All this week we are proud to present you our very own ‘Haunted Guildford’ series from in-house blogger Charli Aisha Harris where spine-chilling stories of haunted folk and places in Guildford are recounted for your displeasure! Learn a little bit more about Guildford’s darker past with spectres, royalty, celebrity and of course plenty of death to share with you. Thought that Guildford was a sleepy market town…? Well think again as we uncover some of the scarier stories from our town’s history.
With parts of Guildford’s most historic Hotel – The Angel – dating back to the 13th century, it would be more of a surprise if there weren’t any reports of ghostly happenings and strange spectral visitations! However, what is interesting about the hauntings of the Angel Hotel, is the consistency of the reports and of course the fame of some of the guests relaying the tales.
In November of 1969, a female guest was staying overnight in The Prince Imperial of France room, (Room 1, which has since been renamed the Freidburg Suite). This is the most expensive and prestigious room in the hotel, situated over the arch and looking down upon Guildford’s trademark cobbled High Street.
At around 8pm the female guest telephoned down to reception, however, when the receptionist answered, the woman was silent on the other end of the line. Concerned, the receptionist immediately went to check on the lady in question and found her in a strange state indeed. The female guest was stood, frozen in place. She still had the phone receiver in her hand, but had such a look of fear on her face that the receptionist was taken aback. After coaxing it out of the guest, the receptionist was told of how there was ‘something’ behind the mirror. The lady was adamant and demanded to change rooms, a request which was immediately granted.
A Mr Dell and his wife, upon staying in the same room, saw a similarly strange apparition in the form of a European soldier, in full uniform, standing inside of the mirror itself. They checked inside the wardrobe upon which the mirror hung, just in case this had been some kind of optical illusion, but found nothing. The next morning Mr Dell and his wife relayed the story, whereupon an astounded Collin Anderson, assistant manager at the time, reported having seen the same thing.
In 1973 the Angel hotel played host to one of its more famous guests: James Bond himself, Mr Roger Moore. For the first two nights of his stay, Mr Moore was awoken at precisely 2am by an icy chill invading his room and the sight of a white misty figure gliding through the heavy oak door towards his bedside. At one point, finally recovering himself from the shock, Roger Moore actually addressed the spectre by asking it if he could help it. The figure simply vanished. On the third night Roger entered his room to find the bible open to Psalm 23, (The Lord Is My Shepherd). That night he slept peacefully, entirely undisturbed. The next morning a maid asked him how he slept and upon hearing that he had been undisturbed, the maid commented that it was common knowledge that the spirit hated that Psalm, though the reason for this supposed hatred is unknown.
Sights of both the continental soldier and the strange spectre continued to be reported in Room 1 well into the 1980’s, until the Angel Hotel changed hands. A great deal of the old furniture was removed, including the grand old wardrobe with the mirror upon it in room 1. Since the removal of the wardrobe the soldier has not been spotted and no more sleeping guests of the Freidburg Suite have been disturbed by icy chills or white figures.
However, it is not just Room 1 that has its ghostly residents, voices have been heard from unseen mouths, calling out to staff; as well as a nun smelling sweetly of lavender stalking the halls and vanishing. Though none of the spirits sighted have seemed intent on causing any harm, it is clear that the dead nonetheless stalk the beautiful aged halls of the Angel Hotel.
Charli Aisha Harris
With special thanks to Philip Hutchinson, author of Haunted Guildford