21/08/2023
I’ve just found the most amazing page about the island!
Have you booked your October holiday yet? Northwood house is just moments away from us 😉
👻 The Worlds Most Haunted Island 👻
This might not be everyone’s cup of tea ☕️ but I know many locals and tourists alike are drawn in by the islands supernatural activity 👻 I personally love the plethora of ghost stories on the island, and have a few of Gay Baldwins Isle of Wight ghost books myself.
There are thousands of spots on the island with supernatural activity, but these spots are some of the most famous 👻 Here are some of their stories if you’re brave enough to read…
👻 Arreton Manor
Featuring in Most Haunted, the 9th century building is rumoured to be the eternal abode of a young girl by the name of Annabelle Leigh. According to legend, Leigh was murdered by her older brother after she witnessed him suffocate his father. In order to protect himself, he murdered his younger sister by throwing her from the highest window of the manor.
Today, Annabelle haunts Arreton Manor and is particularly active in the room from which she was thrown. She is often heard in the dead of night, sobbing inconsolably and calling for her mother.
Carisbrooke Castle 👻
The Castle dates back to the Norman invasion, but it is believed the grounds were once the site of another fort during Roman occupation.
The ghostly figure of a grey lady is regularly seen strolling through the grounds, accompanied by a pack of dogs and a man, presumably her husband, decked out in a brown jerkin. The pair are believed to be former owners of the manor, returning to survey the grounds and ensure English Heritage has been kind to their beloved home.
There is a well located on the castle grounds in which those who gaze into it for long enough are reported to witness the floating face of one Elizabeth Ruffin. The woman met a tragic end when she fell into the hole and nobody was around to hear her desperate cries for help.
Golden Hill Fort 👻
Construction of Golden Hill Fort began in 1863 after the Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom decided it needed to take extra precautions to ensure the continued development of the Isle of Wight. Today much of it has been converted into luxury homes.
People have been reporting spirits in the building since its days as an army barracks, one of which is said to be the ghost of a sailor who was put to death after it was discovered he had been trading secrets to the enemy.
Visitors to Golden Hill Fort have also reported encounters with a man dressed in full army garb. The spirit is believed to be that of a World War One sergeant major who died under mysterious circumstances.
According to rumblings at the time, the man was so hated by his soldiers that they plotted his murder and managed to make it look like an accident. His mutilated ghost is generally blamed for the fort’s disembodied yells, the mysterious smell of tobacco smoke, and doors which slam shut seemingly of their own accord.
Ventnor Botanic Garden 👻
The ground on which the garden rests was once home to The Royal National Hospital for Diseases of the Chest. The hospital opened its doors in the 19th century, when respiratory issues still had a high mortality rate. The hospital was shut down in 1964 and demolished five years later, but the ghosts of patients who met their ends there are said to still roam the grounds.
Those visiting the Ventnor Botanic Garden for a nice day out are often shocked to see several gaunt men wandering around the garden, shivering and displaying the effects of tuberculosis, a disease which ran rampant throughout Great Britain in the 1800s.
Whitecroft Hosptial 👻
Multiple attempts have been made to turn the building which was once Whitecroft Hospital into a collection of high-end apartments, but people don’t seem too crazy about the idea of living in a notorious insane asylum.
Whitecroft Hospital closed its doors after a century in operation in the early 1990s. Contractors hired to prepare the building for eventual human occupation have reported multiple unexplainable events over the years. Virtually all of them have reported the unnerving feeling of being watched while a smaller, but still a substantial number, claim to have encountered mysterious women in faded nurse’s uniforms.
It is said that the spirit of a doctor regularly appears in one of the hospital car parks, taking a misty but unmistakably human form. The doctor has been seen strolling along, as if arriving for another day at work, and is sometimes observed peering through one of the hospital’s ground floor windows.
