MOTLEY HALL
Location: Surrounded by woodland and small dairy farms, Motley Hall is a rather lonely and desolate manor house situated in the Borwick countryside in Lancashire County, England beside the Lancaster Canal near the busy M6 motorway.
Description of Place: Borwick was known as "Bereuuic" or "barley farm" in the Domesday book of 1086. This quiet village dates back to the 14th Century by the Bindloss family who were cloth merchants in Kendal. The village church was built by the Sharp Family whose descendants still reside at Borwick Hall. Today, it is a residential center and among the curious landmarks is Motley Hall. A bit more intact than most haunted sites in the British Isles, the three-story stone and brick structure includes garrets, towers and stained glass windows around a small courtyard and garden. The interior includes several rooms including a grand hall, belfry, ballroom and exquisite furnishings concealing a number of secret panels and passageways. However, no one has lived here in years and the floors are covered in dust, and thick weeds and brush choke once fine gardens. The once imposing and grand edifice sits decaying, unused and victim to the elements.
Ghostly Manifestations: Ghostly women in white, spectral figures in darkened halls, wailing specters echoing in the night... It is extremely evident from the years of testimonies that England is the most haunted corner of the universe. Forgotten mansions and crumbling castles dot the historical landscape and virtually every hotel and inn boasts at least one ghost. Motley Hall is sometimes the forgotten entry to that list. Possibly one of the most haunted structures in Lancashire, Motley Hall has not had a new owner since the last member of the Uproar family died there in 1976. Curious visitors, serious ghost hunters, vagrants and treasure-hunters seeking Sir Peveril's Uproar's buried booty have witnessed the majority of hauntings.
Estate agent Arnold Gudgin, the son of a former Motley retainer, has seen and reported much of the happenings of Motley in his desire to find a worthy new owner. One of the most active spirits seems to be the White Lady who has been seen wandering through the empty rooms and fleeting around corners and through the long halls. Her plaintive moans sometimes echo through the abandoned structure, but she is not alone here. Incoherent whispering voices have been detected from the empty rooms and long dark halls, but Gudgin has never attempted to trace where they are coming from. In addition, to being constantly terrified by the sudden appearances of the White Lady, Gudgin has sensed other invisible ghosts at Motley Hall
One of the ghosts he thinks he has felt is that of General George Uproar, who once owned Motley. An imposing and demanding figure, in death his presence has been felt but not seen. Whether it his imagination or true fear, Gudgin has had the feeling that the General is often staring down over his shoulder which is one reason that he does not like to venture into Motley Hall. Gudgin is not nearly as afraid of the other spirits. Among them is that of Sir Francis, whose voice jovially echoes from the ballroom where he once courted many young damsels. Nick-named Fanny, he's not a very imposing ghost, but his voice has been heard laughing from inside the empty structure down upon would-be buyers looking over the exterior. The sounds of footsteps and doors opening and closing has been attributed to a young stable hand named Matthew who had served the last owner of Motley Hall. Several guests and visitors to the location have seen the young figure in old fashioned attire standing on the property and vanishing through doors.
Motley Hall also has a playful poltergeist named Bodkin. He likes to move and hide objects from the living, sometimes placing them in hard to reach places, like a chandelier or mantle tops. He's not dangerous and he certainly seems eager to be visited, but his jokes or sometimes frustrating. He's been blamed for moving furniture and opening locked windows.
And then there is the unearthly moaning and clanking noises which accompany Old Gory, a member of the Uproar family who lost his life during the War of the Roses and once every five years to announce his presence. His reputed appearances have attracted several amateur ghost-hunters to Motley Hall trying to catch him on tape. It is said the ghosts are a very lively gathering of spirits for Britain; they're possibly more active here than any other haunted location in England, but they are not predictable. Somehow, they always know when someone is trying to get proof of their existence.
Much of the stories of Motley Hall were collected from the Uproars by writer Richard Carpenter who described them into a book. Since the publication of the Uproar's testimonies, the site has become a favorite location for ghost-hunters and parapsychologists. May 1976 was scheduled for one of the reappearances of Old Gory and arrangements were made for a researcher and his wife to rent Motley Hall and catch him with sensitive sound equipment. However, before Old Gory could return, the researcher and his wife had experienced enough of the strange noises, disembodied voices and footsteps that they departed early.
