Ghostly gambols, such as those actually practised upon the
Parliamentary Commissioners at the old palace of Woodstock, were
for years carried on without detection by the servants at the old
house of Hinton-Ampner, Hampshire; and when it was pulled down
in the year 1797, it became very obvious how the mysteries, which
gave the house the reputation of being haunted, were managed,
for numerous secret stairs and passages, not known to exist were
brought to light which had offered peculiar facilities for the
deception. About the middle of the eighteenth century the mansion
passed out of the hands of its old possessors, the Stewkeleys,
and shortly afterwards became notorious for the unaccountable
noises which disturbed the peace of mind of the new tenants.
Not only were there violent knocks, hammerings, groanings, and
sounds of footsteps in the ceilings and walls, out strange sights
frightened the servants out of their wits. A ghostly visitant
dressed in drab would appear and disappear mysteriously, a female
figure was often seen to rush through the apartments, and other
supernatural occurrences at length became so intolerable that the
inmates of the house sought refuge in flight. Later successive
tenants fared the same. A hundred pounds reward was offered to
any who should run the ghosts to earth; but nothing resulted
from it, and after thirty years or more of hauntings, the house
was razed to the ground. Secret passages and chambers were then
brought to light; but those who had carried on the deception
for so long took the secret with them to their graves.[1]

[Footnote 1: A full account of the supernatural occurrences at
Hinton-Ampner will be found in the Life of Richard Barham.]