Ghostly Goings On
By 1756, the Papillon family had established themselves at a new countryseat at Acrise Park in Kent. Eventually, in 1764, Pamp’s son sold Papillon Hall to a Mr. William Stevens. The house subsequently changed hands a number of times without giving any sign of housing any restless spirits. In 1866, the Bosworths (the owners at the time), decided to sell the Hall. The buyer, a Lord Hopeton, took on the land and the house. However, the contents of Papillion House including the brocade slippers- were passed on to one of the Bosworth daughter’s.
Not long after they moved into Papillon Hall, Hopeton and his household found themselves plagued by inexplicable knockings and bangs from around the hall. Careless accidents abounded. The noisy phenomena continued to increase until it reached a terrifying peak one December night. The terrified household was raised from their beds by the sound of furniture being thrown violently about the drawing room. They huddled together in the hall’s lobby until finally, someone plucked up the courage to investigate. However, when the brave volunteer entered the drawing room, not a stick of furniture was out of place.
Lord Hopeton decided to consult the local rector. Finally, he learned the legend of the slippers and painting- and quickly set about restoring the items to Papillon Hall. The nocturnal disruption immediately ceased. Hopeton remained at the Hall until 1872 when he sold it to a Mr. Thomas Halford. He was careful to inform his buyer of the curse. However, Halford had no truck with superstition. He regarded the slippers as antique curiosities and so jumped at the chance to send them to the Paris Exhibition of 1878. He quickly changed his mind and tried to retrieve the slippers only to find as registered exhibits; they had to stay in Paris for the yearlong duration of the Exhibition.
The Halfords eventually moved out of Papillon Hall until the slippers finally came home- and then sold the property. The new owner, C W Walker, decided to take no chances with the curse. He had an iron safe built over The Hall’s fireplace- and secured the shoes within it, therefore ensuring his tenure at Papillon Hall was a peaceful one. However, in 1903 the shoes were removed again when the new owner Captain Belville began to renovate the house. This time, a falling brick killed a builder and Belville, and his wife narrowly escaped death in a pony and trap accident. The slippers were quickly returned to the house and placed in a glass vase on a side table in the parlor.
During the Second World War, Papillon hall played host to the US 82ndAirborne Division. After learning of the legend of the slippers, a group of soldiers decided to test out the curse. So a group of them decided to take one of the slippers out of the house. Within weeks the ringleader was dead and the others, fearful of the same fate, returned the missing slipper. However, just two weeks later, two other soldiers repeated the joke. They both died during the Nijmegen airdrop of 1944-. As for the missing slipper, this time it mysteriously made its own way back to the hall.