'Fear at the farmhouse'
This isolated black and white farmhouse could certainly send shivers down anybody’s spine, with such a delightful and welcoming appearance from the outside the house takes on a more sinister role behind its old front door. The house stands in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, at night the house is in complete darkness and there is nothing nearby apart from a church and a few houses up the road, the house is approximately 10 miles from Hereford and has a farm attached to the side of it, sadly the farm is not in use today but previously as been, cattle, sheep and chickens were the livestock that was once at the farm.
The house is a paranormal hotbed with supernatural occurrences going on daily, the ghosts of the house are known to be Henry Baskerville and his daughter Mary but there is no doubt that many more spirits roam and haunt the building. In the late 16th century or early 17th century the Baskerville family at some point were occupying the house, it is as been said that one night Henry who was head of the house spent the evening out drinking whiskey as is wife and daughter were away, Henry returned home rather drunk and whilst walking up the stairs with his bottle of whiskey he mistaken his daughter for an intruder and hit her around the head with a bottle resulting in Mary’s death, Mary apparently returned home with ought her father’s knowledge and was walking down the dim lit stairs when Henry was walking up them and with bumping in to one another Henry was so drunk he didn’t realize it was daughter.
The original date of the house is unknown but could easily be dated at least of a 16th – 17th century date if not before; it is also known that the house was originally divided in to two small cottages which is possibly the reason why one end of the house is more cold and more haunted than the other. Many families over time have lived at this farmhouse Henry Rock was head farmer in 1841, in 1861 James Lewis was owner and in 1901 Roger James was farmer and he lived at the house alone. It was whilst living at this house as a small child that I had my first encounters with ghosts, lights going on and off, doors slamming, loud heavy footsteps and pictures and ornaments being moved were the norm for this house and would occur each day, the end room upstairs was the worst and definitely the most haunted room in the house and family were always on edge whilst staying at the house especially my aunt as she was violently pushed down the stairs, another strange and spooky happening was when me and family returned home one evening, we were all shocked to see a lady with a candle walking past at the top window bearing in mind that no one was in the house and it was all locked up.
One moment that will never leave my mind was when I first saw a ghost; I was in bed one cold night and was woken up by my name being called so I looked up and right in front of me at the bed stood a young lady , my parents say that I ran into their room in the early hours of the morning and I told them that a lady called Mary came to see me and I apparently described everything she was wearing which was of a Victorian date, now considering I was only four and I wasn’t even in school yet I find that pretty remarkable! One day a chimney cleaner came out to the house and within ten minutes he packed up and shot back out the door, later on that day during a telephone conversation he said that he saw a little boy with a candle up the chimney and refused to return to the house.
One of the most frightening happenings for my family was when my younger brother who was a baby at the time was in his cot in his bedroom, everybody heard him crying upstairs so my dad and my uncle went up there and the whole bedroom was shaking, they grabbed my brother and ran out. With so many other spooky stories to tell I believe this house is one of the most haunted places in Hereford and over the years I have been told that all of the occupiers since we moved out have had strange things going on daily.
The old black and white house still sits there today with its ghosts causing havoc to the present occupier, the lady that lives in the house is experiencing all kinds of constant ghostly activity throughout the building, the haunting is so bad that she refuses to speak to anyone about it and would rather keep it to herself, the people that live close to the house know all about its ghostly reputation as they have seen people move in and then not long later move out. So for a place that is so haunted it is definitely for the best that this disturbing location is kept unknown.