Preston Manor - Anecdotal Evidence
Public Research
I was out one night in autumn 1997 trying to take some night time photographs for a CD cover I had been commissioned to do, It was about 11PM I remember feeling like I was being watched and I felt nauseous, I can remember thinking that somebody may call the police because I was out with a camera and tri pod in the night and people may think i was photographing the Manor in order to break in or something I also hadn't eaten that evening so i put my nausea down to that.
I left the ground of the Manor after taking several photographs and a few days later i had them developed.
When I viewed the photographs I was pleased with some of the shots apart from one it was green and misty I couldn't work out what had happened to the shot, thinking nothing more of it i set to work on the other photographs, although i couldn't help but keep looking at the mysterious green one, after about two weeks I suddenly had a cold chill run down my back I suddenly saw the ghost in the picture.
I passed the picture and negative on to several photography experts who examined the picture and confirmed that no tampering had taken place, I also sent it to several paranormal experts of the time who all confirmed the phenomena of apparition and ectoplasmic mist.
Ever since ive been trying to photograph ghosts with a varying degree of success, from this sprang my interest in the paranormal and hence the P.I.G.S were born.
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Other Research
Other Research
Sister Agnes- During a seance conducted in the Cleves room in 1896, a spirit claiming to be the ghost of a 'Sister Agnes' came through, a nun claiming to have been wrongly excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1535.
She was buried in unconsecrated ground. When the house was rebuilt, the skeleton of a 400 yr old woman was found beneath the South Terrace. When the church was approached to bury her there, they refused, so she was buried in secret, which appeased her spirit... for a while...
Other sighting's include the frequent sighting of a nun by the caretaker's children in the 1950's.
White lady- Thought by some to be the ghost of Sister Agnes, she used to haunt the Stanford family. Karl Beattie from Most Haunted is convinced that he was confronted by the White Lady!
Most often, she has been reported as being seen on the stairway a Mrs Magniac, half sister to a former owner told the curator at the time that more than one person had seen the white lady. She herself claimed to have seen her herself when going upstairs to change after a game of tennis, she saw a woman standing on the stairs. She was not one of the players, but she assumed she was another guest, so greeted her. As she offered her hand and greeted her, the woman vanished.
Captain WW Sandeman also saw the white lady on the stairs.
Grey Lady- People have reported sighting a lady in grey descending the grand staircase, with nowhere to go. She appeared to a group of Firewatchers during the second world war.
Other
- A disembodied hand, seen floating by a four-poster bed.
- A playful spirit that played with a child's toy tractor in the 1960's.
- Smells of lavender in the morning room with no source.
- People being locked in the withdrawing room.
- a ghostly dog, seen running through a couple of rooms, then disappearing, described as looking like Lady Ellen Stanford's dog 'Kylin', although this is thought to be a hoax.
- Feeling of unease in t he North-west bedroom, by one of the cupboards.
Church of St Peter
The church of St Peter next door has a long historical connection to the Manor. This church is from the 14th Century, and partly destroyed by fire in the early 20th Century. When repairs started, a fresco of the murder of Thomas Beckett was uncovered.
This is thought to be some of the oldest artwork in Brighton. it boasts the two oldest English Elm trees in the world. It is in the grounds of this Church that the remains of 'Sister Agnes' were buried in secret.
The Stanford family are commemorated in some of the stained glass windows, and the Altar is a chest tomb, thought to belong to Edward Eldrington.
Celia Holloway, the victim of the 1831 Trunk murder was dumped in Lover's Walk, which is a part of this area.
Anecdotally, one Sunday evening, a couple walking through the graveyard witnessed a woman in medieval costume walking towards them. Thinking she must've been part of a pageant, they greeted her, but she gave no response. They turned to look at her, as she made no sound as she walked, and they watched her walk towards a terracotta tomb.
As she approached the stonework, she 'simply faded away'. It is often thought that the ghost of Sir Charles Stanford haunts the spot where his ashes are buried, and there have been several sightings in the churchyard of a white figure moving through the gravestones...
