Creepy Halloween Tale of a Haunted House & a Victorian Prime Minister

Hughenden Manor is a grand stately home in the heart of Buckinghamshire, England. It was the home of Victorian Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and his wife, Mary-Anne.

One day, while researching the history of the place, I came across the story of Disraeli’s ghost, which allegedly haunted the manor and its grounds. When I dug a little deeper, I discovered that members of the Ghost Club had visited the Manor and reported seeing a vanishing figure, thought to be the spirit of Disraeli himself.

The Manor is open to the public, with nice gardens, and a café. Volunteers donate their time to keep this heritage attraction open. One volunteer, Bridget, put me in touch with her friend Sara, a psychic who claimed to have felt Disraeli’s presence in the Drawing Room. Sara told me about her visit.

Sara’s story in her own words…

Bridget had just returned from a volunteering session and clearly something was on her mind. She told me, “When I open up that big old house every morning I feel like someone is watching me. It freaks me out!”

She’d started work at Hughenden Manor in the summer and didn’t like opening the shutters at the windows because she always felt that someone was behind her, watching.

“I know I’m alone, but I don’t feel on my own,” she said.

“I’ll come and see if there’s anything to worry about,” I offered. Bridget knew I was sensitive to spirits and can feel their presence in some old buildings.

Bridget opened the big old doors, and we entered the gloomy interior of the house. It was big, dark, quiet and eerie. I could see why Bridget was spooked.

She flicked on the light switches and approached the windows to open the shutters. I usually feel spiritual presences, rather than seeing anything and I felt nothing for the first few rooms.

However, almost immediately upon entering the Drawing Room, my breathing became a struggle, my lungs tightened, I couldn’t draw breath. I felt a huge sense of sadness, of mourning, and of waiting for someone. As I got closer to the fireplace, my symptoms worsened and intensified. I felt awful and decided to leave the room. As soon as I stepped out of the room, the feeling left me.

When I described the emotions to Bridget, she said, “It has to be Disraeli’s presence. He was asthmatic”.

The most remarkable thing was that although Bridget was spooked, neither of us knew the Manor was haunted. We later discovered that for the last 9 years of his life, Disraeli was a man in mourning. He was asthmatic and prone to bronchitis, which eventually killed him. His wife, Mary-Anne, died 9 years before him and he missed her terribly.

My experience of sadness, mourning and shortness of breath, left us both with little doubt, that I had just experienced Disraeli’s ghost. This helped to put Bridget’s mind at rest. She no longer felt afraid.

Other sightings

Other reported spectral sightings at the Manor include a phantom Victorian gentleman wandering through the woods, a spectral sighting in the upper floors of the house, and there was a humorous report about fire pokers jumping around on their own!

There are often spooky events taking place for Halloween, like ghost trails, pumpkin carving, and Halloween crafts.

If you're thinking of visiting this Halloween, they've got some autumnal events on here. BUT they're closed for filming on Halloween and on 1st November! I suspect there's something very spooky going on.