Knighton Gorges Manor 👻
Knighton Gorges Manor was at one time the most spectacular building in all of the Isle of Wight. The sheer size of the home made it the perfect venue for the countless scandalous parties which were held in the manor over the centuries. Though the manor in its original form is no longer standing, it lives on as an integral part of both the confirmed history of the island andthe constantly evolving local ghost stories.
Perhaps the most famous ghost story relating to Knighton Gorges Manor concerns the spectre of the house itself. For decades now, those passing the area late at night have reported seeing the manor returned to its most glorious form, recognising it from paintings and vivid descriptions in history books. It is said to appear as it did during one of its infamous celebrations, illuminated by thousands of candles and alive the sounds of laughter and music.
In 1721, Tristram Dillington, a member of parliament, is said to have taken his own life at the building after a particularly heavy gambling loss. In order to cover up the manner in which the MP died, his valet placed his lifeless body on a horse before driving it into a nearby lake. Every year, on the anniversary of his death, the departed Dillington can be seen riding on saturated horseback through the area.
Appuldurcombe House 👻
Appuldurcombe House traces its history all the way back to the 12th century, when a monastery was founded on the site, but the building which presently occupies the location was not constructed until 1702. In its heyday, the manor was one of the most famous spots on the Isle of Wight.
It was a testament to just how far architecture had come and was the envy of all those who didn’t dwell within its walls. However, the building was all but destroyed by German bombers during the Second World War. Though repairs have been carried out since the 1940s, the building is a caricature of its former self. Remaining empty for much of the year, it seems to be good only for the ghost obsessed tourists it brings to the island every summer.
The ghosts of Appuldurcombe House are many and varied and can be found all throughout the building. In fact, there is even a ghost or two to be found on the road leading up to the home. Many travellers bound for Appuldurcombe House have reported being overtaken by a old fashioned carriage being pulled along the gravel by speeding horses.
However, the carriage leaves no tracks and the horses leave no shoe prints. Once the witnesses arrive in the driveway of the house, the carriage, its horses, and its occupants are nowhere to be seen.
The cellar is said to be the most active room in the home and virtually everybody who has ventured inside it has substantiated the seemingly outlandish claims of the person who went before them. Shadow people – or rather, shadow dancers – are frequently spotted in the cellar, twirling across the wall, unaware of the time which has elapsed since the last ball at Appuldurcombe House.
Northwood House 👻
Watch out in magnificent Northwood Park for a group of noisy ghost-children whose excited screams are heard at dusk as they play and swing on the branches of the gnarled old trees. A grinning phantom pirate called Henry also haunts the cellars of Northwood House. Wearing black sea boots, a striped jersey, knotted scarf and single earring, he still walks the stone tunnels of the grounds.
St Catherine’s Lighthouse 👻
The lighthouse's history dates all the way back to World War II when three lightkeepers were killed in an enemy raid, to which a memorial was constructed on lighthouse grounds.
It's believed that the spirits of one associated with this history still walk the grounds of the lighthouse, being the cause of many unexplained noises as well as missing items. People have also reported eerie apparitions of animals as well, many things that wouldn't normally make sense around a lighthouse in this remote area.
Hare and Hounds 👻
Morey killed his young grandson in cold blood in 1737, was tried and hanged, and his corpse left rotting near the Hare and Hounds. The gibbet crossbeam, complete with a notch cut in it beside the date of his execution can be seen in the pub and Morey's spirit can also be seen, roaming Gallows Hill, carrying a large axe.
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If you have read this far I am impressed! If anyone has their own ghost stories i’d love to hear them in the comments 👇🏼
This information has been sourced from the brilliant Haunted Rooms website: https://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/haunted-places/isle-of-wight
Other sources include the Ghost Island website, which has hundreds more stories if you are interested: https://ghostisland.com/Ghostmap
Visit Isle of Wights spooky stories: https://www.visitisleofwight.co.uk/blog/read/2023/08/5-spooky-stories-from-the-isle-of-wight-b37
The Travel website: https://www.thetravel.com/isle-of-wight-haunted-guide/
