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Haunted Mansion

rynner2

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Millionaire spooked from mansion

A millionaire businessman from Nottinghamshire has said ghosts forced him to flee his 52-room mansion.

Clifton Hall was bought by Anwar Rashid for £3.6m in 2007, but he has now handed it back to the bank.

Mr Rashid claimed that during the eight months the family lived there they were haunted by mysterious figures and found unexplained blood stains on bedclothes.

He called in paranormal investigators and said he stopped paying the mortgage as a last resort.

The 32-year-old, who is worth £25m, made his money through a chain of nursing homes and a hotel in Dubai, and owns 26 properties.

He and his wife Nabila, 25, moved into Clifton Hall - which dates back to the Norman conquest - with their daughters, aged seven, five and three, and 18-month-old son.

Mr Rashid said: "I fell for its beauty but behind the facade it is haunted...

"The ghosts didn't want us to be there and we could not fight them because we couldn't see them."

He said the paranormal experiences began on the day they moved in, ranging from tapping on the wall and unexplained voices to ghostly presences taking the forms of their children.

Mr Rashid added: "When we found red blood spots on the baby's quilt, that was the day my wife said she'd had enough. We didn't even stay that night."

Even paranormal experts were unable to solve the problem.

The family left in August 2007 and Mr Rashid, who now lives in Wollaton, stopped paying the mortgage in January. The Yorkshire Bank finally reclaimed the hall on Thursday.

He said: "When people used to tell me about ghosts, I would never believe them and would say 'whatever'.

"But I would have to tell any new owner that it was haunted having experienced it."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nott ... 628098.stm
 
A more detailed report:

Spooked businessman flees 'haunted' mansion
A millionaire businessman claims the screams of ghosts forced his family to flee their mansion.

By Alastair Jamieson
Last Updated: 5:21PM BST 21 Sep 2008

Anwar Rashid and his wife Nabila spent £3.6 million on Clifton Hall in Nottinghamshire but a year later were so desperate to get rid of it that they gave it back to their mortgage provider.

The couple moved in with their three daughters aged seven, five and three, and baby son in January 2007, and it was not long before they were spooked by the sound of screams from the mansion's corridors.

During their eight months in the former school, the couple also saw mysterious figures which took the form of their children.

Mr Rashid, 32, who is worth £25 million and made his money through a chain of nursing homes and a hotel in Dubai, compared his experience to the 2001 film The Others, starring Kidman, in which a family is forced out of their home by ghosts.

Mr Rashid said: "Clifton Hall is a beautiful property.

"I fell for its beauty but behind the facade it is haunted.

"We were like the family in The Others. The ghosts didn't want us to be there and we could not fight them because we couldn't see them."

He added: "The day we moved in we had our first experience. We sat down in the evening to relax and there was a knock on the wall. We heard this, 'Hello, is anyone there'?

"We ignored it the first time but two minutes later we heard the man's voice again. I got up to have a look but the doors were locked and the windows were closed."

He said on another occasion his wife went downstairs to make milk for the baby at 5am and she saw their eldest daughter watching television.

"She said her name but she wouldn't respond," he said.

"My wife realised something was up, so she went back upstairs to check on her and found her fast asleep in her bed.

"When we found red blood spots on the baby's quilt, that was the day my wife said she'd had enough.

We didn't even stay that night. It was the last straw, we felt that they had come to attack us. It was really emotional."

As well as having 17 bedrooms, Clifton Hall, which dates back to the Norman conquest, also has ten reception rooms, ten bathrooms, a gym and a cinema.

Mr Rashid, who also shared the house with his parents and brother, said his decision to stop paying the mortgage was the last resort. Mr Rashid moved his family out in August last year before he stopped paying the mortgage on the property to the Yorkshire Bank in January. The bank was yesterday unable to confirm the status of the property.

A website featuring Clifton Hall advertises the property as a wedding venue, but ceremonies and functions were prohibited by the local council in May last year because of a lack of planning permission.

