Cedric turns the local into a ‘ghost pub’.
Steeple Bumpstead is a peaceful enough place during the day. But after sunset things are starting to go bump in the night. The centre of the nocturnal activity is the village pub, the Fox and Hounds, where a mischievous ghost, nicknamed Cedric, has taken up residence.
The landlord Brian Surtees and his wife, Joy, have to put up with lights being mysteriously turned off and on, lavatories flushing, doors opening and closing on their own and mysterious footsteps. The very first night that the Surtees moved in they were greeted by the ghost in no uncertain terms. A chair which was placed near their dressing table suddenly flew across the bedroom as though it had been picked up and thrown. Ever since that night they have had numerous experiences – some frightening, some amusing and some just simply annoying.
One night Brian put their dog, Benny, outside and locked all the doors. Minutes later the dog was back in the house shaking like a leaf and with its tail between its legs – and all the doors were still closed. Not long after that, at about 6.30 pm one evening, Brian was in the sitting room watching television when he heard th efront door open and close and then the door into the saloon bar opened and closed, followed by footsteps up to the bar. Thinking it was a customer Brian got up and went in to the bar but to his amazement the bar was completely empty.
Another experience that Brian can find no explanation for happens quite frequently. The gas which pushes the beer up to the taps comes from cylinders in the cellar. The gas can only be turned off with a specially made spanner key. On several occasions Brian has tried to draw beer from the taps to find that nothing happens. Somehow the gas has been turned off at the cylinder – something which Brian never does. “I’m not frightened by the ghost,” says Brian. “In fact, I quite like it. Sometimes it becomes a bit of a nuisance, but we have learnt to live with it. As far as I know there is no history of any murders or anything like that happening in the pub. There are few stories about the place, but there are bound to be a few tales about a building that is over 400 years old.” One of the stories tells of a young girl, who has been seen walking around the village at night and some people claim to have seen images of the girl near the village’s Moot Hall, which is next door to the Fox and Hounds and was build about the same time.
The previous publicans of the Fox and Hounds, Mr Harry Weeks and his wife Phyllis, left the pub about two years ago. Phyllis now runs a babywear shop in Queen Street, Haverhill. And she told of the “frightening” nights she had spent in the pub. “I never actually saw a ghost,” said Phyllis, “but I knew it was there. Some nights when I was upstairs on my own I could sense some kind of presence, just as though there was somebody standing over me and watching. One night I heard strange tapping noises coming from the attic, so armed with a high heel shoe and a poker I went up to the attic only to find it completely empty. I very often heard somebody tapping on the window but every time I went outside to see who it was there was nobody there. The most annoying thing was when things that we had left in one room would suddenly appear in another room. I remember that was always happening with cushions moving from one chair to another. We always got the impression that the ghost was quite friendly. In fact, my son-in-law even gave it a nick-name. He called it Cedric.”
Haverhill Echo, 5th April 1973.