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| Ghosts Archive 1999 |
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 Ghosts news, views, gallery and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Longleat House Sign of an Angel Bewley Court Red Lion Westbury Pool Maud Cunnington Wardour Castle Manor House Hotel Devizes Castle Kings Arms Malmesbury Abbey Lacock Abbey Avebury Manor Littlecote Manor Lydiard House Gallery Postcards Wallpaper Links |
First Published September 2 1999 Pub gets shakes, rattles and a drum roll THE ghost of a murdered drummer boy has played his way into the lives of the new landlords of a Market Lavington pub. Pat and Terry Cook recently moved into The Drummer Boy pub where a ghostly drummer is said to wander the rooms. Their ghostly encounters come after the Gazette told how chef Sandra Sandell met up with a spook in her kitchen at the Lansdowne Strand Hotel in Calne. Mrs Cook, 48, had her first encounter with the drummer boy a couple of weeks after she and Terry had moved in. She said: 'I was in bed one evening when I was woken up about 2am by a drumming sound. I didn't bother waking up Terry because I didn't think he would be able to hear it. 'I could hear the drums playing a tune and I could definitely sense something. It went on for about 40 minutes.' Mrs Cook said someone from the village had told her the legend of the little drummer boy just a few days before she heard him playing. The legend is written and framed behind the bar. It says: 'Many years ago Sergeant Marchant was sent by the Colonel of the King's 43rd on Salisbury Plain with the regiment pay. He was accompanied by a drummer boy Andrew Brand. Thinking to appropriate the money, Marchant murdered him.' Marchant escaped to a port but was forced to work on a ship. After years abroad he returned to the spot where the boy was murdered and discovered his skeleton. The legend continues: 'Just then a fearsome thunderstorm broke and he confessed to the sailors who were with him. He was taken before the mayor of Devizes, found guilty and taken to the scene of the crime where he was gibbeted.' Mrs Cook is hoping to find out more about the legend. She said: 'Some of the local people have told me the boy was about 15-years-old and he used to come into the pub, which is why he haunts here.' She is also looking forward to meeting more villagers. She said: 'I am from Devizes originally and Terry is from Chippenham so it's a bit of a homecoming for us, moving in to the pub. I am really looking forward to getting to know the people in the village and finding out more about the little drummer boy.' The couple's German Shepherd Bonny has also decided she is comfortable in her new home despite sharing it with the ghost. Mrs Cook 48, said: 'Since we came to the Drummer Boy a month ago Bonny has been a completely different dog. 'She is absolutely fine with the customers, she doesn't bark as much as she used to, she is just far more relaxed.' Bonny was not as comfortable at her old home, The Sportsman at Bath, which Mrs Cook says was also haunted. She said: 'I was in the pub late one night down in the kitchen when I saw lots of movement and patterns, like lots of people seeming to move around all at once.' After speaking to another landlord, Mrs Cook was told the Sportsman was built on tunnels where prisoners of war were kept. She believes it was the ghosts of the prisoners she saw. Back to 1999 index |
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