The Terrible Monk of Wessex Manor: Anatomy of a Haunting

Final installment in our four-part series exploring the mysterious world of ghost photography

Throughout our exploration of ghost photography, we've examined fraudulent spirit photographs, accidental apparitions captured on film, and Jessie Adelaide Middleton's remarkable collection of ghost images from the early 20th century. For our final installment, we delve into what might be the most thoroughly documented case in Middleton's works: the chilling haunting of "Wessex Manor" and its infamous ghostly monk, captured in one of the most unsettling paranormal photographs ever published.

The Photograph That Haunts Two Books

In The White Ghost Book (1916) [Available at Amazon], Jessie Adelaide Middleton included a startling photograph showing what she described as "the ghost of a gigantic monk." She noted the entity appeared "tall and grim, with a most malignant face" with "the panelling of the room plainly visible through him." This spectral image, taken at an old manor house in western England, stands as the visual evidence of an extraordinary haunting she had previously documented in The Grey Ghost Book (1912).

The Actual Murderous Monk Photograph

What makes this case particularly remarkable is the meticulous investigation conducted by a dental surgeon named Clifton-Walker, whose detailed account appears in The Grey Ghost Book [Available at Amazon]. Unlike many paranormal reports of the era that relied on secondhand accounts or brief encounters, Clifton-Walker's investigation spanned multiple visits, employed scientific methods, and involved multiple credible witnesses. The resulting documentation provides a rare window into how early 20th-century investigators approached the paranormal.

The Story Begins: Rumors of a Haunted Manor

Clifton-Walker's involvement with the case began while he was a medical student at "Wessex University" (a pseudonym, like the manor's name, used to protect the family's identity). Through a mutual interest in music, he befriended an architect who shared with him the strange history of Wessex Manor and its malevolent haunting.

An illustration imagining how "Wessex Manor" might look

The architect had learned of the haunting while working with a Catholic canon who had asked him to survey the manor to check for secret passages or spaces that might explain the phenomena reported there. The canon himself had been called to the manor to perform an exorcism after the family experienced terrifying encounters with the entity.

A Family Terrorized

The young squire of the manor had written urgently to his family's spiritual advisor:

"We cannot stand it any longer. You remember your experience in the Arch Room? Well, only last night I was dressing for dinner, and, while adjusting my tie in the glass, I saw reflected the ghost, standing behind me in the doorway. Plucking up courage, I turned and said, 'What are you wanting here?' It replied, 'It is my home!' and disappeared."

The letter continued with accounts of the squire's sailor brother encountering the ghost on the stairs and their mother feeling "its cold, deathly grip on her wrist" in one of the corridors. The family had fled to their London house, with the squire vowing never to sleep at the manor again.

Failed Exorcisms and Skeptics Converted

When the canon responded to the family's plea for help, he was placed in the "Arch Room," the manor's guest chamber where appearances were most frequent. Though his first night passed uneventfully, he woke around 2 AM on the second night to find "the most diabolical face peering at me, at the side of the bed. It was the Monk!"

Rather than departing when commanded in God's name, the entity struck the canon in the chest, causing him to faint. After this harrowing experience, the bishop sent Father Troake, who had previous experience with exorcisms. However, upon encountering the monk, Father Troake "completely lost nerve, and, turning his face to the wall, prayed that it might depart."

Even skeptics who came to debunk the haunting left as believers. The squire's brother-in-law, a solicitor, stayed to discover "what all this nonsense was about." During the night, he witnessed one of his nephews "being carried across the room by invisible means." Oxford students who came to see the ghost spent one night upstairs before retreating to makeshift beds before the kitchen fire for the remainder of their stay.

A lawyer's sister who took the manor, declaring "she wasn't going to let a ghost keep her from enjoying such a fine old place," lasted only briefly before departing. When asked what she had seen, she admitted to encountering something like "A Pig's Face in a Pillow Case."

