Friday, 28 November, 2003 12:51
The Spooky South |
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| Shadowy
figures in Ventnor |
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Caroline Richardson went ghost-hunting for BBC South Today.
It seems as if there are ghostly goings on in all sorts of factories,
homes and workplaces...
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The Botanic Gardens in Ventnor are built on the site of the Royal
National Hospital - which treated TB. The patients who suffered a
lingering and debilitating death still haunt the site.
The curator of the gardens, Simon Goodenough is a self-confessed cynic,
though he has had three encounters with the garden's ghost:
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| Garden
Ghouls? |
One day
when he was leaving the potting shed a man accosted him and asked
him how long he'd been at the hospital.
Simon was only half concentrating, and without much thought replied:
"only six months".
It was as he was driving home that he realised the hospital hadn't
been there since 1969 - and the man must have been a ghost. Simon
had seen him before and watched him walk down a path. When he looked
again the man had vanished into thin air...
Simon and his wife also found themselves locked in a greenhouse for
which Simon had the only key - and that key was firmly in his pocket.
Lastly he and his wife keep smelling cinnamon punch in the potting
shed. They only realised later that Matron used to bring punch round
to the patients at Christmas - and the potting shed used to be one
of the outside wards.
In the late '60s when workmen tried to demolish the hospital, all
the machinery failed. When they tackled the operating theatre they
had to bring in teams of men with sledgehammers. While they worked
the ghost of a consumptive little girl would watch them....
Ventnor
brewery dates back to 1840. But in latter days the ghost of a former
brew master has been seen and heard keeping an eye on things.
When the current brewer Xavier Baker offered to store some cider there
all three flagons were found smashed against the walls. He's obviously
a real ale ghost...
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| The
local ghostly tipple |
Xavier
has never seen him but those who have say he watches the yard from
the top window. He also whistles and stomps around the place... Xavier
has often worked through the night there on his own and the ghost
whistles along to the radio...
He also says the odd pint goes missing from the casks but they don't
begrudge him that if it's in the name of quality control!
Stumpy Worthington or Snappy Worthington lives with Stephanie and
Colin Berwick in their thatched cottage in Longparish near Andover
- but he's been dead for more than 50 years.
He served in World War I and returned home with a shattered leg which
was subsequently amputated - hence the nickname.
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| Stumpy
is prone to door slamming |
He also
has a very short temper - hence the other nickname.
Usually he's perfectly benign unless Stephanie and Colin do any home
improvements then he gets really cross.
One morning they came down to find a row of pictures removed from
their hooks and stacked neatly against the wall. He's also moved a
full length mirror from one side of the bedroom to the other.
Most of the time though he makes a racket in the night to illustrate
his displeasure which sounds like he's slaming doors and throwing
furniture around. To the extent that Colin has bellowed down the stairs
at him and he's shut up...
For more
of the South's Ghost Stories, visit our Haunted South pages. |
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