Haunted Littlecote Hall

Mrs Barnes was not a woman of great conscience, but she was not inhuman. Outraged at this act of barbarity, she screamed and to her screams were added those of the terrified mother. And the inhabitants of Littlecote listened in fear, knowing that the master of the house – Wild Will Darrell – was up to some fresh devilry.

At the command of Wild Will, Mrs Barnes was blindfolded once more. She was angry and terrified, for all she knew, she might well be put to death herself now as the witness of this outrage. Back in her cottage in Great Shefford, Mrs Barnes was informed of the dire consequences which would fall upon her if she spoke one word to a living soul of what had happened that night.

Mrs Barnes kept silent, but she could not forget. On her deathbed, she told the story to a magistrate. Her remembrance of the thirty-one steps identified the mansion as Littlecote, the house of Wild Will Darrell. Sir Harry Knyvett had long complained about Darrell’s wicked behaviour, which explained why Darrell slandered Lady Knyvett. One Miss Bonham had been Darrell’s mistress, and the girl’s treatment at Littlecote and the illegitimate child she had borne there was widely known.

The Phantoms of Littlecote

Darrell escaped justice through bribery and corruption… and because Miss Bonham couldn’t give evidence against him. It was said that her restless spirit was already haunting Littlecote in search of her murdered child. While riding in Littlecote Park, her ghost appeared before him and his horse reared up in terror, throwing him to his death.

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Littlecote then passed out of the hands of the Darrell family, but the Phantom of Wild Will Darrell is said to haunt the ante-chamber where he burnt his unwanted child. Bloodstains have been reported to appear mysteriously upon the floor before the fireplace. And of course the ghost of Wild Will also was seen on the spot where his horse threw him to his death.

In the long gallery of Littlecote the inconsolable Miss Bonham is still walking in search of her child. Her screams, and those of Mrs Barnes, have echoed through the mansion for centuries now and are heard to this day. Littlecote has always exercised a strange supernatural fear over the people who lived there and the domestic staff.

Reincarnated into a Princess?

In 1914, Princess Marie Louise – a granddaughter of Queen Victoria – had a strange experience there, which she told in her book “My Memories of Six Reigns”. Her lady-in-waiting, Mrs Evelyn Adams, was the cousin of Sir Ernest Wills, who was then the owner of Littlecote (he died in 1958).

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The Princess had never been in the house, nor had she ever seen a drawing or a picture of it. But when Sir Ernest invited her to lunch and she approached it, she experienced the sensation that she had been there before. Littlecote and its surrounds were quite new to her, but yet they were disturbingly familiar. And it was more than just a “déjà-vu”. She simply knew the place.

The lunch was served in the great hall… and the Princess knew every detail of the place. Naturally the story of Wild Will Darrell was told and after lunch Sir Ernest offered the Princess to show her over the house. When they came to the long gallery where the ghost of Miss Bonham was seen, Lady Wills pointed to a door at the far end of the gallery and said that this was where Mrs Barnes came up.

“Oh no, you are quite mistaken,” the Princess said, and she pointed to another door. “This is where she was brought up.”

The Princess closed her eyes and walked along the gallery, warning Mrs Adams for the two steps ahead. The eyes still closed, she opened a door and stepped into a small room. “This is the fireplace where Wild Will burnt the child,” she exclaimed.

The Princess opened her eyes. She was quite unable to explain how she could have known these things. In a previous existence, she surely must have been Mrs Barnes… or Miss Bonham?

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