Post by Graveyardbride on Apr 26, 2015 11:33:18 GMT -5
Billionaire Claims Mansion is Haunted Ghost of Murdered Child
Billionaire Phones4U founder John Caudwell has revealed that his £10 million mansion is “being haunted” by the “ghost” of a child killed in the English Civil War. Caudwell, 62, claims visitors to his 50-room Jacobean manor in Staffordshire have felt a bed vibrate and something unseen brushing past them on the stairs.
The businessman believes the ghostly incidents are caused by the spirit of a terrified little boy who died in the 17th century conflict. Caudwell, a father of five who sold off Phones4U in 2006 for £1.4 billion, says: “The little boy was alone in the house. All the men had gone out hunting – and the Cromwellians came down the drive. He shouted: ‘We are for the king’ – and one of the soldiers lifted a musket and shot him dead. He fell in the Long Gallery, crawled into one of the bedrooms and bled to death. Legend has it that every so often, those blood stains come oozing through. I’ve never seen that, but there’s a strange thing where several women have slept in the room and felt the bed vibrate. I was not there at the time. There are also stories about this ghost brushing past people on the stairs. People who think they are in tune with the spirit world always say they can feel something – but it’s warm, not malevolent.”
Caudwell, who is ranked the 42nd richest person in Britain, bought Broughton Hall (above) 20 years ago for £800,000. The house and grounds, which are near Eccleshall, are now worth more than £10million. The businessman started work at the age of 17, earning just £3 a week on the production line of the Michelin factory in his home city, Stoke-on-Trent.
This month he spent £155 million buying the Audley Street garage in Mayfair, central London, in order to knock it down and build a high-end housing complex, worth as much as £2 billion. The new apartment block will contain five townhouses, three penthouses, a mews home and 21 more luxury flats, rivaling properties such as One Hyde Park for the title of world’s most desirable living space. Caudwell also made headlines earlier this year when it emerged he had been granted planning permission to build his own steam railway on the grounds of 28-acre Broughton Hall.
The English Civil War, which was fought between 1642 and 1651, was fought by the Cavaliers, who remained loyal to King Charles I, and the Roundheads, who wanted to overthrow the monarchy. Battles saw Charles I executed, his son, Charles II, exiled, and Oliver Cromwell taking over as the leader of a republic Britain in 1649.
There are several family suites in his Staffordshire mansion because Caudwell has five children by three women. He and his partner of 15 years, Claire Johnson, separated last year, although they remain friends, and he also remains pals with his former wife, Kate, to whom he was married for 25 years. He has another £80 million mansion in Mayfair, London, and two luxurious ski chalets in Vail, Colorado, and Whistler, Canada.
Source: Elaine O'Flynn, The Daily Mail, April 26, 2015.