The Ghost of Heddon Manor: The manor of Heddon on the south side of Exmoor in Devonshire, where the winds never cease to blow, is an ancient and haunted place. The moor is steeped in legend and superstition, but none are so well documented as the water-spirit of Heddon Manor.
It was first recorded in 1834 by Lord Poppleford, who then lived in the manor.
Lord Poppleford often dreamt during his sleep and kept diaries of his lengthy (and often highly unusual) night-time experiences. These were kept by his bed and in them he also recorded the water-spirit, as he so described it. He writes:
"May 25, 1837. The Water-Spirit visited again last evening. Once again I was made aware of a great sloshing sound that came as if from beneath the very ground on which the manor sits. Having woken me in the dead of night, I listened for over an hour as the sounds paced to and fro. Eventually, they receded. When I woke in the morning, I found that, as before, there were damp stains on the floor and the kitchens were flooded. There was an unholy smell about the manor, as if something wet had died."
Other effects attributed to the ghost include "sweating walls" and the air smelling "as of the sea." The damp stains were quite a common sign that it had passed, as were the "sloshing sounds" that it made at night. Lord Poppleford never actually saw the ghost.
Since that time the water-spirit has only infrequently appeared. The last documented sighting was in 1895 when it caused the (then current) occupant to move hurriedly. Heddon Manor now stands unoccupied.
OLD COUNTRY HOUSES, T A Fleming, 1917
1 The Water-Spirit is an old Deep One that lives in subterranean caverns beneath Heddon Manor. It is trapped there by an ancient spell, only able to escape into the manor and feed from the larder at limited times.
2 It is a genuine ghost. The restless spirit of a fisherman haunts the manor. The Lord of the Manor wronged him, sending him to his death in a terrible storm. He now haunts the great house and those that live there.
3 It is mere legend and superstition. The combination of a damp, old house and some unusual, windswept, caverns (which produce the sloshing sounds) caused Lord Poppleford to imagine rather more than there was.
Copyright (c) 1990 Steve Hatherley.
Steve Hatherley is the creator of Tales of Terror, and has written for both Chaosium and Pagan Publishing. He also has a number of other websites, including www.great-murder-mystery-games.com and www.mylowerbackpain.com.
Steve lives in Yorkshire, England.
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