Open day visitors face spooky time.
By Dale Williams.
Visitors to an open day at one of Sandwell’s oldest and most reputedly haunted houses could get more than they bargained for – with a host of ghostly goings on reported over the last few weeks. A monk and a white lady, supposedly two tragic lovers from the 13th century, have for years been rumoured to haunt Haden Hill House. But in recent weeks workmen restoring the Jacobean home of the Haden family, in Old Hill, have encountered a string of other spine-chilling apparitions.
Site supervisor Albert Phipps said tools had been seen moving along workbenches on their own, strange sickly smells were filling the air and electrical items were switching themselves on and off. Albert has been part of a team leading youth trainees renovating the Sandwell Council-owned building and bringing it back to its former glory for almost ten years. He said thousands of pounds had been spent in a bid to make the restored building – which is due to be completed next September – as authentic as possible using old-fashioned techniques of construction.
He said: “In recent weeks there have been goings on that we just cannot explain. One of the builders was so scared after claiming to see a saw fly across a room that he refused to go back in there. I was very sceptical and told him he was just being stupid. But recently myself and a trainee saw a kettle switch itself on and off again and a flat-handled 12-inch screwdriver moved almost two feet across a desk on its own. Often when we take parties of people around on open days to see how the restoration work is getting along they report feeling an uneasy presence – particularly in the cellar which is the oldest part of the building.”
The open day will be held on Sunday from 11am until 4pm. Entrance will be £1 or 50p concessions.
Sandwell Evening Mail, 28th October 1997.