Nottinghamshire’s Clifton Hall

Clifton Hall was built in the 11^th century. It was later named after the Clifton family that lived there for over 700 years, starting in the 13^th century.

Hall at time Clifton family lived there.

The hall has stood for over 1000 years.

Many feel this house retains much of the Clifton’s family’s energy-- both their joys and sorrows. People point to this as an explanation for why the home has been haunted for many years.

In 1958 the family sold Clifton Hall. It was then used by a series of schools. One of these—Clifton Grammar School that occupied the hall in the 1970s experienced a variety of paranormal activity.

Students and staff heard a baby crying behind a bricked up or sealed room in the house. Others have claimed to see a woman pacing back and forth through a window in this room.

The cause behind this haunting is said to be a disappointed maid who lived in the hall hundreds of years before the school existed.

A teenage maid who had a child by the lord of the manor found herself jilted. It is said she took her revenge by taking this baby and jumping out of a third story window, killing herself and the baby.

Students who attended this school often reported seeing ghostly apparitions in the house.

They experienced something even more disturbing when they started to see “doppelgangers” or entities that took on their appearance. They would encounter these entities that looked just like them as they walked through the halls of the house.

More proof the hall is haunted is the activity the Rashid family experienced after they bought the manor house * in 2007.

Clifton Hall today.

* The house has 17 bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, 10 reception rooms, a private gym and a cinema.

Anwar Rashid at the time he bought Clifton Hall was warned the house was haunted but he ignored these warnings not believing in ghosts.

From the very first night the family—which included Anwar's wife Nabila and their four children-- spent in the home they realized something strange was going on.

Anwar Rashid

Anwar and Nabila heard a knocking sound and then a male voice said, “Is anyone there?” When these sounds repeated Anwar went to discover who was at their door late at night only to find no one.

After this, his wife saw who she thought was her oldest daughter watching the television one night. She called out her name but did not receive a response. She got a funny feeling and left the room-- only to discover that her daughter was in her bedroom asleep.

The activity after this increased in intensity. The family saw dark forms and often heard a young child and other voices talking.

Friends and family members of the Rashid family started to refuse to visit Clifton Hall stating the activity scared them.

At one point Anwar brought in a paranormal team hoping they could get rid of the ghosts. This team experienced some of the activity and proclaimed it some of the most scary they had ever experienced but they didn’t manage to banish the ghosts.

In August of 2007, just eight months after the Rashid family moved in they experienced something they considered to be “the last straw.”

Random marks and stains that appeared to be splattered blood started to appear around the house. When one of these splatters appeared on a quilt that belonged to the family’s 18-month old son—the family left the hall.

Several months later Anwar defaulted on the home loan and the bank took back the property—this was not because he could not afford it.

Anwar Rashid stated afterwards that it became obvious to him that the ghosts did not want him and his family in the home—and they got their wish.