And guess what everybody? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin1.gif" alt="" />

I think it is time for another story from Uncle Tatters. I hadn't visited him in
a while. Got busy with other things and poor Uncle Tatters had to make do for
himself. He told me that his old house had been very lonely and asked me if I
would sit and talk with him a while. How could I refuse that Uncle of mine, so
I sat down in a big old chair near the fire and he sat in the other. As we talked
he asked if I would like to hear a story. Guess you can all guess my answer since
I love ghost stories so much? Well here is the story he told me. It come from
the Isle of Wight. Ummm, that place sounds familiar. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

ARRETON MANOR

The pleasant lanes and roads around Arreton are well known by the holiday maker
and local alike for their peace and tranquillity. And the Arreton Valley hosts
one of the finest examples of English Manor houses.

The manor was acquired in 1050 by Edward the Confessor and it is recorded as
being there long before this. The church owned it at one time and it was under
the care of an abbot along with a community of monks.

The manor looks peaceful enough but under this roof there have been many dark
deeds.

One particular room that opens from the great hall a silvery grey figure has
been seen and it is believed to be the host of a monk that once lived here when
the manor was in the hands of the church. The sighting is also accompanied by a
smell of incense and there is the sound of chanting.

Count Slade de Pomeroy was once the owner of the manor and it is recorded that
he often woke to the sound of tapping on the door to his bedroom. He is reported
to have said that he had ignored it as if he opened the door there would be
nothing there.

But one time he did in fact open the door and was shoved back by unseen hands,
his housekeeper who was there at the time said that she had seen two monks enter
the room and one of them had pushed him from the doorway.

Many years later a guest at the manor who had no idea of these sightings noticed
a small room leading from a landing, opposite was another larger room. The
visitor had an uncomfortable feeling and she turned pale and became
disorientated so much that she could no longer stay. She said a sense of
foreboding had overwhelmed her and also had the feeling of being watched

Later the count related another story concerning the landing. James and Thomas
who were the two older brothers of Mrs Barnaby Leigh once fought a duel to
determine which one of them would inherit the property. One of the brothers was
killed and three days later the other brother died from wounds he had received.

The title to Arreton Manor did lie with Barnaby Leigh during the reign of
Elizabeth Ist, and he was known as a wealthy man.

It is also recorded that when he lay on his death bed his son John smothered him
with a pillow so as to gain the inheritance. But on looking up after doing this
dastardly deed, John, noticed Annabel, his younger sister standing there
watching, and in his panic he dragged her upstairs and threw her to her death
from the highest window.

It is said that there is an area in the room that is permanently cold and the
ghost of little Annabel is often seen and heard in the grounds of the manor.
Many times it is said that she is calling out "Mamma, Mamma".

The house is often open to the public and on occasions there have been reports
of a sighting and one particular time a little girl told her mother she had been
trying to make friends with a girl in blue but she disappeared through a brick
wall.

Oh, great now I wish I had gone there while we were on the Isel of Wight. I
might have seen some real live ghosts. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Shan <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/alien.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />