Papillion Hall and its Ghosts Today
By 1950, Mrs. Barbara Papillon decided to visit Papillon Hall. She found “the house was in a parlous condition, weeds growing up to the lower windows, and doors open and swinging on broken hinges.”Papillon Hall had been deserted since the war. No one wanted to buy it, and so it was scheduled for demolition. As Mrs. Papillon explored the sad remains’ of her husband’s ancestral home, she came across one of the cursed slippers, sitting in the now open safe. She took the shoe home with the permission of the head of the demolition company. The second shoe later joined it when it was found hidden under a floorboard. Both now reside in Market Harborough Museum.
So who exactly was the Ghost of Papillion Hall? Most people favor the mysterious Spanish lady who was kept hidden by the mesmerist Pamps. Based on the links between the hauntings and the brocade slippers, Pamp’s mistress does seem like a likely candidate- especially as during the in 1903 renovations, a female skeleton was found walled up in a small room in the very attic the lady was supposed to occupy.
However, it could be that the Spanish Lady does not haunt alone. For the ghost of Pamps himself has been sighted. One night, one of the servant girls claimed to have seen a male spirit materialize at the end of her bed. She identified it as the strange man in the portrait in the hall below. On more than one occasion, residents and guests at the house reported seeing misty columns near the picture, which formed themselves into the semblance of Pamps himself. Could it be, for whatever reason, that Pamps returned to his former home to rejoin his former mistress?
Misty ghosts aside, the portrait had an unsettling effect on many residents, some of whom felt it exuded an evil air. Finally, members of the Belville family decided to have the painting removed. So they contacted Pelham Rawston Papillon and asked him to remove the picture to his home in Hastings. Pelham agreed and sent two of his servants to collect the portrait. However, as soon as the painting arrived in Hastings, one of the servants had an accident and died.
In 1988, local man David Allen decided to visit the site of the hall. Although the house was gone, the garden and outbuildings remained. A farm now occupied the land and the owners, the Hughes family, told Allen and later a team of reporters from BBC Radio Leicester that a presence remained. One of Mrs. Hughes’s sons spoke of a feeling of unease and of being watched when he worked in the fields. Strange noises had also been heard around the stable block. So the news team decided to do an outside broadcast. After a segment of their tape mysteriously wiped itself clean, they rerecorded – only to find when the tape played back the sound of a child crying.
Papillon Hall may be gone. However, the mystery of its curse grows deeper.
Where Do we get this stuff? Here are our sources:
Ghosts and hauntings in and around Leicestershire, Andrew James Wright, Heart of Albion Press, 2006.
Papillon Hall, Market Harborough, England, Parks and Gardens UK
Strange Legends of Papillon Hall, The Illustrated Leicester Chronicle – September 11, 1948.
The History of the Mysterious Papillon Hall, Col. Pen Lloyd, Leicestershire Local History Council
Old Pamp and the Slippers of Papillon Hall, David Allen, Lubenham.Org.uk
Report on the History of the Garden at Papillon Hall, Leicester and Rutland Garden Trust, 2013