Ghosts and apparitions caught on camera - and other creepy tales from Northamptonshire of queens, soldiers, dolls and drummer boys

The Woodford Ghost

For our first story – and photo – we travel back in time nearly 60 years to the beautiful village of Woodford, nestled close to the River Nene between Kettering and Thrapston.

Amateur snapper Gordon Carroll had set up his camera in St Mary the Virgin Church to take photos of the altar and stained glass window in 1966.

When he developed the negatives, one frame showed a mysterious figure kneeling at the altar of St Mary’s, yet Gordon Carroll swore he saw no one in the church when taking this and other photographs.

His camera and film were examined by experts – the figure appeared on only one frame and was not a reflection or a double exposure.

Curiously, the 600-year-old heart of a Crusader was found at the top of one of the church’s pillars – perfectly preserved, although wrapped only in cloth, fuelling the idea that the ghostly image could be that of the dead knight.

But quite soon after, a Rushden resident and ‘expert photographer’ debunked the ghost story.

He called into the Evening Telegraph’s Rushden High Street office to give his very ‘down to earth’ explanation of the image.

The article said: “An expert photographer, has called at our Rushden office with a very down to earth explanation of the mysterious figure in the photograph of Woodford church.

“The boy who took the photograph must have accidentally made a second exposure on the film.

“The “ghost” is a cleaning woman, and the object beside her near the altar is her cleaning material. She is bending down brushing the carpet.”

The Barford Bridge Bearded Monk

Another more recent spooky sighting was caught on camera – this time on a digital dashcam.

The video showed a figure on Newton Road near Barford Bridge, a notorious ghost hotspot between Corby and Kettering – not the railway bridge, but the river bridge closer towards Kettering.

In 1984 a police sergeant and a woman both reported seeing a man’s face in their rear view mirrors. Some believe these happenings are connected to the former chapel at the vanished hamlet of Barford, which was served by a monk from nearby Pipewell Abbey.

This theory is reinforced by the sightings of some motorists travelling alone down the tiny and secluded slip road towards Geddington, who have reported seeing a ghostly clerical figure suddenly appearing next to them in the passenger seat.

Footage was brought to the attention of Corby man Alex Brown who runs The British Paranormal Society Facebook page.

Alex said: “I got sent a dashcam video and thought it was really interesting because it’s a well known local ghost story.

“He put it on one of the feeds after I put on my site ‘has anyone got any road ghosts’ because they do fascinate me, and Northamptonshire apparently has the most road ghosts in the country. He told me he did it a few years ago.”

The video features a man driving along Newton Road from the A6003/A43 roundabout.

Alex said: “As far as it goes, I've seen a lot of videos over the years, dodgy ones and setup ones, and it is quite a credible one.

“I’ve been down there since and looked and even if you were to set it up, it would take a bit of doing to do.

“People can make their own minds up. At the end of the day it is a bit of fun and if you believe or you don’t believe it’s still a bit of fun.”

Barford Bridge is well known for ghost sightings. The bridge along the A6003 is said to be haunted by a bearded monk. The monk appears suddenly at night in front of drivers.

For nearly 40 years, there have been reports of a figure in a habit seen to the east of Rushton.

Alex said: “There have been a lot of reports over the years down there. I think it actually comes under the third most haunted street or road in the country that part of the road.

“There were quite a lot of accidents which happened where allegedly the original ones, people have been reporting he’d been sat next to them in the car.”

Another Barford Bridge related spook is associated with the now-flattened tumulus at Great Barford that was removed in 1964.

Before it was excavated in 1964, the tumulus was said to be the home of a phantom drummer boy who would appear at midnight.

A dozen skeletons, thought to be Roman, were removed in the dig.

The Kettering Drummer Boy

Brow Wow in Market Street, Kettering, is thought to be one of the town’s oldest buildings.

Legend has it that in the 17th century a party of soldiers was staying in The Duke’s Arms, which stood opposite where Brow Wow now sits.

There was a young drummer boy with the soldiers. He wasn’t used to drinking alcohol and became drunk, getting involved in an argument with one of the soldiers.

He was dragged outside and stabbed to death in an alleyway – later incorporated into the shop – and the boy’s ghost is said to haunt the building.

Several previous owners of the building have reported feeling ‘uneasy’ in the premises and have noted strange occurrences, including mysterious noises, especially in one of the stock rooms, and sudden drops in temperature.

