Haunted Parks in England: Lyme & Clandon

Throughout England, there are many haunted parks that you may come in contact with. Some have resident ghosts with well-known histories attached to them, while others are just magnets for paranormal activity. In this article, you will learn of the haunted parks of Lyme and Clandon.

 

The Ghost of Lyme Park

 

Although there are many different ghosts said to haunt Lyme Park, there is one in particular that catches the occasional eye of visitors. She is called the “Lady in White,” who has been spotted walking through Lyme Park, behind a ghostly funeral procession. As the story goes, one of the owners of the House of Lyme was named Sir Piers II. During battle, he lost his life. His body was brought back to Lyme so that he could be buried in his hometown. Sir Piers was married and his wife took his death hard, but she was not the only one to feel the heartache of a lost love. Another woman named Blanche was also in love with Sir Piers and was never able to fully recover from the blow of his death. She too passed away not too long after Sir Piers was brought back to Lyme. It is said that it is her ghost that can be seen walking behind a ghostly funeral procession. The procession can be seen traveling throughout Lyme Park.

 

Clandon Park

 

Visitors will find Clandon Park in the vicinity of Guildford, Surrey. The park was built in 1735, supposedly by the well-known Venetian architect, Giacomo Leoni. It took a century later before any mention of paranormal activity or ghost sightings were documented.

 

One of the first reports on paper came from an article published in 1896 by Ada Goodrich-Freer. The news of a haunting in Clandon Park hit the air when a former tenant decided that they could no longer live in their house because of ghosts. The former tenant claimed to have encountered the ghost of a woman that was dressed in white. The specific place where the sighting took place was in the gardens of the house. The tenant said that the ghost was walking across the gardens. In the ghost’s hand, the tenant spied what they described to be a rather large and menacing knife in her hand (kind like a hunting knife). The servants of the house fired shots from their guns at the figure holding the knife, but it did not phase her. She continued to carry the knife and move forward until she disappeared into a wall located on the house.

More than 20 servants told their tale to Freer about how they encountered the ghost of a woman, but she found it hard to swallow. That is, until she herself crossed paths with the phantom lady. She was visiting the house in 1897 and as she was ascending the staircase, she met up with an attractive woman, who was dressed in a fancy gown. As she came closer to the woman, the lady disappeared into thin air and she never encountered her again. Shaken, Freer searched for the cause of this experience, but no one could give her an explanation. It was later surmised that the ghost in white was that of Elizabeth Knight, who once held the position of mistress of the residence. She committed suicide by drowning herself in the lake, but why she is seen carrying a knife is still a mystery.