Ghosts and Hauntings in Birmingham
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Ghosts at Great Barr Hall?
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| Janet of Birmingham writes about a strange happening at Great Barr Hall. | ||
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My brother and I (unofficially) went to see Great Barr Hall one cold, breezy, rainy January morning of this year 2004. Right in front of the main front door was a huge pile of dirt; weeds and debris. The fence which runs right in front and all around the hall had been pulled down (by local vandals) on the east side - which allowed us access to the inside of the hall. I had never seen it before and was very shocked to see such a beautiful and historic building in such a bad state of decay - considering it has a grade two star listing by English Heritage. The roof has now gone and the poor house has been violated, vandalised and set on fire many, many times. My brother and I were taking lots of photographs with our digital camera's of the poor old, ramshackled house. As he was taking one of the hallway I just stood very still, looking around the room quietly thinking of the former occupiers who would be so shocked to see their beautiful home now. Especially Joseph Scott and Samuel Galton and Lady Bateman Scott. Samuel rented the hall from Joseph and lived there from 1786 to 1797 and was a member of the famed Lunar Society. His daughter Mary wrote about the house... "When I was about 7 years old, I think, we moved from The Five Ways, for which our family was now too large, to Barr in Staffordshire. Barr... was a comfortable mansion house and though built in what is now called the 'Ogee Gothic Style' has an eminently comfortable and attractive appearance". Mary paid a return visit to her former home in her later years and wrote... "How great was the pleasure with which I ......passed the little inn at Northfield. Then on into the first gate that leaving the high road, began the approach to the grounds of Barr. Then came the venerable Oakwood and steep precipice shagged with trees and the water below, then the winding road, opening at last by a sudden turn and disclosing the turrets and Gothic windows of my dearly loved home. I was almost too glad to believe it was reaI; I seemed, as in one instant, to be at once in every room; and the thought that I should be with my dear mother there, as I once was, seemed almost overwhelming". My brother and I carefully picked our way through the plaster, rotten wood, bricks and debris all over the floor. We also had to look out for holes in the floors and drips from the rain leaking through what was now left of the roof. We then went outside and took some external shots of the hall and grounds. No one else was mad enough to be walking around in such bad weather conditions - except the security guard who had long gone. We were totally alone. Over two hundred years before, Mary and her family had lived a happy life here - I can just imagine her and her siblings running around that house and playing in the grounds. Two days later my brother sent me an email with one of his photographs attached to it. He asked me to check mine but I did not take one of the hallway at the same time or angle as he did.  The photograph is of the Hallway looking up to the dome in the
roofline. On the left half of the photo there is an unexplained
mist. Neither of us smoke; there was nothing visible to the naked
eye at the time the photograph was taken; there was no fog or mist
around - just constant heavy rain (a right downpour). This photo
unnerved my brother as he just can not explain it. He said he had
used this camera for a long time and had never had this happen
before.I have checked all my photos for that day and they have nothing out of the ordinary on them. The house did not have a 'spooky' atmosphere about it but I did feel a great sense of saddens due to the state of the building. My brother even worked there for a time when it was used as a Bio Chemical Laboratory for Walsall. I have no idea what the strange mist is on the photo. What could it be? Has it been captured before on camera? Sent in by Janet of Birmingham |
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