It wasn’t on our original itinerary to stay at Ettington Park Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon during our London trip last week, but something got mixed up with our other reservations and our sweet host booked us all at the sprawling country house for one night while we were touring nearby. When we first pulled up, we were enamored with the castle-like charm on the exterior. It. was. OLD. Later I learned it was built in 1858 but has earlier origins.
As soon as we walked in, I instantly felt chilled. I am someone that is extremely sensitive to spirits and thanks to our experience in our last home (still getting up enough courage to share that), I knew that there was definitely a lot of other beings here we weren’t seeing.
Our room was at the top of the grand staircase and when we opened the door there was another small set of stairs that led to our bedroom. I tried to focus on this amazing historic place that we were staying at, but I kept feeling like someone was watching me.
As we were getting ready for bed, we realized the only way to turn off the lights in the room, was the switch down the stairs by the entrance. Chris offered to do it, and I put on my phone flashlight so he could make his way back to bed. I closed my eyes SO tight so I wouldn’t see anything I didn’t want to see. I knew there was something there. Someone there.
In the middle of the night I had to go to the bathroom, and I refused to go for a long time because I knew I was going to experience something. It eventually became too urgent and I made my way to the bathroom. As I was washing my hands, I thought DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRROR, DON’T LOOK IN THE MIRROR. While simultaneously being coaxed to look. I put my hands over my eyes and ran to bed.
The next morning, on the bus, one of the other girls on the trip asked me if I got any haunted vibes last night because she had. And I told her my experience. We googled the hotel on the way to our next location and learned it has a long reputation as the most haunted hotel in the UK!!!
“Guests of the hotel, as well as members of the staff, have reported seeing various specters and hearing various disembodied voices. There is the old woman in Victorian clothing who has been seen and heard walking along the conservatory entrance. Several people have witnessed the ghost of a man and his beloved dog wandering in the library and vanishing quickly. It is reported that on Christmas Eve, the staff witnessed a candle lift up off the mantelpiece and float by itself.
"However, the hotel’s most popular ghost is that of a woman who is dressed in a white gown. She glides along the corridors of the hotel at night and then just disappears into the walls, frightening guests and hotel staff. She can also be seen at the veranda, always around dusk. The staff believe that she is a former governess and is known by the name “Lady Emma”. There is the grey lady who floats and stops at the foot of the stairs where she is believed to have fallen and died many years ago. There are also sightings of a monk both inside and outside the hotel, an army officer and the two young Shirley boys who drowned in the 1800s in the Stour River.”
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