For sale: Rotherham's 'haunted' Slade Hooton Hall

According to village lore – admittedly never the most legitimate of sources – a ghostly figure in 18th-century dress was seen drifting near the orchard gate under the full moon.

It was, they said, the restless spirit of a former housekeeper.

Stories told of a widowed servant, devoted to the Hall and its grounds, who had met a tragic end during a harsh winter in the 1760s.

Her final duty, paranoid villagers claimed, was tending to the orchard alone; and she still lurked there well after her demise.

Dressed in grey or pale blue with a white apron, she was said to have appeared silently by the garden steps or walk slowly toward the orchard wall, only to vanish before onlookers could approach.

Of course she did.

The reports, of course, sound ludicrous.

Yet they span decades: hikers in the 1980s, a local farmer in the 1990s, and even a pair of teenagers in 2007 who claimed their camera battery drained as they caught sight of her.

Isn't that always the way?

If you have a love of the paranormal – and very deep pockets – Slade Hooton Hall is up for sale and would make an ideal spot to mix, class, luxury and a spot of the supernatural.

Inigo, an estate agency "for Britain’s most marvellous historic homes," and Rightmove are marketing it for £1,650,000.

It could be a steal.

In January 2023, Savills the a global real estate services provider, quoted a guide price of £2m for the Grade II*-listed gem in Slade Hooton, a hamlet listed in the Domesday Book and near the village of Laughton-en-le-Morthen.

The architectural treasure, first built in 1698, includes:

* A heated swimming pool.

* A lake in four acres of private grounds.

* A stable.

* Three floors, including four reception rooms, eight bedrooms, six baths, a kitchen/diner and a games room/cinema.

*A huge Aga cooker.

* An of course, the orchard; scene of the highly unlikely ghostly sightings.

Just to add to the mystery, a tunnel is rumoured to connect the Hall to other buildings, though absolutely no proof has yet been uncovered. A vanished sundial with Latin mottos once stood in the garden. It disappeared in the 1970s, too.

On top of that, the Hall is said to have housed evacuees during WWII. A boundary stone bears strange and inexplicable carvings, too.

If all that doesn't satisfy your craving for the unworldly, there have been other spooky sightings nearby:

*Carr Lane’s Phantom Coach: In Laughton Common, tales once persisted of a horse-drawn carriage thundering past at night, only to leave no hoofprints or sound in its wake.

*Dinnington Well Spirit: Said to appear beside an ancient spring, a woman in white is tied to older pagan traditions and featured in Victorian-era ghost stories.

*Echoes at Roche Abbey: Visitors have claimed to hear faint Gregorian chanting among the ruins.

Rotherham – it's out of this world.