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Psychic hunt for Lady Mabel
One of the country's top mediums has pledged to try and communicate with Wigan's number one spook.
For years, Haigh Hall has been famous for its own White Lady, Lady Mabel, who is said to wander the grounds and corridors.
Now TV psychic and medium Joe Power says he'll try and "speak" with the 700-year-old spectre at the end of his clairvoyant night at Haigh Hall on Tuesday.
Joe, who realised he could hear and talk to the dead after the death of his brother eight years ago, has quickly risen to become one of the most respected in the business. He even helps police find bodies.
The 40-year-old, from Ormskirk, said: "At the end of the night we will investigate the tale of Lady Mabel and maybe walk round the grounds.
"During the night we'll be getting in touch with people's relatives. It's quite a spooky night, you never know what's going to happen or which ghosts will turn up.
"I'm looking forward to the night. I always enjoy visiting Wigan. It's a straightforward town with genuine people."
In 1295 it is believed that William de Bradshaigh acquired Haigh Manor by marrying Mabel le Norreys. According to one account of the legend, Bradshaigh returned from the wars in Scotland, promptly killed his wife's new husband, and made her walk barefoot and dressed in sackcloth from Wigan to their home at Haigh Hall once a week for the rest of her life.
"It is still rumoured that the sightings of a lady in white in the hall's grounds is Mabel walking backwards and forwards from nearby Mab's Cross. Within the hall she is seen in "Mab's Gallery" which has been the scene of various noises and poltergeist activity.
Local author and founder of Wigan Area Society for Paranormal Study and Investigation (Was Psi), Ian Hawthorne, has been researching ghostly goings-on at Haigh for the last 15 years and is yet to be convinced of the existence of "Lady Mabel's" ghost.
He believes the story has grown from a single line written in 1829 in a book called Traditions of Lancashire by George Roby which makes reference to "Lady Mabel's spirit had been too sorely wounded to recover its tranquillity."
He said: "The story of Haigh Hall's Lady Mabel I believe comes from that one line. We can find no eye witness accounts of Lady Mabel being seen.
"Despite all this she is regarded as being Wigan's White Lady and haunts the Plantations."
To contact Was Psi call Wigan 214 572. Joe Powers Clairvoyance Night takes places on Tuesday, September 25, at 8pm. Tickets cost 10.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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