Residents of housing estate haunted by the ghosts of former inmates of Victorian lunatic asylum
"Residents report scratching at the front doors and windows, and hearing voices when there is no one there!"
Could the ghosts of former inmates of a Victorian lunatic asylum be haunting the residents of an exclusive housing estate, which was built on the site over a decade ago?
According to a local estate agent, ghosts have regularly been seen in several of the luxury homes at the Repton Park estate in Woodford Bridge, in Essex, even causing one young couple to move out of their flat on the very day they moved in.
Formerly the Claybury Hospital mental institution, it is believed the unwelcome visitors may be former patients who are visiting the buildings formerly used by the hospital.
The estate agent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "I know about a year ago a guy bought a whole block to turn it into flats to sell off.
"One day two cleaners were in the block working. As they were cleaning, one of the ladies thought she heard a man's voice calling her. She said she thought she must be going mad but then her daughter, the other cleaner, heard a similar voice.
"They had the door open at the time and they thought it was someone outside, but there was no-one else on the whole floor. From that day the daughter refused to clean at Repton Park on her own."
The estate agent said: "Last year a young couple heard voices calling them from inside their Repton Park flat and moved into a hotel on their first night as they were too frightened to stay there.
"They then went to a local priest and asked him to exorcise the flat before they moved back in."
And, it seems, the sightings are not rare.
Local minicab driver Jeff Todd said: "I have had two or three people in my cab telling me exactly the same story about the ground floor of the old building frequently being visited by ghosts.
"People have told me that they hear scratching at their front doors and windows. One person even went outside to see what it was and saw someone standing there and within seconds they had disappeared.
"Maybe it's the old patients of Claybury Hospital revisiting or maybe it's their visitors but there are lots of stories about this," he added.
The site includes around 50 acres of ancient woodland and 95 acres of open parkland, ponds, pasture and historic gardens. These were designed in 1789 by the landscape architect Sir Humphrey Repton for James Hatch, who was the owner of what was then called the Claybury Estate.
Building work started on the hospital in 1889 and it opened under the name of Claybury Asylum in 1893. It was the fifth London County Council asylum and the hospital stood on the site for almost a century, closing in 1996. An encyclopaedia entry for Ilford in 1911 says: "Claybury Hall is a lunatic asylum (1893) of the London County Council."
It was turned into a housing development in the late 1990s and now has an estimated value of £170m.
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Posted on Thu 19th May 2011 22:21:23