Roughly a week later, some enterprising thieves tried using Motley Hall to conceal their stolen objects from the local police. A Borwick officer checking the structure reportedly caught a glimpse of Sir George on the property, later describing him down to his uniform, stance and severe muttonchops. It was later believed that the hard general was offended to Motley being used as a haven for criminals and purposely appeared to attract the officer to the location.
When Motley was nearly sold to be gutted and modernized into a business, the ghosts reportedly became very active. It was almost as if "they were stirred up to defend the home." The ghost of Lord William became more active than he had been in years and his violent presence soured the sale as Motley once more calmed to tolerable levels.
Over several years, Motley Hall had had intermittent problem with vagrants and homeless breaking in for comfort in its halls. It was becoming worse when a choice was made to restore the structure into a homeless shelter. To that end, the Borwick council hired Professor Aaron Pogmore of the Institute of Parapsychology in June of 1976 to prove once and for all if the ghosts were genuine. Pogmore believed that the old edifice was charged by energy and was convinced he could exorcise the location by neutralizing the energy. Despite his effort, Motley Hall remained haunted with the ghosts just a bit more upset than before. In the weeks after Pogmore's visit, the ghosts were very active for several weeks with noises and images reported constantly. When the sister of the late Sir Humphrey, Emma Uproar, one of the last surviving Uproars visited that Christmas, it was believed a hostile elemental, a type of minor demon, had infested Motley.
In January 1977, a psychic named Emily Tiffin chanced upon Motley Hall and made mental contact with the ghost of Matt the stable hand. Assisted by her Native American spirit guide, Little Feather, Tiffin tried to free the earthbound ghosts at Motley, but through Little Feather, she learned the ghosts were earthbound by choice, determined to protect Motley Hall until it was owned by another worthy owner.
The scheduled five-year reappearance of Old Gory meanwhile was set for May 1981, coinciding with the visit of Darlene Dewey, a descendant of the Uproars who had arrived doing research on her family tree. Old Gory was unexpectedly docile in the presence of his distant relative and passed on through a séance the identity of the husband of Clara Uproar, Darlene's great-grandmother who had eloped to America. The séance certainly attracted a lot of renewed attention at Motley as film crews descended on the location to trace the Uproar history at Motley, but in order to make the ghosts seem more terrifying, the "official" history was exaggerated and sometimes falsified, incorrectly portraying the noble family as eccentrics and deviates. However, since then, a true accurate depiction of the Uproars has not been forthcoming.
The attention did attract another presumptive buyer, Nigel Winston, wanting to restore Motley as office headquarters for his business, but during his visit, Winston experienced his hat knocked off with such force that it sounded like a gun shot. Thinking something in the house was trying to kill him, such as the elemental, he canceled his plans.
Among other phenomenon, the sound of piano playing has been heard from Motley. Another serious buyer hearing the tune while exploring the veranda described it for Gudgins who said it sounded similar to an obscure Elizabethan tune called "The Rustle of Spring." The tune had been written by a composer named Ludwig Stumpf and while researching the composer's connection to Motley, he learned that Sir Humphrey owned Stumpf's piano which still existed in Motley.
In May 1987, Old Gory was set to return and reporters with camera and sound experts descended on Motley to catch him. Lord William also chose this time to make his presence known and the sound of his cane pounding the top landing was recorded on tape. The sound was investigated thoroughly, but it was decided it wasn't enough proof that Motley was haunted. As photographers later developed a picture of the staircase, they nearly turned over their developing pan because the image of the White Lady had appeared in one of the shots. Resembling a simple anomalous white image, the image was recently computer-enhanced at the Society for Psychic Investigation in London in 1996. Although invisible on the photograph, the computer-enhanced image showed traces of facial features and traces of arms disconnected ethereally with her body. Skeptics claim the image is a beam of light into the camera or faulty film.
In addition to the ghosts of Motley, Borwick shares another haunted location that is not as well known. Nearby Motley Gibbet, the scene of several historical hangings, is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a highwayman named Narcissus Bullock. His shadowy visage reportedly lurks round the location bemoaning his innocence in his crimes.
History: Several claimants, curiosity-seekers and daring trespassers have ventured to make Motley their home or at least to restore it to its lost grandeur. She was built sometime around 1577 by her first owner, Sir Richard Uproar, and served as home for all generations of the Uproar family who all took great care and reverence of her as their ancestral home. Several family members lived here to the end of their lives which is one reason it is considered so haunted. It is believed the Uproars loved Motley Hall so much they could not allow death to take them from her. Her last owner was Sir Humphrey Uproar, who was killed while hunting elephants in Africa in 1976.