Mr Rashid now lives in the Wollaton area of Nottingham. He said: "When people used to tell me about ghosts, I would never believe them and would say 'whatever'.

"But I would have to tell any new owner that it was haunted having experienced it. I couldn't sleep knowing that I have kept something so serious from them."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... nsion.html
 
Hmm, worth 25 million, supposedly, but has a mortgage on a property worth a fraction of that. He stops paying the mortgage. Why exactly?

Mortgage company reclaims the house and story hits papers. Needs to explain why he has taken such a loss. :spinning
 
rynner said:
He said on another occasion his wife went downstairs to make milk for the baby at 5am and she saw their eldest daughter watching television.

"She said her name but she wouldn't respond," he said.

"My wife realised something was up, so she went back upstairs to check on her and found her fast asleep in her bed.

I find this part of the "story" somewhat unbelievible, my kids never respond when I call their names, I usually then go over and touch them on the shoulder or something similar, I dont go upstairs to see if they are in bed.
 
painy2 said:
rynner said:
He said on another occasion his wife went downstairs to make milk for the baby at 5am and she saw their eldest daughter watching television.

"She said her name but she wouldn't respond," he said.

"My wife realised something was up, so she went back upstairs to check on her and found her fast asleep in her bed.

I find this part of the "story" somewhat unbelievible, my kids never respond when I call their names, I usually then go over and touch them on the shoulder or something similar, I dont go upstairs to see if they are in bed.

I agree. That's just ridiculous.

sounds like these guys have been watching The Amityville Horror for the first time.
 
JamesWhitehead said:
Hmm, worth 25 million, supposedly, but has a mortgage on a property worth a fraction of that. He stops paying the mortgage. Why exactly?

Mortgage company reclaims the house and story hits papers. Needs to explain why he has taken such a loss. :spinning

There could be many reasons why he'd taken out a mortgage. Someone with a sound business mind probably wouldn't buy an expensive property outright if they thought it was going to plummet in value.

I don't think this is the reason for the story. Maybe to raise his profile, or maybe he just genuinely got scared by something.
 
It is not sound business sense to stop paying a mortgage, you get a bad credit listing for a start and handing the property back to the lender is called repossesion and takes you further down in the crestit listings.

If he was scared off by something why did't he just put the house on the market again? Or else he could have used it as an asset to his business, or was it used to create a deliberate financial loss?
 
If he made his money in nursing homes he'll be used to big rattly old houses. For someone in the business community to say he was scared of ghosts and doing a flit is inviting a lot of ridicule when the rest of his business is still extant.
My guess is something spooked him.
 
colpepper1 said:
My guess is something spooked him.

Er, yep. :roll:

Bearing in mind the initial story - that's probably the easiest 'guess' you could ever make. :lol:
 
JackDark said:
colpepper1 said:
My guess is something spooked him.

Er, yep. :roll:

Bearing in mind the initial story - that's probably the easiest 'guess' you could ever make. :lol:

Looking at the links and reading through other forums the concensus seems to be he's pulling a flanker. I'm saying he might be genuine because of mitigating circumstances like endangering his reputation as a hard business ass locally.
Outside the immediate family we're all guessing.
 
rynner said:
Also, this:
A paranormal investigation team said the hall was the "most active" place they had ever seen.
Team leader Lee Roberts said: "It is the only place where I've ever really been scared, even in the light.
"It's just got a really eerie feeling about it."
http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/ ... ticle.html

From the Comments:

I am the team Leader of the Ashfield Paranormal investigation team aka TAPIT. We have organised an all night paranormal tour of clifton hall for the 4th October. All are welcome. For a ticket please look us up and book a ticket online on our website.

I have never known anything like this place... I to never really belived it ghosts too much but I just can't explain what happens in there. Seeing is believing and I urge anyone that is interested and can come along with a open but sensible view on it to stay the night with us. Lee Roberts, Sutton-in-Ashfield
 
Yep, "seeing is believing" is always the sensible view, I like to think. Now, time to go and take some more orb photos...
 