The Scientific Investigation Begins

Years after these events, Clifton-Walker received a letter from Colonel H. Anselm, a retired military officer interested in investigating the now-abandoned manor. Unable to secure formal permission to enter the property, the two devised another means of access (which Clifton-Walker discreetly leaves unexplained).

For several nights, they traveled four miles from the nearest train station, had supper at the village inn, and then entered "the great and silent wood, in the depths of which, about half-a-mile from the road, lies the Manor, a fine old Elizabethan structure, low and rambling, with a tiny chapel-of-ease in its own grounds."

They focused their investigation on the Arch Room, where most apparitions had been reported. Despite keeping vigil for several nights, they encountered only "queer noises—probably rats—and had uncanny qualms." Concluding they might not be sensitive enough to perceive the entity, they decided to try a different approach.

The Photographic Evidence

Knowing that "certain rays will affect a plate, though invisible," Clifton-Walker brought a camera on their next visit. He took photographs at various times—twilight, dawn, and by flashlight. On developing one taken at approximately 8:30 PM on July 27th, 1909 (with a three-minute exposure), they made a startling discovery: "an extraordinary face was seen, partly materialised" in the Arch Room. Clifton-Walker noted that "the panelling of the cupboard and part of the pillar were clearly visible through the thing."

Illustration of Clifton-Walker taking the famous ghost photograph

Colonel Anselm sent a copy of the photograph to Mrs. Asper, the manor's owner. Her son, the young squire who had fled the property, immediately confirmed by telegram: "The face in the photo is undoubtedly the one I have seen." In a subsequent letter, he elaborated:

"The photograph is most interesting. It is certainly the Monk. I can swear to the face, which appears just as I have seen it—sometimes the face only, often half-formed, but always the same—malicious and terrible. The extraordinary height is quite correct."

The photograph received additional validation when Mrs. Hurst, upon seeing it at another house, exclaimed: "Isn't that the Monk who haunts the Aspers' place? I know it is. Forty years ago I was staying there with the old Squire, and I met the ghost on the stairs, telling his beads. I can never forget that awful face."

The Final Encounter

Emboldened by their photographic evidence, Clifton-Walker returned to the manor with a literary man named O'Rourke and a footman who "didn't believe in ghosts." They also brought an Irish terrier as an additional witness, knowing animals often react strongly to paranormal phenomena.

Around midnight, they observed "a hazy, luminous body" that "hovered near the middle of the wall behind, where the bed used to be." The dog immediately reacted, whining and shivering with terror. The light shifted to another wall before disappearing.

At approximately 2:45 AM, they experienced "a cold, deathly breeze across the forehead; not a movement of the air, not nerves, but a peculiar, uncanny cold." Then came the sound of the entity's approach—a dull, heavy thud from downstairs, followed by the sense of "the awful thing slowly coming, coming." They heard it reach the top of the stairs, advance along the corridor, enter the adjoining room, and finally appear through the doorway.

Jessie A. Middleton tells the tale of the "murderous monk" in The Grey Ghost Book [Available at Amazon]

The monk stood before them for what seemed like an eternity. The dog, which "would have barked at a human intruder, jumped up on to me, a stranger, and hid its trembling head under my coat." Finally, O'Rourke found his voice and asked, "Can you communicate?" Receiving no response, he asked, "Will you rap the floor?" Again, silence.

Then Clifton-Walker asked directly, "Are you a demon?" Immediately came "two smart, snappy taps under my chair, and the Monk disappeared."

A week later, O'Rourke brought three other investigators to the manor. One man, who attempted to sleep in the entrance hall, was "chased up [the stairs] by the ghost." The others found him "all of a heap in the corridor, outside the door, in a swoon." The ghost brushed past them and entered the room, with the witnesses feeling "the rustling of its garments" and catching a glimpse of its legs, which one described as looking "like the trunks of trees."

This appearance, occurring around 3 AM on September 25th, 1909, was apparently the monk's final manifestation. Clifton-Walker noted that a psychic later examined the photograph and discovered "what may very likely be the reason of the haunting, in the shape of certain knowledge, important to the family, which had lain hidden for generations." He concluded, "I believe the ghost of the Wessex Monk has been 'laid.'"

