Vicarage and Church of Abbots Langley
Abbots Langley
Hertfordshire |
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History
Paranormal Activity
Here the apparition of a former housekeeper has been seen who is believed to be that of Anne Treble who was treated badly by the wife of a former rector soon after the First World War.
Anne lies buried in the churchyard but her ghost is said to have been seen in three different places: walking between the church and nearby vicarage; appearing at Mass on All Soul’s Day inside the church; and in her old bedroom at the vicarage, where the daughter of a former rector used to wake up and see the back of the ghostly Anne, seemingly looking out of the window towards the church. An interesting point of this is that the face of Anne was actually recognised at the same time in cottages facing the rectory, just over the road.
A former rector described the ghostly activity as very active when he first moved into the vicarage and stated that while deciding on alterations to the house, the local builder pointed to the fireplace which stood out from the wall in what the rector was to learn was the haunted room and said matter of factly: “Not much use repairing that; it will be out again within six months”. Asked to elaborate he continued “Annie it was; died a horrible death in this room and the place will never be free of her”. Nevertheless the fireplace was repaired and within six months it fell out again. Interested at the time coincidence the rector began to make enquiries. He consulted a surveyor and asked whether subsidence was an issue but the surveyor blamed poor workmanship. Again the fireplace was repaired and within a few months it was out again. Since then it has remained un-repaired.
Soon after moving in to the vicarage the rector met a parish priest who had been assistant curate at the Abbots Langley and who told him that on All Soul’s Day, ten years previously, he had seen the manifestation of an unknown woman at Mass in the church; a woman who disappeared when the priest had turned to give the Invitation and who had not been seen at all by the priest’s wife. The curate’s description was found to correspond exactly with that of a former vicar’s housekeeper and when the curate and his wife went to the vicarage with the rector after the service, the haunted fireplace was found to be newly cracked.
A year later an Irish vicar saw the same woman in his congregation and reported the facts of the matter to his bishop which led to the Bishop Michael Furse, in full canonicals, exorcising the house in accordance with the mediaeval Service of Exorcism. Thereafter, apart from a mysteriously broken grate, the church and vicarage had peace for some years, although the succeeding incumbent’s wife kept the door of what was now the ‘guest room’ locked because of unaccountable noises.
Another assistant curate heard footsteps approaching him from the west end of the church, when he was there alone late one night and he felt some clothes brush past his face as he knelt in prayer. He heard the footsteps continue towards the east end of the church and then they ceased. He stated it was on the eve of All Hallow’s Day.
On several occasions one rector made a point of spending the night of All Hallow’s Day in the ‘guest room’ at the vicarage and keeping particularly vigilant at the Eucharist in the church on that day but he saw no materialisation; nor has the young daughter of the present rector who states, proudly, that she sleeps in the haunted room.
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