Visit Durham's list of the county's top ghosts and legends tells the story under the heading Pickled Parson of Sedgefield, placing it at Ceddesfeld Hall. A parson died a week before his tithe payment was due, and his resourceful widow is said to have pickled him in brandy and propped him in the parsonage window so that parishioners would think him alive while she collected on his behalf.
A haunted-places directory frames the same tale as a haunting of the Old Rectory, saying the clergyman's ghost is known as the Pickled Parson, and adds that the old rectory burned down in 1791. It cannot say whether the ghost story pre-dates the fire. That page also notes there is no concrete evidence of paranormal activity.
I have not found a named parson, a date or a contemporary record. It is the kind of grim joke story told about many parishes, and I have tagged it traditional on that basis. The sources agree on the core tale and differ on the building, so the pin is at the village rather than a specific house.
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