The Haunted Wardrobe – Oxfordshire, England.

In 1937, the Northern Standard, a Northern Territory newspaper, reported on the case of a haunted wardrobe in Oxfordshire, England. Mrs Barclay of Carterton Manor, Oxon, had advertised in the Morning Post, an English newspaper, that she was selling a haunted wardrobe.

Barclay explained that she had purchased the wardrobe for ten pounds at a sale. Three months later, after bringing it into her home, the wardrobe's doors and drawers began opening and closing of their own volition, causing a considerable ruckus. Not long afterwards, she claimed to have witnessed the ghost of an elderly man. Barclay stated that "the figure of an elderly man, dressed in old-fashioned clothes and wearing a kind of deerstalker cap, appeared in the house." Every evening, the ghost would walk from the bedroom, down the stairs, and out the front door.[1]

Barclay stated in an interview, "I am not nervous, but the wretched ghost makes such a noise. He clatters across the landing and shuffles down the stairs, and the noise is exasperatingly loud."[2] Barclay also claimed that the ghost had terrified her cook and frightened him away.[3]

The night before the auction, Mrs Barclay claimed that the ghost was upset about the sale. He banged the wardrobe doors with more than his usual venom. The wardrobe clattered down the stairs more loudly than she had ever heard it before, prompting her to have it removed to the manor grounds.

That evening, a group of practical jokers dressed as ghosts invaded Carterton Manor and refused to leave until Mrs Barclay's secretary dispersed them by firing a shotgun.[4]

Mrs Barclay subsequently auctioned the wardrobe. During the sale, a bidder asked whether she could guarantee that the ghost would accompany the wardrobe, to which she replied that she could not. Bidding drove the price well beyond the ten pounds she had originally paid for it. Mr E. Rundle, a former R.A.F. officer and innkeeper, eventually purchased the haunted wardrobe from Mrs Barclay for fifty pounds.[5]

After making the purchase, Rundle stated, "I am having my bedroom enlarged and am having the wardrobe put in it. Anyone who wants to do so may sleep there. Personally, I do not believe in ghosts."[6]

Rundle took the wardrobe to his Clanfield inn and soon reported experiencing the same strange occurrences. As a sceptic, he decided to dismantle the Victorian-era wardrobe to investigate why its doors and drawers opened of their own accord. Finding no hidden mechanisms or other explanation for the wardrobe's behaviour, Rundle concluded his investigation and carefully restored it. Following its restoration, he reported that it never behaved in the same manner again.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] 'A Haunted Wardrobe Complete with Ghost', The Catholic Advocate, (25 November 1937), p. 6.

[2] Ibid.

[3] 'Haunted Wardrobe', The Argus, (21 August 1937), p. 13.

[4] '£50 Highest Bid for Haunted Wardrobe', Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder, (6 September 1937), p. 6.

[5] Ibid.

[6] 'HAUNTED WARDROBE FETCHES £50', Northern Standard, (31 August 1937), p. 4.

The Legend Of Robert Skelton: "The Cauld Lad of Hylton"

The Legend Of Robert Skelton

"The Cauld Lad of Hylton"

What happened in Hylton Castle in Sunderland England, will forever remain a mystery. The Castle is but a shadow of its former self, a ruin, attracting tourists and ghost hunters from across the globe.

There are rumours of a haunting by an elf, a barghest, a brownie, and a poltergeist. They all may exist, they all may exist in this location, but almost all the actions of the spirits in this location are attributed to one spectre “The Cauld Lad of Hylton”, Robert Skelton.

The origins and stories of the murdered stable boy are varied. It is thought he lived sometime in the 16th century, with the ghost story arising sometime soon afterwards.

One interpretation of the legend states that Robert, a stable boy, was caught by Baron Robert Hylton courting his precious daughter and that the Baron being so angered that a lowly stable-boy could ever think of offering his affections to his daughter, killed the boy.

Another of the legends has a different take on happenings, in this version it is stated that the boy overslept, and had not prepared the Baron's horse in time for him to leave for a very important engagement. The Baron, angered by the boy's insolence and neglect of his duties, killed the boy.

There are varying details on how Baron Hylton ended the life of Robert Skelton, depending on the storyteller. You may hear that the Baron decapitated the boy with his sword, or you may hear that Robert was hit repeatedly with a riding crop across his head, fatally wounding the boy. There is also the version, that, in his angered state, the Baron reached for whatever was near to strike the boy down, grabbing a pitchfork that was sitting nearby, and instead of hitting the young lad, impaled him upon the fork.

The rumours of ways in which Robert was murdered differ greatly, but the way in which the body was disposed of does not. It is said the Baron disposed of the remains of Robert Skelton by dropping his body down the shaft of a used well on the property.

It is here that the stories, of which the variations lead to legends, become facts. Several months after the boy died, his body was recovered. The Baron was tried for murder, but an old estate farmer, one of the Baron's workers, came forward telling the court that the boy had ordered the Baron to get some tools from a high shelf in a barn, the boy had slipped, fell and mortally wounded himself in doing so. The Baron, being the good man he was, tended to the boy's wounds, but the poor young chap died. Baron Robert Hylton was pardoned of the crime in 1609.

Was the court corrupt?

Was the farmer corrupted?

 It is hard to know in this day and age, as records are not going to state such things, but you can guess at what a local court would rule against a man in their village with such high standing, against a boy with such low standing.

After the trial of the Baron, strange events began to occur in his castle. Kitchen staff would tidy their kitchen, and ready it for the morning, only to find in the morning, the kitchen to be messy again, and, if they didn't clean it, the next morning it would be clean!

Other stories of an “unseen” person taking hot ashes from the stove fires, and placing them on the ground, then laying on them, and leaving a body imprint in the hot ashes are also told.

Chamber pots around the castle would be upturned, spilling their contents onto the floors.

Intrigued as to what was going on, legend has it that one of the kitchen staff stayed up one night in the kitchen, awaiting the phantom causing so much trouble. He saw the ghost of a young naked boy enter the room, crying to himself “I'm Cauld" (I am cold ).

The next night, the kitchen staff left an old cloak in the kitchen for the naked boy ghost. It is said a voice was heard through the castle,
“Here's a cloak and here's a hood, the Cauld Lad of Hylton will do no more good”.

It is said that after the voice was heard, the mysterious ghostly goings-on at the castle came to a halt.

Or did it?

To this day, people speak of hearing a young boy's hallowed cries within the castle walls, eerily coming from nowhere, but seemingly from everywhere....does Robert still haunt the old ruins, seeking the justice that was never served for his death?

What do you think?

Comment below!

Researched and Written by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au
© 2012

As a supplement to the above story, here is a little production out of England about 

"The Cauld Lad of Hylton"