Naughty Behavior
The ghosts that reside here are not actually in the Hinton
Ampner Garden house but in a house that once stood about
50 yards away from the current house.
In the 1740 Edward, Lord Stawel's wife
Mary, who was 10 years his senior died. Rumor had it
that Edward then began a long affair with Mary's much
younger sister Honoria. In the 1700's this kind of behavior
did not go over very well with the towns folk and they
considered Edward evil. Honoria is said to have given
birth to a child, but the child disappeared soon after
birth. In 1754 when Honoria died, towns folk claimed
it was because of the evil goings on at the home. Just
one year later, Edward himself died and townsfolk felt
their belief of evil in the home was confirmed.
Over the next decade rumors circulated
that a ghostly man could be seen in the home. Servents
never lasted long, they appeared driven out by fear and
towns folk refused to go near the home at night.
In 1764 Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts became
tenants of the home and although they had the highest
of reputations, it appears that the home was not happy
to have new people living there. They were harassed at
night with slamming doors and although he first blamed
the towns folk, the family eventually accepted the fact
that the home was haunted.
Mrs. Ricketts brother, after spending
a night in the home declared that the home was unfit
for any human to live in and so the Ricketts moved out.
The shrieking voices, the heavy footsteps approaching
the beds, the mens voices, the sound of skirts as a woman
walks was just too much for the family.
A Mr. Lawrence took over the tenancy,
but he up and left suddenly, driven out by the ghosts
and the house remained empty until it was torn down in
1797.
Workmen demolishing the home found a
box under the lobby floor that contained the skeleton
of an infant. Although never confirmed most believe that
this was the newborn child of Honoria that disappeared.
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