Leamington Spa, with its elegant Regency buildings, gardens and broad avenues, hardly looks like somewhere with a ghost problem.
But the Warwickshire spa town has accumulated its share of supernatural stories, from strange activity at its railway station to apparitions, mysterious footsteps and a poltergeist that apparently objected rather strongly to having its home demolished.
Here are five haunted places in Leamington Spa with ghost stories attached to them.
Leamington Spa Railway Station
Old Warwick Road, Leamington Spa, CV31 3NS
Leamington Spa Railway Station has such a reputation for ghosts that in 2014 Chiltern Railways appointed member of staff Nick Rees as the station’s “supernatural liaison officer”.
Passengers and railway staff have reported unexplained activity for years, particularly around a disused basement beneath platform three and the upper floor of an office building.
Doors are said to slam without anyone nearby, electrical equipment switches itself on and off, paperwork has reportedly been scattered and drawers have opened for no apparent reason. Staff and commuters have also reported seeing apparitions on the platforms.
The present Art Deco station dates from immediately before the Second World War, but whatever is responsible for its strange reputation apparently hasn’t gone away.
The Angel Hotel
143 Regent Street, Leamington Spa, CV32 4NZ
Dating back to the early 19th century, the Angel Hotel has long been part of Leamington Spa’s history as a fashionable resort.
Ghost stories associated with the hotel include unexplained footsteps heard along empty corridors, knocking on doors and lights apparently switching themselves on without human assistance.
Shadowy figures have also been reported disappearing into rooms, while another tradition tells of a tragic love affair connected with the building.
Whether the stories belong to one supposed ghost or several generations of guests is unclear, but the Angel’s long history makes it a natural home for Leamington’s supernatural folklore.
Jephson Gardens
Newbold Terrace, Leamington Spa, CV32 4AA
Jephson Gardens may be one of Leamington’s prettiest spots, but local ghost stories give the Victorian park a rather different character after dark.
Visitors have reported an unexplained female presence around the gardens, while stories also tell of a woman dressed in Victorian clothing glimpsed among the trees before disappearing.
The gardens developed from walks laid out beside the River Leam in the early 19th century and became Jephson Gardens in 1846.
Today it is difficult to imagine anything sinister among its flowerbeds, lawns and ornamental buildings. But when the crowds have gone and darkness settles over the gardens, the old stories seem considerably easier to believe.
The Royal Pump Rooms
Parade, Leamington Spa, CV32 4AA
The Royal Pump Rooms opened in 1814 and became one of the centres of Leamington’s fashionable spa culture, attracting visitors who came to bathe in and drink the town’s supposedly health-giving waters.
Its ghost stories are rather less genteel.
People working in the building have reportedly heard footsteps and low voices when rooms were otherwise empty, while unexplained cold spots have also been associated with the building.
Perhaps the most striking story concerns the apparition of a woman dressed in white, said to have been glimpsed on an upper level before disappearing.
Thousands of people passed through the Pump Rooms during their long history. According to Leamington’s ghost lore, at least one of them may have decided to stay.
The Ghost of Brookhurst
Former Leamington Golf Club site, Leamington Spa
One of Leamington Spa’s best-documented ghosts was known simply as George.
Brookhurst was a large 23-room house that became the clubhouse of the old Leamington Golf Club. By 1960, its strange reputation was sufficiently established for the Leamington Spa Courier to report that dozens of people claimed to have heard unexplained footsteps inside.
Locked doors apparently opened and unlocked themselves, lights switched themselves back on and the front doorbell rang when nobody was there. A former barmaid even claimed to have heard what sounded like a game of snooker being played in an empty room above her.
Things became considerably nastier when Brookhurst was demolished.
Workers reported bricks mysteriously smashing windows, while demolition boss Donald Wilkes claimed that a ball of paper was thrown at him despite nobody else being around. Another worker reportedly became so frightened by the sensation that somebody was constantly beside him that he refused to return.
The Courier revisited the story in 1963, by which time George had become one of Leamington’s better-known supernatural residents.
Brookhurst itself is gone, but the site remains an intriguing stop for anyone exploring Leamington’s ghost stories. If George really was angry about losing his house, demolition might not necessarily have been enough to get rid of him.
Behind Leamington Spa’s graceful architecture and genteel reputation lies a collection of surprisingly persistent supernatural tales.
There are ghosts in hotels and gardens, strange happenings inside the Pump Rooms and enough activity at the railway station for the railway company to appoint someone to deal with it.
And then there is George.
Nearly 70 years after Brookhurst disappeared, perhaps Leamington’s most troublesome ghost deserves the last word.
