History
Long before Treasure Holt was a private house, even before it was a tumbledown farmhouse, it was an old inn, set in what was then a heavily wooded forest. There was not even a lane leading to it, just a muddy rutted cart track and a couple of rough pathways through the forest, used by travelers on horseback and just a few on foot. Here is the ideal location for smugglers to carry out their illicit trade with little or no interference from the revenue men and to this end it was certainly well used. Not many weeks went past without some form of contraband being brought from the seashore, across the marshes, either on donkeys or packhorses, along barely trodden trails, through the woods to the inn, where they could safely store the goods or meet with contacts who would dispose of them with no questions asked. During this period the inn was run by a husband and wife who were reputed to be a really evil couple in every respect. The inn became notorious and was well known to every thief, rogue and villain for miles around. It was equally well known as being a center of witchcraft and black magic with the innkeepers wife the main witch. When meetings were held at the inn interested people often traveled for two or three days either by foot or on horseback just to attend what was usually a three day affair. Such was the attraction of witchcraft to the simple people at the time. The innkeeper and his wife brewed most of their own very potent beers and wines, so quite apart from any smuggled wines and liquors that came their way there was never any shortage, their stocks were always kept up by grateful smugglers not only for storing the contraband but for keeping their mouths shut and their eyes open for any strangers whose presence might mean trouble. A tunnel had been constructed, starting under the floor of the stables at the back of the inn, one outlet rising a short distance away in the grounds behind a thicket, and another branch heading towards the cemetery some distance away, but this had never been completed or collapsed after some distance had been excavated. Never - the - less, it was still a very useful hiding place for the hunted and the goods. Of course it was impossible to keep a place like this a secret for long, rumors, often exaggerated, spread far and wide by word of mouth meant that even some of the wealthy merchants, thinking they might increase their fortunes, found their way there and obtained some of the goods. There was always a ready market for anything smuggled because the taxes on legitimately imported goods were so high. It was these wealthy merchants that the innkeeper and his wife really welcomed. Because of the nature of their visits, and the fact that they would be carrying large sums of money, these merchants did not let it be known that they would be traveling through the forest. The danger of being waylaid by highwaymen and footpads was very great, and life was cheap. When a merchant eventually found his way to the inn, he would be greeted with a strong drink and a hearty meal on the house and his horse would be taken to the stables behind the inn for a well earned rest. Traveling was very slow and tortuous both for humans and for the animals. In the winter the tracks were muddy and slippery, in the summer they were very hot and dusty so, either way, the drink and the food was more than welcome after a journey and it was this fact that the innkeeper and his wife took full advantage. A generous drink of home brewed ale, followed by an equally generous glass of the best smuggled Geneva soon made the weary traveler feel very tired and it was at this stage that the crafty old landlord would suggest that, as he was not expecting any of the regular customers with whom the merchant was expecting to do business to arrive well after nightfall, perhaps he would like to retire to his best bedroom in the inn, and he would send his wife up with a final glass of drink and would give him a call when his prospective business contacts arrived. This offer was nearly always taken up. The final drink which the wife took up to the unwary traveler, was often just that. It would be a truly laced mixture, guaranteed to send anybody into a deep sleep. After a while, when the innkeeper felt that his guest was sound asleep he and his wife would go into his bedroom and search through his clothes and bags until they found his money. Now they were very cunning, they never stole all the money, just a large amount, and of course, if the unfortunate man should complain next morning they would say that whilst he was drunk, he bought the services of the wife, and if he was in such a state that he could not remember what took place, that was his misfortune, so long as he had sufficient money to pay his bill. However if the unfortunate merchant had not been in a deep enough sleep when they were going through his belongings and woke demanding to know what they were doing, the landlord would then produce a hefty club and hit the man over the head knocking him unconscious, or possibly killing him with the blow. Either way, it made very little difference, the result would be the same. In the floor of the bedroom, beneath a piece of rush matting was a trapdoor which, when raised, gave access to the room below. The innkeeper would go downstairs into this room, pull back more rush matting, exposing another large trapdoor almost directly below the one in the bedroom above, he would then open this ground floor trapdoor to reveal a deep foul smelling well. At this point the wife would push the victims body through the top trap, straight down into the well. This operation had been carried out so many times over the years that they had got it down to a fine art and the disposal of the bags and clothes was no problem either, these would always fetch a good price when traded off to the smugglers. Even to this day the trapdoor remains in place and directly below it there is a slab of concrete in the floor covering what could still be a well.
Paranormal Activity
Strange to relate, whilst the BBC television cameras were filming there in 1972, a Spiritualist medium. not knowing the past history of the house, was walking about the room and stood on the slab, suddenly he shuddered and said that he was picking up some awful vibrations from this spot and felt that something terrible was associated with it!!!. It is said that some time ago the well was exposed, drained and cleaned out. It was over forty feet deep. and the remains of dozens of human bones, several old leather button up shoes, all male, leather belts, some leather buckets, old rusty swords and a couple of flintlock pistols were recovered. The well was then sealed. In 1928 when a part of the floor in one room was being replaced workmen unearthed parts of a human skeleton, some buckles, pieces of clay pipes as used for smoking, some coins and a token, also other badly decayed items. The whole appeared to have been covered with a lime substance. There are many questions that will probably never be answered, who was this unfortunate man who must have met his death at the inn. Could it have been another wealthy merchant, if so, why not use the well as before, could it have been a smuggler, possibly killed in a fight, could it have been the landlord, if so why bury the body under the floor? it would have been far easier to have taken it outside into the grounds or even into the woods. This is just one more mystery about the house.
|
