Our romantic break with a ghost
Wednesday 10th March 2010
As we snuggled under the duvet all sweaty, hearts pounding, you might think my fiancé, Jamie Pumford, and I had just had the best sex ever.
I wish!
We were cuddled up because we were the most terrified we'd ever been in our lives.
A few weeks earlier, Jamie, 31, announced he'd booked us into the Madeley Court Hotel in Telford, Shropshire, for a romantic weekend away.
'I thought it'd be a nice treat. We've even got a jacuzzi in our room,' he'd winked.
'Sounds perfect,' I'd said.
As we pulled into the cobbled driveway, my eyes had almost popped out of my head. With its turrets and stone walls, it was like something from a fairytale.
'It's a medieval castle, not a hotel,' I'd said. 'I feel like royalty.'
But as the concierge led us up the narrow stairs to our room, I'd suddenly felt uneasy and the hairs on the back of my neck prickled.
Thankfully, our room was beautiful and I forgot all about my funny feeling. There was a four-poster bed and an original fireplace. Not to mention the jacuzzi.That evening, Jamie and I had dressed up and gone down for dinner, but we didn't stay long.
'Fancy going back to the room for a soak and some bubbly?' Jamie smirked.
So like two excited teenagers, we'd slipped into the Jacuzzi and popped open the fizz.
After half an hour, with our skin beginning to wrinkle like prunes, we got out and climbed onto the four-poster bed.
But cuddling up to Jamie, I felt a breeze and thought I saw something dart across the room.
Then… whoosh!
'What the hell was that?' Jamie yelped.
There it was again, the freezing wind. Then I saw something above us. Glancing at the ceiling, I spotted a menacing black shadow above us.
It felt like it had eyes that were boring into us.
Terrified, I turned to Jamie and clung to him.
'What is it?' I whispered to Jamie in the dark.
'I don't know but I don't think it likes us,' he said.
Suddenly, our bed shook as heavy footsteps thundered past our door.
Bang, bang, bang!
'What was that?' I cried.
Was it another ghost?
We lay there, terrified, as the sound faded.
By now it was 2am and all I wanted to do was sleep, but I was too terrified to close my eyes.
We watched as the creepy black shape flitted back and forth, watching us. It was another hour before a chink of light shone through the curtain and, to our relief, the shape disappeared. Finally, we must have dozed off.
But I wasn't hanging about. At 8am, I jumped out of bed, packed our bags and stood by the door.
'Let's go,' I begged Jamie.
'I've paid for breakfast so I'm having it,' he said.
Much too embarrassed to say anything to the staff, as soon as he put his knife and fork down I was out the front door.
'We can't be the only ones to experience that haunted room. I'm going to look online,' I said when we got home.
I wasn't surprised when the hotel popped up in the Haunted Hotel Guide.
'Jamie!' I yelled. 'It's a Grade II listed building, known for its ghosts.'
Apparently there was a resident ghost of a monk who scared guests in the Great Hall when they had dinner. Although it hasn't put Jamie off booking trips away, I always check the hotel out first. Because if there's one thing that's guaranteed to kill a night of passion, it's sharing your room with a ghost!
A spokesperson for the Madeley CourtHotel says:
The pounding on the door could have been the ghost of the hooded monk, which floats across the grounds before vanishing into thin air.