It's amazing what weird history is on your doorstep.... and in this case, it's quite sinister too. I owe this 'find of local information' to fellow cacher WayneHolton who kindly allowed me to take the lead and place a cache in connection with this local story of "The Curse of Papillon Hall”. The following text is borrowed/referenced to the following website: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lubenham/folklore.htm
The History:
Papillon Hall (now virtually demolished) was built in 1622 by the Papillon family. It stood about 1 mile from the village and was octagonal in shape, with only one entrance as each room connected. The large stone house was surrounded by a moat. At each corner of the roof was a flat lead paved area.
One owner, David Papillon (1691-1762) was known by local people as Pamp, Old Pamp or Lord Pamp and was greatly feared. Many people believed he was in league with the Devil. They believed he could 'set' or 'fix' people who offended him.
One story tells how he did just this to a group of ploughmen who became unable to move until 'released' at the end of the day. If anybody in Lubenham suffered a misfortune they blamed Old Pamp, and it is told that villagers made a cross in their dough when baking or in the mash when brewing beer to avert his evil eye.
It is told that before his marriage he kept a Spanish mistress. She was kept 'prisoner' in the east attic and took her exercise on the flat leads of the roof. She died in 1715. There is no record of her death or of her place of burial, but the skeleton of a woman was found within the walls of the east attic during alterations to the hall in 1903. Folklore tells that she was murdered by Papillon who accused her of being a witch. At the moment of death, it is told, she uttered a curse that ill fortune would befall any owner who removed her slippers from the house.
Because of this, whenever the hall was sold the slippers were handed with the title deeds to the new owners, except in 1866, when they were taken away to Leicester. The new family were constantly awakened at night by unexplained loud noises and so the slippers were brought back and the noises ceased. The house was sold again six years later and the new owner, Thomas Holford, lent the slippers (silver brocade with three inch heels and pointed toes) to an exhibition in Paris. Life in the house became so unbearable that the family were forced to move out until the slippers were returned.
The next owner, Mr. C Walker, who bought the hall in 1884, was so determined to avoid trouble that he had a special case made for them with a padlocked metal grille keeping the slippers securely mounted above the fireplace. However, despite warnings, Captain Frank Belville who bought the hall in 1903 had the slippers removed to his solicitors during alterations (during which the skeleton was found) and accidents immediately befell the workers with one being killed by a falling brick. The men refused to work. Shortly after Belville himself sustained a broken skull in a fall from his pony and trap and the slippers were hurriedly brought back.
Despite this experience in 1909 he lent the slippers to an exhibition at LeicesterMuseum. Whilst they were away he had a bad fall from his horse whilst hunting and the hall was set on fire during a tremendous thunder storm. Three horses were also killed and some say that two men also died. Once more the shoes were brought back and this time Belville locked them securely in the cabinet and threw the key into the pond. The shoes were safe until the Second World War, when the hall was used as a billet for the American 82nd Airborne Division.
The story goes that on two separate occasions men who had taken slippers away were killed in action, though the missing slipper was returned each time. When the hall was deserted in 1945 only one slipper remained, but in 1951 when the hall was demolished the missing slipper was found under the floorboards.
The slippers were donated by Mrs. Barbara Papillon to LeicesterCostumeMuseum in 1981. No more has been heard of the curse, but some Lubenham folk still remember tales of Old Pamp and his mysterious mistress
The Cache:
You'll be pleased to know that the cache does not involve anything too stressful, nor do I recommend you do this at night at the site of now demolished Papillon Hall has now another house nearby. However, Papillon Hall is not completely demolished, and for all I know, the curse may well be waiting for an innocent Geocacher to set foot, grab you and turn your life to hell (quick, touch wood that it's not you, touch wood).
All I ask is that you answer a few simple questions and visit a few waypoints in order to ascertain the location of the cache. Please don't attempt this in darkness as their is another property near the two waypoints:
To ensure you’ve read the history above we’ll start with questions to answer at home:
1) How many 'sides' did the original Papillon Hall have? This equals A
2) Starting with the letter W, what did Papillon accuse his Spanish mistress of being before he killed her? Number of letters in this answer equals B
3) What year did the missing slipper turn up? This equals CD51
Questions to answer in situ:
4) Head to WAYPOINT 1. Assuming I've got it all right, you are outside the wall of what was Papillon Hall. You can see the old derelict roof of the summer house, and it's said on the website that I gave a link too, that there are steps down to an old ornamental pond nearby too although I couldn't see it. Unfortunately access beyond the wall is not really allowed as is off the path somewhat.... However, at waypoint 1, you will see some old (disused) farmyard equipment and on the one nearest you, you will see a flag. Is this flag:
a - British, if so E=7
b. - French - if so E=6
c - Dutch - if so E=5
UPDATE**** Answer to E is British as machinery was not visible on recent visit.
5) At WAYPOINT 2, right there, staring you in the face, is a mythical creature. This creature is a what? The number of letters in the name of this ‘type’ of creature is F
The final coords are:
N 52 2(E+C).(A-B)0E
W 000 5D.CF2
With these coords, continue down the path to the main road. Cross this road with CAUTION (take especial care with children) and head down the footpath marked opposite towards, from your answers, should be the cache. I can’t find any maps on line old enough to confirm this, but could this tree lined path to the cache be the old drive way to the old Papillon Hall? If so, keep your wits still about you, that curse may not have gone yet……