Ghosts – Should we embrace them? – The Museum of Cambridge

Blog by Roger Lilley, Chair of the Trustees

A few months ago I hosted a ghost hunt at the museum. I just needed to be on the premises while ten enthusiasts divided into two groups to stake out some of our rooms and look for evidence of ghostly presences. They were equipped – hand held devices that could detect shapes in the movement of dust and electromagnetic forces in a darkened room as well as magnify the tiniest of sounds.

When I chatted to them at half time, they all seemed to be really enjoying themselves. They had been talking to two children in the dining room about their experiences in the 18th century where there had been a big fire. In the second half of the evening they had a jolly chat in the back kitchen with a rather frisky servant at the inn from the early 19th century. On leaving, they commented that the White Horse Inn was a really good place for ghost hunting; the spirits here all seem happy and relaxed, unlike some locations they visited. Good to know!

So, how much do we as a museum with a historic house want to advertise this aspect of our heritage? What role could or should ghosts play in a serious museum?

It is interesting to speculate what Enid Porter, curator of the museum in the 50s and 60s, would have thought about all this. She was fascinated by folklore, superstition and magic, writing about witchcraft and collecting bizarre artefacts.

Among her writings is a description of the murder at Moco farm, Steeple Morden, of Elizabeth Pateman who had been murdered and interred at the church in 1734; on her tomb are carved the murder weapons, a pea hook, a knife and a Coulter (plough blade). Ghosts were reported at the farm in 1901; the Cambridge Daily News reported the gamekeeper there hearing agonising cries and mysterious gun shots. Then in 2022 I was sent an account of a tale told by the writer’s grandfather about the farmhouse. The grandfather, Fred, had gone to live in the cottage next door with his father, Charles ‘Shepherd’ Rule and family in 1913. They soon realised that Moco had a strange feel about it; the farmhouse and half of the cottage were empty but footsteps could heard be heard in the passageways. The family knew nothing about the history of the place but investigations revealed a small concealed room. ‘Later that night Shepherd was woken by a fearful pressure across his throat. It stopped after a while but there was, nor had there been, anyone there. Talking to his friend the next day, he discovered that the same had happened to him, at exactly the same time.’ From that moment on the footsteps stopped.

In 2023 the BBC broadcast a programme about the ghost of Melrose House, Melbourn. This was no ancient tale, but involved events witnessed by children at the house in the 1960s. The identity of the apparition could even be linked with that of a Miss Howard who was known to have lived in the house in the 1950s and whose family came from the village.

One of the houses considered most haunted in Cambridge is Abbey House, built from the remains of Barnwell Priory and home to the Butler family in the 17th century. For several years it had even been mooted as the possible home of the Folk Museum. At the beginning of the 20th century it was the home of Professor Lawson of Pembroke College and his family. He wrote a description of the two ghosts that the family had encountered at the house, the ‘animal’ nicknamed ‘Wolfie’, and the ‘nun’. A B Gray recorded that some of the younger members of the family who lived there at the time used see a diminutive hairy creature stalk slowly around their play room. The children referred to the visitor as ‘Furrey.’

One of the strangest and best documented tales of the supernatural in Cambridgeshire dates from 1923. This involves the family of Joe Scrimshaw, a wealthy Gorefield farmer who lived at North View, a small farmhouse built in 1909, together with his mother and daughter Olive, aged 14.

At dusk on 12th February it all started. The contents of the house started to fly around and break into tiny pieces. Olive was sent away the next morning. Chaos continued and was witnessed by several people whose accounts got into the press. Many believed it was a poltergeist. Sit Arthur Conan Doyle offered advice; the News of the World paid for a local wise woman, Harriet Holmes, to perform a ritual spell-breaking. A few days later Harriet was found outside her house, drowned in 6 inches of dyke water.

At the time, the Vicar of Garfield, Rev Rutter, seemed rather sanguine about the affair. ‘Such belief,’ he said, ‘is far more generally held than would be credited. I know for a fact that within 24 hours of Mr. Scrimshaw’s strange experiences, a very God-fearing man called upon him and, sadly shaking his head, said, ‘Someone’s witching you, Joe.’ … ‘When I was in charge of a Somerset living I knew no fewer than six witches. Oh yes, they are all dead.’

So, is there something strange about our Museum? Our ghost hunters certainly felt they had found something. But then, as they were leaving I asked if they had visited our Fenland room. No, they answered. Why? Oh, then you didn’t come across the witch bottles then! I think our ghost hunters will be back soon.

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