Spooky Chippenham

Me trying to look suitably spooky!

When my friend Diane suggested a ghost walk around Chippenham I expected it to be quite short as I hadn't at that point come across many spooky stories about the town.

Well I was wrong.

Our ghost walk meeting point at Chippenham railway station


Not only did I manage to keep 15 women and a baby entertained for a couple of hours, they also added some tales of their own.

The stories started straight away with the tale of Old Maudy, who awaits her lover's return from the war whilst sitting on a bench at the railway station. Wendy and I are quite relieved we've not seen her on our commutes!

Benches at Chippenham Station

Naturally we speculated exactly which bench it might be. As you can see there are quite a few to choose from... and I haven't photographed them all.

Some of Chippenham's building with spooky tales associated with them

Here are some of the places with tales to tell. Seeing there are so many old buildings centred around the Market Place - which also hosted a hangman's noose for quite some time and is rumoured to be cursed -  I should have guessed the walk would be a viable one.

We have a man in trilby hat; a lady with a cat; furniture that moves in the night; tragic suicides; lights that switch on and off; disappearing and reappearing objects; faces at various windows; mysterious voices from an empty room; blood from a duel; sounds of carriages and horses; a valet and a maid who died in the same hotel; self-propelled tupperware and vase; a room that makes you dizzy, plus another [possibly the same one? - Ed] which compels pregnant women to throw themselves out of the window.

Not bad for a sleepy rural town.

Window of the Old Road Tavern decorated for Hallowe'en

Comments

  1. Sue Garrett30 October 2017 at 12:14

    I used to work in what was once the stable block of a large house and there were stories of hearing horses and carriages in the courtyard

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP30 October 2017 at 14:01

      We're having a debate on their origins Sue. The family who heard them thought the buildings used to be the stables for a hotel nearby (also with haunted stories), but we were told on a museum heritage walk the building was used for the manufacture of various drinks, so we think they were possibly delivery drays.

      Assuming there really are ghosts of course ;)

      Delete
  2. Helen31 October 2017 at 18:55

    Cute! And you've given me an idea for easy Hallowe'en decor. All I need is an old sheet and a Sharpie pen – plus an ability to draw. But I have people who could do that for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP31 October 2017 at 19:01

      It's rather good isn't it Helen! It's the window of one of our local pubs which I discovered at the weekend when I took my camera for a walk :)

      Delete
  3. Caro2 November 2017 at 13:33

    Oooh, I got quite a chill when I read this post, although I did chuckle at the self-propelling tupperware - perhaps a ghost that couldn't get the lid on! Luckily I've never seen any spooky entities (and don't want to start now, thanks) but my friend's son refused to go into his bedroom when he was very small as he was frightened by a "nasty man" in the room. No-one else could see anything but another friend who is more in tune with spiritual matters came and sorted it out and could describe the man that had been there. Dun-Dun-Derrrr! :) xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP3 November 2017 at 11:39

      A local vicar was consulted about one of our ghost stories, Caro. When I mentioned this one of the ladies laughed and said he'd officiated her wedding ceremony! She now saw him in a new light. The tupperware was experienced by another attendee - it flew off a shelf from BEHIND a stack of boxes and fell along from where it and the boxes were stored. Gravity should have meant it fell directly below!

      Delete

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