Worcester People and Places reprints the story. Charlton House was formerly the property of the Dineley family and was where the bitter feud began between Sir John Dineley Goodere and his brother Captain Samuel Goodere. It ended when Sir John was strangled aboard Samuel's ship, the Ruby, in Bristol Roads in 1741.
Tradition says Sir John's ghost frequented the house until something had to be done. Twelve clergymen were invited, and when the ghost appeared each began chanting and praying on his own. The ghost mastered each of them in turn until the twelfth was able to overcome the spectre and lay it in a barrel of wine, securely bricked up in a corner of the cellar. About 1900 the cellar was thoroughly overhauled and enlarged, but the ghost has never been heard of since.
The murder is well documented. Sir John was killed on 17 January 1741, and Samuel and two accomplices were hanged at Bristol on 15 April 1741; Samuel Foote, Sir John's nephew, wrote memoirs of the case. The ghost story is much later and carries the standard motif of twelve parsons laying a spirit, which Allies prints for other Worcestershire ghosts. The house position is only approximate.
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