The Haunting of Audries Manor House

This property is in West Quantox, Somerset and this haunting was experienced over 100 years ago by Peter, one of the occupants of a rather large and rambling house. Peter had returned back to the house after travelling from London, to find that only his sister and a handful of servants were at the house.

The night after his return, he felt very tired, so he went up to his bedroom around 10pm that night. His bedroom was down a long corridor, so it was rather far from the main part of the house. He was asleep within half an hour or so.

It was sometime later, when he suddenly woke up. He soon realised there was a noise coming from the corridor, so he started listening attentively to try and figure out what or who was making such a noise. He called out “Who is there?” but got no response. He called yet again but to no avail. So he decided to get up from his bed, put on his dressing gown, which was hanging up and went to investigate.

He opened his bedroom door, only to see an old woman carrying a lit candle, just a few feet away from him. He didn’t recognise her and she gave him no response upon seeing him so he asked, “Who are you and what are you doing here?” He took a step towards her and as he did this, the woman turned away and began walking down the long corridor.

It was then that Peter realised something wasn’t quite right about this figure, despite her looking as flesh and blood as you and I. He then realised it was the flame on the candle; it never moved when the figure did. In fact, it was just constant and still.

He began walking down the long corridor after her, then he started to run. As the woman went through other corridors and staircases, so did Peter. Peter soon found himself down a dead end corridor, just feet away from the woman. He saw her open the door to a room that was at the end of the corridor and then, the door slammed. There was nowhere for this woman to go. So Peter tentatively opened the door, only to find the room completely silent and empty! She could’ve escaped via a window but no, the window was locked and barred and hadn’t been opened in many years.

Peter found the episode baffling but made his way to bed and managed to fall asleep. When he awoke, he remembered what had happened but dismissed it as a dream. He then saw his dressing gown had been draped on the floor and then noticed the soles of his feet. The soles were dirty from walking through all the corridors and staircases when following the woman he had seen.

He said nothing of his night time activities to his sister and when they were having breakfast, his sister asked Peter to check the time on the grandfather clock in the hall as the clock in the breakfast room had stopped. The clock had stopped at 2 minutes to 1. So Peter went to check the time, but the grandfather clock had also stopped; at 2 minutes to 1. In fact, all the clocks in the house had stopped and all at 2 minutes to 1. Did the clocks stop when Peter saw the ghostly woman with the candle? Or was it just a strange coincidence?