Michelham Priory

Overview

This location was chosen by Living TV’s “Most Haunted” for its debut and centenary shows. Michelham’s fascinating 800 year history, from its foundation by Augustinian canons, through the destruction caused by the dissolution of the monasteries in Tudor times and into its later life as a country house. This picturesque venue also offers many, many ghost stories from its darker past. The ghost of a former owner, a little girl, a grey lady, The Tudor Lady, the maid and the black monk just to name a few. Put this together with the many accounts of Poltergeist activity and you can be sure to be in for an interesting night! It is also open to visitors during the day, and makes a great day out for the whole family with different events running throughout the year, for details check https://sussexpast.co.uk/properties-to-discover/michelham-priory .

Ghosts

There are a few accounts around the ghost of Thomas Sackville (a previous owner) on the internet and quoted in various books. His ghost appears to be bullying a young girl called Rosie, who is said to hide from him in a priest hole passage at the top of the stairs.

There is also a grey lady who has been seen on many occasions on the bridge and by the gate house, staring into the water of the moat. It is believed her child drowned in the moat many years ago. She has also been seen inside the main house.

The black hooded monk of the undercroft, a boy in the kitchen, a maid in the hall and stairs area, and a lady in Tudor clothing who walks the corridors are other previously reported paranormal accounts.

Photographs

Some years ago we were sent this photograph (right) which was taken in the Priory room at Michelham Priory. The image shows a hand and the person who took the photograph explained he was simply taking a picture of the room at the time. He also sent us several attempts he had made to recreate the affect, to no avail.

One of our team leaders who works at Michelham Priory took the below photograph. She was simply photographing the beauty of the priory before she left work that evening. She appears to have captured a figure standing at the window.

Photographs

To the left is a series of shots taken by one of our guests (Lisa Barlow) on our June 2017 event. It appears to be a figure stood at the top of the stairs. The sequence of photographs also demonstrates movement from the figure.

History

A very detailed account of the History of Michelham Priory by Helen Poole can be found on the Sussex Passed website.

Video clip

Here are some of the highlights taken from our team cameras between March 2017 and February 2019

Video clip

From one of our team cameras, Team Lima Tango captured this footage in April 2017. Greig our guest wanted to lightly knock on the door to see if he could get a response. The piece of equipment placed on the other side of the room was a REM pod which will sound if anything interacts with an energy field the REM pod places around itself. This is a great watch!

Team cam footage

Here are the highights from our team cams at Michelham Priory in June 9th 2018. Each team was given an infrared camcorder to use during the length of the investigation in order to document their vigils.

The Priors Room

The Tudor Room

The Kitchen

The Undercroft

The Incident Board

This is the content of our incident board from Michelham Priory investigations. Guests note down any interesting points from their vigils and add them to the board. This helps us to see if the different teams have any consistency in what they detect.
If any names are recorded then they will be researched to see if we can find them in history as  connected to the location.

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