MEDIEVAL CHURCH ORGANIST TELLS OF GHOSTLY ACTIVITY

St Botolph's Church

St Botolph's Church is a parish church in the Church of England in Boston, Lincolnshire. It is famous for its extraordinarily tall tower, known as the Boston Stump.

David Wright played the organ at the Stump for 50 years – from 1957 to 2007 – and for the first 33 years he didn’t hear so much as a whisper, despite often working alone in the church at night.

But in 1990 he claims to have experienced something which left him feeling ‘petrified’.

David, 78, of Fishtoft Road, said: “From time to time I used to record music to be put on cassette and sold in the Stump shop.

“While producing a recording in 1990 to celebrate the organ having been restored, there was a very spooky occurrence.

“I had to do recordings in the church late at night so there wasn’t interference from traffic noise outside. It was around midnight and the equipment was situated in the choir stalls when I did a take. I was sitting in the dark facing south and looking at the choir stalls when I listened back to the recording on headphones

“Suddenly I heard these footsteps approaching and getting closer and closer.

“I thought I was about to be murdered and quickly took off the headphones.”

It was at this point that David said he realised the sounds of the footsteps were on the tape itself.

“I was horrified,” he said. “Something paranormal must have approached the microphone while I was playing – but there was no-one in the church with me at the time.”

In the days that followed, David listened to the recording and heard the footsteps again; but when he subsequently tried to play it to someone else, the footsteps had mysteriously disappeared.

“I can never prove this now,” he said, “All I know, is that it did happen and I was petrified at the time.”

He added: “Whether it was the Grey Lady, I don’t know – it could have been a woman’s footsteps.”


Ghostly History:

The winds which whip and whistle around the Stump are said to be caused by the Devil. He was once cornered by St Botolph; the saint preached so intensely, the only thing the Devil could do was huff and puff, and the gasps have not yet subsided.

In another ghost story, The `Grey Lady` ghost of a woman  named Sarah is seen to leap from the tower of the church holding a young child, vanishing just before hitting the ground.

Another variation has Sarah dying of the plague - she was blamed for bringing the black death in the town by her adulterous ways, and her cries of 'pestilence!' can still be heard as she is running towards the church.

Sources: Chris Halton/ BostonStandard