Can a person’s furious temper continue to storm long after they are laid to rest? Read what happened to Mr X at The Cedars in Field Lane, Belper and decide what you think…
'The building had been a clinic, then was taken over as offices by Wheeldons, the builders. Deb Ltd bought it from Wheeldons and returned it to its splendour as a late Georgian house. The building was set behind Field Lane and did not benefit from street lights. It was used as head office for group acquisitions, entertaining, and training. I think it was 1992 or 3. Everyone had left for the Christmas break and the house was locked up. I was the key holder who lived nearest, so the householders who lived around the property were asked to ring me if anything suspicious happened, or if the burglar alarm went off. I cannot now remember whether it was Christmas or between Christmas and the New Year but about 7:00 - 7:30 ish in the evening I had a call asking me to go down because the burglar alarm was ringing. I took a torch and opened up very cautiously. I found the light switches and switched on the entrance porch and hall. There was a Christmas tree which the secretaries had decorated about 4 or 5 feet into the hall against the bannister rail of the stairs. The tree had all the appearance of being beaten or whipped. I would have expected some needles to be on the floor beneath it. But the damage was far greater. The limbs (for want of a better word because they are not really branches) were snapped three inches or so back. There were broken shiny balls on the floor. The wire for the fairy lights was sagging to the floor. The sprigs of holly which had been tucked behind pictures on the stairs were lying on the floor. I investigated every room in the house, and found no evidence of entry, then returned to the tree in the hall. I cleared up the mess, turned off the lights and locked up and returned home. When we returned to work after the holidays I asked all staff who had keys or may have been given access whether they had been in over Christmas and no-one had.' Questions for Mr X Do you know who was the last person to leave when the building was locked up for the Christmas holidays? No, but everything would have been left in good order.
Could someone have fallen on the tree, and just hurried away instead of clearing it up? It looked like someone had taken a stick and beaten the tree. It did not look like someone had fallen on it or tripped and knocked it.
Could a cat have got in, set off the burglar alarm and damaged the tree? No, there was no sign of a cat.
What do you think had happened? I don’t know. I don’t really have an interest in the supernatural. It was a very unnerving experience, though, and I have never forgotten it. I had to enter that building alone in the dark, not knowing what I would find. I had heard that a woman was murdered there. I don’t know what to make of it.
Mr X kindly went on to tell us about two more incidents. Firstly, a visitor to the building suddenly went very white and cold, saying that he had sensed another presence in the room. Then, some years later, after a change of ownership, Mrs Y had an experience:
Mrs Y writes I was sitting in the office, which is to the right of the front door of the Cedars, working on my computer when I heard a very distinct sound like a person going up some steps. The staircase to the first floor is just outside the office, but the sound heard was not logical as there is now carpet on the staircase and therefore does not really create any sound if someone went up the staircase. I asked my husband who was sitting in the lounge (adjacent to the hallway with the stairs) if he had been there for the last 5 minutes. He said he had not moved and we were the only two people in the house!
Murder at the Cedars: ‘..a foolish man under the influence of passion and liquor’
Abraham Newman Harrison had the house built in 1828. When he died in 1841, he left provision for his dead wife’s sister, Phoebe Barnes, to take over the house and supervise the care of his children. By 1851, the children had grown up and Phoebe was now a lodger in the house. She owned some properties and employed Anthony Turner to collect rents for her.
Anthony had been close to Phoebe’s brother, a Mr Walker. Mr Walker had an illegitimate daughter, and he paid Anthony and his wife to care for the child. When Mr Walker died, however, he had made no provision in his will for her. Phoebe had inherited two thirds of his estate, so Anthony approached her. She refused to make a formal settlement in favour of the child, but said he could take some of the rent money for her.
Late in 1851, Phoebe accused Anthony of cheating her. He said he was innocent; that he had spent the rent money only on repair bills and on the child. Phoebe did not believe him, and he accused her of unchristian behaviour.
We will never know who was in the right, because on 27th December, Anthony forced his way into the house, ran upstairs to her room and cut her throat. Anthony did not deny his crime, saying he had been driven to it by strong feelings and drink. He was hanged on 26th March 1852.
(Source, Derby Mercury Jan 7, 1852)
Whose Spook?
If there are ghosts, and one is haunting The Cedars, who is it? Both characters in this story were full of righteous indignation, and either might have provided the temper which trashed the Christmas decorations at the bottom of the stairs.
Anthony loved his foster child like his own, and had given his word to protect her, but he was short of cash. His employer seemed comfortably off and professed to be a devout Christian, yet she was not prepared to take responsibility. Then she said he was dishonest, and she threatened to fire him. So he ran up the stairs and killed her.
Phoebe had been unaware that she had a niece, but now her employee was haranguing her about providing money. To make matters worse, it looked like he had pocketed some of her income. Then she met a sudden, violent death in her room at the top of the stairs. At Christmas time.
There are plenty of stories about hauntings caused by strong emotion, especially at the point of death or leading up to death. Classic ghost stories have apparitions of people who met their doom, like the Highwayman who is still ‘riding, riding, up to the old inn door’ long after he was shot (Alfred Noyes ‘The Highwayman’). Folklore tells us that Anne Boleyn haunts the Tower of London, where she was executed.
The Stone Tape Theory is sometimes suggested as a possible explanation for a haunted place. Briefly put, this suggests that strong emotions are a kind of energy which is recorded in the environment and that recording plays back as an apparition or as ghostly noises. Although never proven, it is an interesting idea, and it ties in with footsteps going up the stairs in The Cedars.
Stone Tape would not explain a beaten-up Christmas Tree, however. A replaying emotion would not interact with the environment. A spirit which destroys or moves objects and makes noises is often called a poltergeist (noisy ghost). These are generally associated with one particular person, called the ‘focus’. Sometimes the focus is found to be secretly causing the disturbances. When there is no one specific person involved, the haunting is of the place, or ‘locus’. That would probably be the most fitting paranormal description of the two experiences in The Cedars.
Could there be more mundane explanations? Phantom footsteps can be caused by creaks and echoes from other parts of the house. Decorations could have been ruined by a living person having a tantrum, who was maybe too ashamed to own up. Burglar alarms can be set off by spiders (I’m told. I wouldn’t put it past them).
Whatever each person decides to believe, a mysterious experience will always affect the witness, and will raise more questions than anyone can answer.
The Cedars is now a carefully restored period building with many original features. Guests can book bed and breakfast accommodation with a history. Details can be found from [email protected] or on www.derbyshire-holidays.com/cedars. Or phone 07802708389.