The Historical Context

According to local legend, the manor was already haunted when Colonel Thomas Asper purchased it in 1611. The property had previously belonged to a knight whose eldest son had become a monk but later returned to claim his inheritance from his younger brother. In the ensuing confrontation, "the Monk chased the other up the stairs, murdering him in the Arch Room, with a dagger, on the spot where the bloodstains may still be seen."

The monk then occupied the house, "abandoning himself to the orgies that are supposed to be the cause of his now being 'earth-bound.'" Servants occupying rooms along the corridor reportedly heard the murder being re-enacted periodically, complete with "the shrieks of the murdered man pealing out of the Arch Room."

Analysis of the Wessex Manor Case

What makes the Wessex Manor case so remarkable is the convergence of multiple lines of evidence:

1. Multiple credible witnesses observed the entity over decades, including clergy, military officers, aristocracy, and skeptics who became believers.
2. Consistent descriptions of the apparition across different witnesses who had no contact with each other.
3. Physical effects reported by witnesses, including the cold grip on Mrs. Asper's wrist, the blow to the canon's chest, and the nephew being carried across the room.
4. Animal reactions to the presence, particularly the Irish terrier's terror during the final investigation.
5. Photographic evidence that matched witnesses' descriptions and was immediately recognized by people familiar with the haunting.
6. Historical context that provides a plausible narrative for why such an entity might be bound to the location.

Modern paranormal investigators would recognize these elements as constituting a remarkably strong case. While each individual piece of evidence might be explained away—the witnesses were mistaken, the dog reacted to something else, the photograph captured a natural anomaly—the totality of evidence presents a compelling argument for genuine paranormal activity.

The Legacy of Middleton's Documentation

Jessie Adelaide Middleton's preservation of the Wessex Manor case in both The Grey Ghost Book and The White Ghost Book, complete with the remarkable photograph of the monk, represents an invaluable contribution to paranormal research. Unlike many ghost stories that rely on vague secondhand accounts or single witness testimonies, the Wessex Manor haunting was systematically investigated and documented.

Middleton's approach—preserving detailed firsthand accounts, emphasizing the credibility of witnesses, and presenting photographic evidence—was ahead of her time. Modern paranormal investigation, with its emphasis on documentation, multiple witnesses, and technological evidence, follows many of the same principles employed by Clifton-Walker and preserved by Middleton.

By examining historical cases like the Terrible Monk of Wessex Manor, we gain insight not only into the persistence of paranormal phenomena across centuries but also into the evolution of how we investigate and understand these mysteries. Whether one approaches such accounts with skepticism or belief, they undeniably form an important chapter in our cultural and intellectual history.

As we conclude our exploration of ghost photography, from fraudulent Victorian spirit photographs to potentially genuine captures of the unexplained, cases like the Wessex Manor haunting remind us that some mysteries resist easy explanation. They continue to challenge our understanding of reality and perception, inviting us to keep looking—both through the lens of a camera and beyond it—for evidence of what might exist beyond our ordinary senses.

Join the Conversation

Do you think the photographic evidence of the "murderous monk" combined with multiple witness accounts makes this case genuinely paranormal, or could there be a rational explanation for all the phenomena reported?

If you had the opportunity to spend a night investigating a reportedly haunted location like Wessex Manor with a camera, would you be brave enough to do it, or would the potential consequences be too frightening?

---

This concludes our four-part series on ghost photography. For readers interested in exploring Jessie Adelaide Middleton's work in greater depth, her books have been republished in annotated editions that provide historical context and explanations for modern readers. The BookBrains Illustrated and Annotated Editions of The Grey Ghost Book and The White Ghost Book feature hundreds of annotations and dozens of illustrations that bring these fascinating accounts to life for contemporary audiences.

Stay connected! Follow us on Facebook and Pinterest for blog updates!

Follow us on Amazon for new book releases!