Some more comments...

If you were camping out there as a teenager, hearing stories of Devil-worship, then I suppose you would spend the entire night spooked. Still, some interesting stories here:

Quote:
I have lived next to clifton hall for 17 years neither me or my mates have never dared to step into the the actural mansion , you see things in the windows and experience things just from standing near the mansion, we all do believe it is haunted , i used to play in the halls gardens and wind the security guards up and the mansion has always had an eriee feeling about it and you start to feel weird just walking up to it i have no idea how they even lived there for all the people who dont believe its haunted go there you will feel what so many people have experienced,, i no of two sightings there one of the white women who jumped out of a window and little children who died when the nursery burnt down,, ask anyone who has lived in clifton for more then a few years no body seems to goe near the mansion everyone who has lived near the mansion has experienced something cerise, clifton


Quote:
I know a guy that used to work in clifton hall as a security guard and one day he was alone in a room and he heard a voice clearly say "get out of here". which he duly did and never to return. Ebow, clifton


Quote:
Contrary to articles in the paper, Mr Rashid did not leave the hall last August, he was well and truly there up until a few weeks ago, he even had friends over for a party. There is only one reason why they left, and that was because payments were not made as promised, who in their right minds would walk away from a 3.6M home only for it to be auctioned off at a fraction of the price in the current financial climate leaving a hefty balance he will have to settle with the bank. Maybe it is haunted, maybe UFO's land there as well, but he's happily been there since 2006. Is it also a coincidence that since he was refused planning permission to hold civil weddings and conferences that this so called story comes out and he¿s now living in a semi in Wollaton, I thought he was a millionaire!! Maybe some of the voices he was hearing was actually his conscience¿.or the his bank manager. A Villager, Nottingham


Quote:
I never used to believe in the paranormal whatsoever - all a load of rubbish - that was until i worked on nights as a security guard at clifton hall for a number of years before it got sold.I've heard them,seen them,talked to them,chased them.There's only one youve got to be scared of - that'ts the BLACK MONK - Pure Evil - 4ft 6" - cloak blacker than black - a hood that puts modern hoodies to shame.If this THING came towards me instead of floating by i wouldn't of hesitated to jump through the window,not bothering which arteries i severed on the way out.The grey lady,the 7ft blacksmith,the servant girl,the little boy in the graveyard these are not evil to all that decide to go ghost hunting - BEWARE the black monk.
p.s - the orbs found on photo's taken are produced by the various infra red beams emmiting from outside light sensors etc - before you get too excited.A note for the security firm there at present - ASK FOR A WAGE RISE & HAVE FUN! nigel, nottingham


Quote:
The grounds that the mansion was built on used to be used by devil worshippers a very long time ago in the late 70's - 80's possibly even earlier. The mansion used to have some stables nearby that have all been converted into accommodation now, but before the conversions took place (many years ago) you could access the loft space in the stables and you would normally find candles mirrors with the usual markings of Devil worshippers, there would be evidence of sacrifices not sure what though but blood was definitely present. Also at the back of the mansion there used to be some underground tunnels that got used by devil worshippers.

That place has always had a certain scary feeling about it. We used to go up to the mansion and grave yard at night when we was around 14 years old this was purely to get a chase from the security guys that used to protect the house and grounds, we would always be spooked by something or another and very rarely get the chance to be chased, well not by the security guy anyway! There used to be some story about the white lady that jumped from the window and killed her self, the family of the young girl bricked the window up, and was still bricked up back in the 80's now sure now though.

