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Haunted house test was not Pye in the sky for Terence

29/ 3/2008

OVER the years Rochdale has had its fair share of ghosts, boggarts and haunted buildings.

But it’s perhaps unlikely that anyone will be rewarded with having the courage to stay overnight in a haunted hall as happened to a Rochdale man, Terence Groom, in March 1954.

Mr Groom, who lived on Lombard Street, off Spotland Road, actually won an electric pressure cooker, electric kettle, electric ovenette and an electric tea maker for sleeping with the spirits.

Perhaps the range of prizes wasn’t all that surprising as they were donated by a leading electronics firm, Pye, but then came another surprise – he had also won a week’s holiday at one of Butlin’s holiday camps.

Mr Groom’s story began when he spent a night in one of Kent’s most haunted mansions, the deserted Hall Place in Bexley.

The house had been built by Sir John Champneis, a former Lord Mayor of London, in the 1540s.

And, as with most old buildings, it wasn’t long before stories began circulating about its ghosts.

One was reputed to be that of Lady Constance Atte-Hall, wife of Sir Thomas, who had been killed by a stag in the courtyard.

Overcome by grief, it seems Lady Constance threw herself off a tower and, after that, her ghost often wandered about near the White Tower, wringing its hands.

It was against this spooky backdrop that Mr Groom volunteered to spend a night in the haunted house, along with a companion who mysteriously disappeared during the night, leaving nothing but a personal bag containing his belongings.

The next weekend Mr Groom recounted his experience on stage at the Harrow Coliseum as part of the People are Funny radio show sponsored by Pye and compered by Peter Martyn.

He agreed with Mr Martyn that it was a dirty trick for the man to leave him on his own in such circumstances and, asked what he would do if he saw him again, Mr Groom said: "I’d give him the lash."

But then he was asked to turn round and there was the missing man.

It had been a stunt – organised by Pye – to make Mr Groom more interested in ghosts.

But the story does not end there. Back home in Rochdale the following week, Mr Groom answered a knock on his door. It was the man who had vanished!

Then there was another surprise for Mr Groom.

The man told him he was from Pye and listed the many prizes he had won, adding that the household items could be picked up at the Electric House on Smith Street.