Crookhurst Farm

Crookhurst Farm is a farmhouse built in 1740 for the Crookhurst family of Allonby, Cumbria, England. Samuel Crookhurst made the family fortunes from agriculture, most notably the cultivation of livestock for sale at farmers markets throughout the 17th century. After marrying his second wife Catherine Footer, Samuel commissioned the construction of a farmhouse on the site at Allonby. The current farmhouse is a replica of the one that stood during the middle of the 17th century.

Farm life 1745–1762

Local birthing records show the couple raised 7 children during their time at the farm. 5 of them within the first 6 years of moving to Crookhurst, two of the children are thought to have succumb to tuberculosis within a few months of being born. It is reported the family enjoyed new found success by selling milk, cheese and meat to the now thriving communities in the surrounding areas, most notably at Allonby Market. The Croockhursts employed a nanny to care for the children during the long working days on the farm. Not much was reported of her, even her name is removed from the official list of residents at the farm. It was however not until the Winter of 1762 that her existence became of high concern to the people in the area.

Witchcraft and the fire of winter 1762

During the winter of 1762 a number of residents fell violently ill and died. The reason behind such illness was traced back to food produced at the farm. Local cattle began to suffer from bizarre illnesses, one of them was reported to have grown a face that resembled a devil on its hide. Others let out screams during the night that sounded human. This only compounded the rumours that the nanny was practicing witchcraft at farmhouse during the evenings. An angry mob stormed the farm and burnt two of the 3 buildings, including the children’s bedrooms and nursery. In the aftermath of the fire 5 bodies were found, all of them children. Although the mob extensively searched the ruins, they were unable to locate any trace of the nanny or her body. It was reported that 2 weeks after the incident stone circles formed over the ground where the children had been found, although the stones had been removed on a number of occasions they kept forming over exactly the same spot upon the burnt ground.

Hauntings from 1770 to 2005

Samuel, desperate to regain the trust of the village, declared to know nothing about the witchcraft the nanny had been performing. He rebuilt the farmhouse to its current state, it was completed 3 years prior to his own death. This is when the really strange things started to happen. In 1820 a family reported seeing a strange figure appear in the upstairs window one summers evening, only for the window to unexpectedly smash outwards. Upon further inspection the ceiling of the room was covered in scrawlings made from charcoal. Some of the words included the name Catherine Footer and two of the dead children from the fire of 1762. Another incident happened during the same year when a groundskeeper claimed to have seen plumes of smoke coming from an outhouse barn, he claimed as he got closer to the outhouse door he could hear the screams of children. He opened the door, only to find a mound of stones in the middle of the barn. In 1820 the building was sold and the land planned for further housing development. A Priest was summoned to exorcise the land on a recommendation from the Church of England. Local farmers reported mass loss of life within their wildstock during this period with one even describing a ‘gargoyle’ like face appearing on a stillborn lamb. No records have been found on the findings of the Priest.

A number of incidents have been reported during the 1950s when the farm was repurchased by the English Tourism Council. Visitors often reported sightings of Victorian boy playing on the top of the stairwell, he would walk through a wall when approached and vanish. Once incident did take a more sinister turn when a glass vase was hurled across the downstairs kitchen during a seance. The most recent reported case was during the May bank holiday weekend of 2005 when a group of hikers reported seeing an old nanny outside the house holding a flaming torch, screaming she “planned to revenge her attackers by burning down the house once and for all so she could be free”. The farm is said to the 16th most haunted building around the Lake District

TV appearances

Most Haunted - Episode 3 series 5 Strange but True - Episode 12 series 1

References

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