That place and grounds have got some strange names attached to it including what the Cliftoners would know as devils drop also the caged up ¿well¿ thing at the top of the devils drop that supposedly someone possessed by the devil jumped from and died instantly, there is also some steps not far from this site which we used to call Witches steps, can¿t remember in total how many there was but I know there was quite a few and they were quite steep too, the steps use to lead up to the back of the grounds where the tunnels and woods are, the woods are situated above the tunnels there was lots of stories about them too, actually a few of us ( well 8 of us actually) camped out in the woods we was around the age 15 (purely because of the stories) we were so scared all night I¿ll never forget it, we were to scared keep the fire going and we just couldn¿t move out our tents all night all we wanted to do was run home we had to stay there all night until we could hear people walking their dogs in the morning, but like I just said lots of ¿stories¿ have been told about that place, we¿ll just never know the truth, but for a bunch of 13 ¿ 16 year olds it was a scary / adventurous night out up at Clifton hall/grounds at the weekends. I would love to go camping up there now within the grounds, but definitely not on my own.

Maybe there is a new generation of youths/hoodies tormenting the security guys with knifes (especially after this story in the post) maybe the hoodies have alternative motives, they are just there to rob the poor security guys of their mobile phones and wallets especially after the robbing spree that they¿ve been on last Saturday ¿hoodies¿ have some respect for the poor security guys that have to protect the haunted grounds and leave them their mobile phones just in case they get to scared and need to call for back up, just remember there¿s always the next guys phone you can get, ¿you never know it might actually be a better one¿ it¿s a chance you¿ll have to take!! radcliffelady, radcliffe


Quote:
I can confirm what Radcliffe Lady says about the devil worshipping, we were also a group of kids living in Clifton and in the early eighties would spend alot of time in the vicinity of Clifton Hall and there were some underground chambers and passages in the fenced of woods on the opposite side to the Church and the walls were painted with pentagons and other symbols which sent us running liked scared rabbits. There was also talk of people being seen wearing the paraphernalia but we never came across any ghosts though. casper, the ether world


Quote:
i can remember all those storys about the hall like radcliffelady was saying also about the pond called cornel's pond where cornel clifton was meant to be seen riding round the pond late at night we also used to stay there thinking we would see something but never did, also there used to be alot of raves not far from the house lol good days when was able to stay out and scare selfs with noises and lights suzy, clifton


Quote:
My security company Sovereign Security guarded the hall for 5 years, we had many reports from officers saying they had either witnessed a sighting or heard bumps in the night. Over the period we worked there we had two Officers who point blank refused to work there, one being from Malawi who said there was great evil there ? In fact for some reason it was kept quiet but a team of paranormal investigators came to the hall and allegedly found lots of evidence of paranormal activities.

The main officer who looked after the hall at night was in fact a sceptic , this changed over the years and he has lots of evidence including pictures and documentary evidence of sightings and occurrences. Being a non believer myself I find it hard to believe however other Officers have worked there and reported sightings. Theses include a monk walking through the grounds, two young boys (apparently who were killed nearby), a woman in the graveyard falling over (when the officer went to assist there was no one there) chairs moving in one of the rooms , it goes on and on ! We deal with just facts in our business and not conjecture however it is very hard to ignore report after report from so many different people

Personally I have been around the hall in the middle of the night with just a torch, the hall seems to make noises I would associate with contraction and expansion of timbers as the temperatures change and also wind whipping through the premises.

A reason for not paying your mortgage however Hmmm I don¿t think so! Darren Brookes, West Bridgford


Quote:
In the 70s I moved to Morgan Mews with my family, at the time it was a new esstate built at the back of Clifton Hall grounds. A large white lady appeared in my living room, she had her hair done up in three layers in buns and what looked like a white ballroom gown on. She stared at me and I felt the room swirlling and felt like I was being dragged into somewhere I didnt want to go. I was frozen to the stop unable to move to get free. All of a sudden she disappeared. I will never forget that day Ive always been convinced it was someone from the Hall. I also had doors slamming and shadows crossing the room when no one was there. I was terrified and was glad when my family decided to move. Ever since that day Ive had a few encounters with ghosts but never one like that, it felt like the ghost was upset and was looking for help. I agree that seeing is believing and I did see. As anyone else seen this figure?? kev, notts


Quote:
I hope most haunted will investigate it, so i can watch it on the telly. ebow, clifton
 
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