While staying at the Lion Hotel in the 1800s a gentleman was found to have died in his room. He was taken to the church where there was held a short service before he was buried. Screams were heard by the grave digger late that night but ignored. It was only when the screams became unbearable that the grave and coffin were opened - to reveal that the man had been buried alive, dying within his coffin. Scratch marks were found on the coffin lid and his fingers were worn to the bone.
The Puritan of Moreton Corbet Castle |
The house, built on the site of an earlier castle, was begun in the late 15th Century by Sir Robert Corbet who brought the plans back from Italy but died before its completion.
 | The spooky remains of Moreton Corbet Castle |
He was succeeded by Sir Vincent Corbet who continued the work during the reign of King James I - when persecuting Puritans was considered the thing to do.
Although Sir Vincent was not a puritan he did not like to see them treated harshly and so he took in a puritan called Paul Holmyard who was his neighbour.
But as the puritan's ideals became more fanatical he told Holmyard to go from his property as he felt he could no longer protect him.
Holmyard survived for some time in the local woods by eating whatever he could. Eventually he risked coming into the open and made his way to Morton Corbet where, upon his meeting Sir Vincent, he cursed the family.
"Woe unto thee, hard hearted man, the lord has hardened thy heart as he hardened the heart of the Pharaoh, to thine own destruction. "Rejoice not in thy riches, not in monuments of thy pride, for neither thou, nor thy children, nor thy children's children shall inhabit these halls. "They shall be given up to desolation; snakes, vipers and unclean beasts shall make it their refuge, and thy home shall be full of doleful creatures.."
The curse was fulfilled - at least insofar as Vincent and his son, Andrew, never lived at the house because they were so afraid of the curse. Eventually . On a moonlit night the bedraggled figure of Paul Holmyard stalks the empty walls making sure no building goes on.
The haunted hotel in Market Drayton |
During the nineteenth century a young chambermaid fell in love with a handsome traveller who often stayed at the hotel. She succumbed to his charm and, in her innocence, believed his promises of marriage.
When she awoke the next day he had left the hotel, never to be seen or heard of again. This broke the girl's heart. The situation for the young chambermaid took a turn for the worse, when a few weeks later she found she was expecting his child.
Taking herself up to room seven (the room of her lover) she committed suicide by hanging herself by the neck from a beam. The hook remains in the beam to this day. Since that day room seven has been visited by the chambermaid at night whenever bachelors sleep there.
Whisking the quilt from the bed or standing over them, she smiles before vanishing. Is this her spirited way of taking revenge on men?
On a brighter note it would seem that should you take her fancy your bottom is pinched and a light kiss is felt on the lips. Because of her poverty in her short life she now collects various items of jewellery including rings which disappeared for months before reappearing in the most obvious place. Her footsteps have often been heard in the ballroom and on the back stairs. | 
