1942
19
YEARS
RUSHBROOKE HALL
“A peculiar incident occurred during my sojourn at Rushbrooke Hall in Suffolk,
where I went for convalescence in 1942.”
“The building had a wonderful ‘feel’ about it - atmospheric in the extreme, and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there - especially the ghosthunting adventure.”
“A window was pointed out to me as that through which the murdered body of a certain lady
had been hurled into the moat.”
Rushbrooke Hall and moat, including the window from which a body had purportedly been thrown.
“Queen Elizabeth I held court at this sixty-roomed mansion
in 1578.”
“I was told that on the reputed anniversary of the Queen’s visit the gruesome disposal
was re-enacted.”
“When the anniversary drew near
I managed to arrange for three friends
to spend the night in the ‘haunted room’.”
“Everything was quiet until just before 2 a.m
when the almost total silence was suddenly shattered
by the sound of a window opening violently - slamming back against the wall.”
“After a few moments, we approached the window; everything seemed to be still…
all was quiet in the moat below.”
“As we crouched over the sill, peering down, we suddenly felt an icy draught over our heads.
As we looked at each other we all heard a dull plop
from the moat below us.”
“Looking down, we each thought we could distinguish
a disturbance in the water.”
“Silent and wondering, we watched the
ever-widening circles of water
in the moonlight…”
Underwood’s account of Rushbrooke Hall can be found in Nights in Haunted Houses (1994).