Since
the 16th Century, stately Motley Hall has had a proud and noble heritage as the
ancestral home of the Uproar family. However, its last owner, Sir Humphrey
Uproar, neglected the house during his travels, and allowed it to fall into disrepair. After his
ignoble death,
the sale and
management of the vacant Motley Hall and its grounds fell to real estate agent Arnold
Gudgin, the son of a former retainer to the Uproar family, through Stamford
Hives, the family attorney. Gudgin is the legal owner of Motley, and he diligently hopes
to find a new owner worthy of restoring her to full grandeur. Gudgin has
seen the ghost of the White Lady more than any of the other ghosts.
Identity of Ghosts: There are over five ghosts in Motley Hall. The oldest is
Bodkin, an Elizabethan jester employed by Motley's first owner, Sir Richard Uproar.
Historically, Bodkin eventually died of consumption (tuberculosis), the result of being thrown in the
lily-pond numerous times by Sir Richard. His mischievous poltergeist has
haunted Motley ever since and been described by several Uproars. There is also the White Lady, the
mystery of Motley. A conventional sort of ghost, she goes wailing and
moaning now and again. One theory to her identity is that she is the ghost of
Elizabeth Whittington, one of the daughters of Thomas Whittington from nearby
Borwick Hall. Another theory is that she is the wife of knight Sir Godfrey of
Basinstroke who drowned in the well on the property. Still another theory is
that she was the unhappy lover or mistress of Sir Chevril Uproar, ancestor of
Sir George or of Sir Francis Uproar, another of the ghosts, a dashing if rather
dim Eighteenth century figure who died after a fatal combination of drink and
dueling. The spirit of General Sir George Uproar is the noisiest of the lot.
A Victorian General of the Nineteenth century, he was the backbone of the British
Army, who had led his soldiers so ignominiously to their deaths, until he fell
down the stairs at Motley and broke his neck. The last and more recent of the
ghosts is young Matt, a stable lad of the Regency period, the only one of Motley's
ghosts who has been sighted wandering the grounds beyond the once grand edifice.
While these are believed to be the most active ghosts of Motley Hall, there
have been other reported visitations from other spirits, such as the headless specter
of Old Gory, leftover from the War of the Roses, who once appeared during a séance
in the house, and Lord William, the most tyrannical of Motley's owners. Lord
William terrorized the staff and servants and ended up poisoned by them. The
ghost of Sir Godfrey of Basingstroke, a Thirteenth century knight, wanders the
grounds looking for his wife who drowned in the well, but he seems to be dormant
- he was last seen in 1647. The ghost of Ludwig Stumpf has been reported
responsible for the piano playing in the main hall. Sir George’s overbearing sister,
Alexandra, was once reported as supposedly haunting the grounds after a croquet
game accident unexpectedly took her life. Some local historians and
parapsychologists consider her another possible identity for the White Lady.
Investigations: There has never been a
formal investigation of Motley Hall. In January 2008, psychic Greg Nakumara of
the Bay
Area Paranormal Society
from San Francisco, California made an unofficial visit to the location with William
Collins of CGS to check out out the location and take a few photos. Greg
commented the spirits were very suspicious of them. The White Lady remained
distant to them, but the apparition of Sir George was ordering to leave the
premises. The photos taken there were mottled with orbs and strange mists of the
interior, but the exterior photo shows a dark shadow on an exterior balcony that
wasn't there in a following photo.
Source/Comments: The Ghosts of Motley Hall, British TV-Series
(1976-1978), Book by Richard
Carpenter, Location and phenomenon based on Borwick Hall in Lancaster, England. Hauntings
based on Berkley Castle and Little Dean Hall in Gloucestershire, England,
Raynham Hall in Norfolk and Schloss Altebar in Altebar, Germany.
In the short-lived children's series, Freddie Jones played the irascible Victorian general Sir George Uproar, Nicholas Le Prevost played the gambler Sir Francis, Arthur English appeared as Bodkin, Sheila Steafel was the enigmatic White Lady and teenage actor Sean Flanagan played stable lad Matt.
"The Ghosts of Motley Hall" seems to be the British counterpart of the American series, "The Munsters."