The Westbury Ghost Stories Series has been developed to share in some of the folklore and mystery that seems to haunt the relatively small town of Westbury. This series is not designed to be done in any particular order, and will be dotted around the town in various locations relvant to the tales. I will try and add to the series as I research more ghost stories and tales of intrigue...
Westbury Ghost Stories...#3 - Westbury High Street area
Around this area are a number of old buildings, which with their history have tales of ghostly residents who still haunt the premises today...
Westbury House
Westbury House was built by William Open around 1800 in Edward Street for the owners of Angel Mill; John and William Matravers. It was purchased by Abraham Laverton around 1855 and was lived in by his family until 1888. It remained a private house until it was purchased by Wiltshire County Council in 1970 and was converted to its present use as Westbury Library. The house had a connecting tunnel attached to it, that connected with another area of the house which held the billiards section and the servant's quarters, which in more recent times was the site of where the original White Rabbit Restaurant stood. This tunnel was still open until at least 1936.
There is a well known tragic story of a servant girl who worked in the house during its use as a private residence. This young girl was thwarted by her lover, and in utter dispair and sadness she ended her own life, it is said either in the bathroom or in her bedroom within the house. This has potentially left a lasting imprint on the building for many employees over the years at the Library have experienced ghostly encounters. One member of staff reports many occasions of being disturbed after hours when the Library had been closed to the public for the day, where loud bangs and the sounds of doors slamming would emerge from the main part of the library to where she was working in the back office. When the staff would go and take a look there would be nobody there. This happened so often that members of staff would get used to the sound of sash windows opening, doors slamming, and heavy furniture being dragged around, and would only go to investigate if the noises really were too loud to be bearable - however there would never be anybody there to account for the noises! On more than one occasion though, the noises would get the better of the employees and they would lock up hastily and leaving all the lights on, quickly evacuate and go home! One event happened where one employee was left working on their own one saturday once the Library was closed, and all of a sudden it sounded like a party was going on above them in one of the upstairs rooms. She could hear shouting and cheering and music, along with footsteps and thumping of doors. Annoyed that an event had been allowed and she had not been made aware of it, she stomped up the stairs to consult with the revellers, only to find a totally empty and deserted room with no sign of a party in sight. This is not the only ghost reportedly present, as a medium has warned of two ghosts occupying the building - the second less friendly and older than the building itself, is said to harbour evil tendencies towards the living...
The White Rabbit Restaurant
As listed above, the White Rabbit Restaurant was at one time connected to Westbury House by means of a tunnel, as the site was once part of the house's footprint. Previous to this it was also part of an older Umbrella Factory that was situted on the site.There have also been many reports of hauntings associated with this building and staff reporting sensing the prescence of a spirit within the room with them , describing her as being dressed in a coat dress, standing 5 foot tall and in her late 40s, but completely grey in colour almost like a housekeeper or head servant. Doors have been heard opening in the main seating area of the restaurant when the restaurant has been closed to the public, and there is only 2 doors into the room, one of which had been locked with a key and the other where they have all been stood, and upon entering noone is to be seen. There has also been some activity with the famous rabbit figurines that adourned the restaurant. Every night the owner would lock up and all would be well upon doing the last checks around the bar, and the next day the telephone wires from the telephone on the bar would be wound tightly round the rabbit figurine on the bar. This kept up so many times that the owner decided to place the rabbit figure as far away from the bar as possible to see what would happen. The next day he came in, unlocking the restaurant as the first one in and was greeted with the sound of gushing water..upon investigating he found that all of the bar taps had been turned on full......
FountainVille House
Fountainville/Fontainville House was built in 1884, three stories tall and used to stand directly in the middle of what is the High Street today. Originally a big residential house with a fountian in the lush gardens outside, it was owned at one stage by the owner of the Glove Factory that was situated on nearby Edward Street, Mr.Jefferies. Fountainville House was empty and derelict by the 1930s and the Defence Act took the building over for the war effort in 1939. The property was then used during WW2 to house American Soldiers. Whilst these American Soldiers were resident here, they told of a plethora of ghostly goings on in one of the upstairs bedrooms,focussed within a particular room. There were unexplained noises, footsteps were heard stamping up and down the room, bangs andloud thumps were heard, doors were opened and slammed shiut and reports of an awful heavy feeling within the room. Soldiers reported once being near the room they felt strongly suicidal and depressed and the soldiers felt so strongly towards the room that they refused to sleep there at all and eventually the commanding officer had the area boarded up and off limits to everyone. The house has now been demolished and nothing remains but the memories of this area...
Many of these stories have been inspired from The books 'The Child of Ivy House and other Ghost Stories around Westbury'; 'The Chair at Chalford and other Eerie tales around Westbury' and 'Westbury through Time' all available from Westbury Town Information Centre.
If you have any good ghost stories about the local area you would like to share please feel free to message Fefe_alabama with them!
Happy caching and keep an eye out for these ghosts as you recover the cache....
You are looking for a magnetic nano