Hauntings

The Wraiths of Weston Hall

Also known as: Grey Lady of Weston Hall

Weston Hall, Weston, near Stafford

Hall 17th century; reports 1940s to 1990s

Weston Hall is a Jacobean house at Weston, near Stafford. A story says that when the Auxiliary Territorial Service used it in the Second World War, the women stationed there chose to sleep outside in tents rather than risk meeting the legendary Grey Lady. The wraiths are not confined to the house: a Green Lady is said to walk up the stone steps to the entrance, a White Lady rushes across the nearby road during a full moon before disappearing into a hedge, and a ghostly carriage and horses are heard pulling up on gravel, although the drive has long been paved.

The hall's early owners are poorly documented. One local history suggests it was built by Lady Dorothy Devereux, who died in 1636, which is one candidate for the Grey Lady, though that is only a guess. Francis Lycett died there in May 1792 after falling down the stairs at the Falcon Inn at Stone. By 1818 it was a neglected farmhouse, and in the early 20th century it served as a pauper asylum, with 45 female patients in August 1908. It was later converted into flats, stood derelict after a nursing home plan in 1991 was abandoned, and was restored and reopened as a hotel.

When it reopened, staff reported tables being cleared, glasses collected and ashtrays emptied by an unseen presence. The Lichfield Lore writer notes a possible link to March 1945, when a young canteen orderly was accidentally shot dead by a private in charge of German prisoners of war working at the hall, but presents this only as a thought and not as an established connection.

The colour-coded ladies are a generic pattern and the sources are newspapers and a published local ghost book that were not themselves checked here, so this is tagged as a traditional story with no named witness.

Operates as a hotel and venue.
Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open, admission charged
Location
52.838, -2.036 (Sited to the village)

Sources: Lichfield Lore, "The Wraiths of Weston Hall" [other]

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