PROJECT ARNOS MANOR

While it has been reported that Arnos Manor has up to twenty ghosts, the story of the nun is perhaps the most prolific haunting. In 1856, the building became the first reform school for Catholic girls in England. The school housed up to 200 girls who'd been in trouble with the law; some of the inmates were as young as nine. During this period, one nun was reported to have fallen pregnant and she reputedly committed suicide. In an attempt to avoid scandal, the nuns reportedly bricked her corpse up in a wall. Work was carried out on the building during World War II, possibly in response to the bomb damage it suffered during a German air raid, and the workmen discovered the skeleton. Allegedly, the workmen just hid the skeleton somewhere else. Her ghost is said to haunt Room 160 and her apparition has been reportedly seen several times in 1977.

Reported phenomena includes the hearing of a woman’s voice, apparitions rising as if climbing stairs which don’t exist, guests being pinned down and feeling pressure on their chests as they lie in bed. Poltergeist activity has also been reported in the hotel, including bathtubs filling on their own and toiletries being flung through the air. Figures have also been seen, including a figure in brown in Room 160 and a man dressed in tweed. In 2004, one guest was so terrified by a feeling of having his chest crushed that he took his duvet, fled the bedroom and slept in the hotel chapel.