The Haunting of the Cottage at Wookey Hole

Wookey Hole is famous for its caves, it’s delicious cheese, and the discovery of an ancient female skeleton. There is also folklore about a witch being turned to stone in one of the caves but it’s the cottage on the Wookey Hole estate that we’ll focus on.

The cottage was built in 1878 and was occupied for 60 years by a woman, who was later to die in the cottage in 1947. She did not want any electricity connected to the cottage but after she died, the new owner decided to install it and it was after this, that strange happenings began.

A young married couple with their 8 year old son moved into the cottage. After a week or so of moving in, the young boy had gone to bed but was soon back downstairs, complaining that an old lady with a white apron was upstairs and was being noisy so he couldn’t get to sleep. His mother went up and she too, saw the old lady, who was walking about the landing. The activity became more frequent and noisier as the old lady ghost would stomp up and down the stairs as well as across the landing, so the family moved out after just a few weeks of living there.

Other tenants moved in but they too, complained about seeing the old lady ghost and the noise. With each new tenant, the paranormal activity became worse, with doors being opened then slammed by unseen hands. No tenant stayed very long due to this so the owner arranged for a psychic investigator to be in the cottage overnight with her but there was no activity at all that night.

A work colleague of the owner was very sceptical about the goings on at the cottage and said she would happily spend the night there on her own. As soon as she arrived, she felt very uneasy, and this prevented her from falling asleep. It was around 2am when the work colleague felt an icy cold hand on her shoulder and then saw the ghostly form of a woman walk through the bedroom door. By the time morning came, she vowed she would never stay there again.

Another work colleague, this time a man, said he would spend the night at the cottage. He was unable to sleep properly as there had been a disgusting smell that came in waves, and he could not find out where it was coming from.

The cottage was to be blessed in 1954 by the vicar of Wookey, but this did nothing in stopping the disturbances. The noises, the doors opening and shutting were to go on for around 5 years. The owner had evidence of this activity from 23 people who had stayed the night there. 7 people had reported seeing the ghostly old woman. The activity gradually decreased over time and finally stopped.