As well being a bike shop and Mental Monkey bar, the ironstone building, had also once been home to newsagents J Smith & Co established in 1895.

Kettering author Tony Smith in his book, Fred Moore’s Kettering, tells the story of Horace, who lived in St Mary's Road, died in 1958, aged 64.

James’ son Horace took over the shop after his father's death in 1940 who told historian Fred Moore his shop was haunted by the ghost of a drummer boy.

Fred said: "Horace never admitted to being a man who believed in ghosts but he reckoned he saw the boy shortly before he died.

"Horace often told friends he would sometimes sit at the back of the shop until late in the evening and when all was quiet he could bear the rat-a-tat-tat of a drummer."

Civil War Screams

The Battle of Naseby battleground, just off the A14, is the site of one of the most significant battles of the English Civil War, which ended with victory for the Parliamentarian forces and the execution of Charles I.

For more than two centuries after the bloody clash at Naseby in 1645 there were many accounts of villagers witnessing scores of ghostly figures continuing to fight it out on the fields. Years after the battle, locals would sit on the nearby hills and watch the battle occur once again, complete with the sounds of men screaming and cannons firing.

The Dutch Doll of Finedon

In the early 1900s the then headmistress of the charity girls’ school in Finedon, Mary Ozier, had a wooden doll made to represent a schoolgirl of the time the school was built, 1717.

It was about 90cm tall, painted and it had a frighteningly realistic piercing stare. Nicknamed The Dutch Doll and placed above the door on the inside of the school, the girls became petrified of it.

They were terrified of its unemotional yet evil-looking face and started circulating accounts of seeing and hearing it walking around at night.

After the school’s closure it was mounted on a wall in the church, though by this time someone had taken a saw to its feet in an attempt to stop it walking around.

On the night of January 18, 1981, it was stolen from the church and has never been heard of or seen since.

Skulking Dudley

Dudley was a landlord and a bully in the village of Clopton. After inheriting Clopton Manor House, Dudley managed to insult and intimidate all his neighbours, including a wealthy landowner who promptly challenged him to a duel.

On the day of the duel, though, Dudley took to his bed and feigned illness, sending his own daughter dressed in a suit of armour in his place. When his opponent discovered her identity he spared her life and later married her.

Dudley got his comeuppance when a harvester he was whipping fought back in self-defence and struck him on the head with a scythe.

In another version of the story, Dudley killed his own cousin in a duel over the village’s manor house. He won but never got to enjoy his prize because he started aging suddenly, becoming a withered and shambling old man. He died soon after.

For centuries after his death he would reappear at night to frighten the descendants of the villagers who he believed had crossed him during his life. The villagers got fed up and asked the Bishop of Peterborough to perform an exorcism in 1905. Dudley has not been seen since.

Mary Queen of Scots

Perhaps the most famous of Northamptonshire’s ghost stories is that of Mary Queen of Scots.

When Mary was beheaded in 1587, her executioner is said to have slept the night before her execution at The Talbot Hotel in Oundle. The hotel is said to be haunted at night by the sound of a crying woman, who also sometimes appears in a long white dress standing at the top of the stairs – a gaunt face of a woman is said to be seen staring from out the hotel's windows.

The staircase was brought to the hotel from Fotheringhay when the castle was demolished. It was at the castle that Mary received the news she was to be beheaded the next day and she had to walk down the staircase to her execution. Sometimes her face appears at the hotel windows and on one occasion a hotel guest was kept awake all night by the sound of a woman sobbing bitterly next door, yet in the morning she discovered the room had been empty the previous night. The date was the anniversary of Mary’s death.

Watery Wanderers

Other ghosts seen in North Northants include a one of a ghost of ‘Lady Isabel’ who floats above the River Ise in Barton Seagrave.

Another supernatural manifestation attracted to the River Ise is the Stone Moses statue of Weekley who is said to walk down to the water at at the stroke of midnight. Standing above a pond, the carved figure called Stone Moses animates at midnight and walks down to the River Ise for a quick drink.

Also drawn to water is said to be Reverend Francis Tolson in Easton Maudit, attracted the vicarage pond. In the C18th, The Reverend Tolson was said to have returned shortly after his death and was reported to have been seen wandering around the pond in his garden. A dozen priests were called in to exorcise his spirit.