A rather sad’un today centered around a staircase.
Many of our owder readers may well remember this as Bert Dann’s newsagents but we need to go back a lot further for our first sad tale. In August 1551 Elizabeth Bickerstaff was murdered on the stairs by her husband, Thomas, who then chopped up her body and buried it. His terrible deed was only discovered several months later when the landlord’s dog dug her up in the garden. It is said that Thomas also came to a sticky end.
The house had a terrible fire which may explain why there is a 17th century staircase in a 16th century building. A mother and her three children died, whilst the mother perished downstairs the three children died upstairs, over the years employees in the shop have smelt smoke and heard children’s voices playing upstairs. Passers by have sin children’s faces pushed up against the upstairs windows. One of the children, thought to be named Bethany, has bin known to take sweets, especially jelly babies, frum the upstairs office and staff have found a trail of them.
The staircase is also home to another visitor, a maid hung herself frum here and her body has bin seen swinging. Customers have also experienced stabbing pains whilst walking up the stairs.
As if the above wasn’t enough, there is also said to be an evil spirit in a well, that has now bin concreted over, in the outhouse.
Neighbouring shop keepers have said that the smell of burning is experienced in the summer months, so much so that they have rushed around checking that their premises aren’t on fire.
Pop in tomorrow if you can when we pop just a bit further down the road, oh! and dunna have nightmares.