grounds where there is reputed to be a plague pit and it’s a place where Maria had a ghostly encounter as a child which has remained with her to this day. As we arrived at Wyndham House we met up with Andrew and walked into the park grounds. I got a sense of something to my left as soon as we entered the grounds which left me with the impression of a vast darkness. When I explained this to Maria she said it was in the direction I was pointing too that she had the experience as a child.

We walked around the park trying to locate some steps that Maria had attempted once before in the dark but was too terrified to go near. We eventually found some which lead up a mound like structure which is believed to be where plague victims are buried. Once satisfied this was where the steps were, we then progressed around the park to a stone Folly. The Folly is a four-arched, conical-towered stone structure installed in the 18th century garden development of Bourne Hill House which is now called Wyndham House. Wyndham House was formally Salisbury's Council offices. Some have suggested that the Folly may have originated in the Cathedral Close. The inside of the Folly has been ornately carved with Tudor roses and some pagan imagery. It was here that Maria had the ghostly encounter as a child which she described as not a spirit manifestation but more demonic. The account was truly chilling.

After taking a few pictures of the location we decided to move on to a few places of interest. Maria, Andrew and Loretta took Dave and I too Salisbury Cinema which is housed in a very old ornate building. We then moved onto a few of the more interesting public houses (stopping to have a drink of course) one of which was The Haunch of Venison. It is in here that they still have the mummified hand of an unfortunate card player caught cheating still on display by the fireside in one of the rooms. I have to say that I really loved it in this pub. The place had real atmosphere but the place left Dave feeling very out of sorts. He said he did not feel welcome as he went in and felt very uncomfortable the whole time we were in there.

After a drink or two we decided to move on and walked to a few other places of interest. No ghosts came out to play on this occasion but the evening was very enjoyable and we personally cannot wait to explore a few of the places we visited further on future investigations.

J Wicheard ©