Woburn Abbey
WOBURN, BEDFORDSHIRE



Woburn, originally a Cistercian abbey, has been the home of the Dukes of Bedford for over three centuries. The house was rebuilt by Inigo Jones in the mid-18th century and further additions were added a century later. Today Woburn is considered to have one of the most important art collections in the world as well as collections of English and French furniture. Various paranormal phenomena has been attributed to Woburn over the years, the most recent of which is thought to be the ghost of a young man who was half strangled and later drowned in the lake. Although he cannot be seen, doors open and close for him as he walks through rooms. Witnesses claim that the door handle would turn and then open, as if a person was coming through. In the time it would take for a person to cross the room, the door at the other end would open and close again for this invisible figure. The ghost of a monk is also said to haunt the Abbey and has been seen most often in the crypt - the place where monks were buried. He is thought to be the abbot of Woburn who was hanged when he opposed Henry VIII's marriage to Anne Boleyn. The summerhouse is haunted by the Duke's grandmother. She died at the age of 64 when the plane that she was flying mysteriously crashed on the east coast. It is not her ghost that haunts the place but an overwhelming feeling of sadness, as if her unhappy spirit lives on.