July 15, 2025 • 29 mins
We're back in Wales, in an old, haunted manor house used as a care home. We love a classic ghost story. As always, stick around after the story for a spectral analysis from the Madame about this haunting and learn a little spooky history and folklore about the fate of manor houses in the UK in the wake of World War I. Thank you to OMGrealUFO for granting permission to read their story. Remember, Strangers & Strangelings & Strangecetera: you can feel afraid and not be in danger.
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Produced by: Madame Strangeways
♫ Theme Music by: Marina Ryan at marinamakes.co
Cover artwork by: Andrea Giselle Roldán at @cultofteddy
Every true strange story narrated in this podcast was read with permission from the original author.
Follow the podcast and explore strange, spooky and true paranormal stories as narrated by Madame Strangeways.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Oh, I didn't hear you come in. What's that?
You've got a true strange story of the unexplained you'd like to
hear narrated on the show. E-mail it to me,
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. Welcome strangers, strangelings
and strange Kateers to Madam Strangeways, where I, Madam
(00:25):
Strangeways, narrate your true strange stories of the
unexplained. And as always, solicited or not,
usually not. I share my strange thoughts and
observations and drag you down aslew of strange rabbit holes,
kicking and screaming if absolutely necessary.
Today I've got one new spine tingling true strange story for
(00:50):
you. But first, the strangest of
shout outs to my Patreon patrons, TJ, Hotter, G, Mad
Music, Ted, Keith and Tori, thank you so much to my Feral
Fiendish 5 for supporting the show.
Do you want to hear your name atthe beginning of every episode?
Or how about an exclusive sticker or even access to Madam
(01:14):
Strange Notes KA Strange bonus content?
Join the Patreon today at madamstrangeways.com or
patreon.com/madam Strange Ways. And now on to our true Strange
story here on Madam Strange Ways.
(01:57):
The boy at the bottom of the stairs by OMG Real UFO.
It seemed like a lot of you liked my post about the
Whispering Girl. I don't have any other
paranormal experiences myself, but my Auntie Linda does and
honestly it's one of the scariest true stories I've
(02:21):
heard. So my Auntie Linda is a very
straight talking woman. She never believed in ghosts or
the paranormal until she experienced something.
So this encounter was about 20 years ago.
My Auntie Linda was working at acare home in Wales.
(02:42):
Now the care home is really old and it's been a few different
buildings in the past. The building is over 100 years
old so my Auntie Linda was doinga night shift so she started
working around 6:00 PM and then would finish the next day around
9:00 AM. She was doing her rounds and
(03:03):
checking that all of the residents were asleep and all
seemed fine. She went upstairs to the staff
room to get ready to go to sleep.
She was locking the staff room toilets upstairs before she went
to bed. Now the staff toilets are
directly opposite the stairs, sowhen she locked them she turned
(03:25):
around facing the stairs. She then noticed what looked
like a little boy sitting at thebottom of the stairs.
He was wearing old fashioned clothing, maybe something from
the 1920s, and was facing away from her.
(03:46):
Startled, she called out to ask if he was OK.
Then all of a sudden the boy turned to face her.
Now her description still freaksme out to this day.
She said. When he turned to look at her,
it looked like his jaw or something was broken because his
(04:11):
jaw was hanging from his mouth. He gave her direct eye contact.
Now you know how kids run up thestairs sometimes using both
their hands and feet. This kid started to run towards
my auntie up the stairs. She screamed in terror and as
(04:31):
soon as she screamed the boy disappeared.
My auntie then ran out of the building and called her manager
to say she's not staying the night.
When the manager asked what happened she said she saw
something at the bottom of the stairs and they ran towards her.
(04:53):
Her manager then said oh you've seen Benny.
Turns out the little boy was a boy called Benny who had died
from falling down the stairs in the building years ago.
Some of the residents at the care home said he visits them
sometimes and sits on their beds.
(05:15):
Honestly scared the shit out of me as a child.
This story did and my auntie to this day swears what she saw
really happen. From that point onwards, she
didn't dismiss the paranormal anymore.
(05:43):
Ba ba Ba Benny and the Jaws or lack thereof perhaps.
Thank you so much OMG Real UFO for letting me read yet another
one of your stories. This is the second story.
Actually, if you go back and listen to episode number Mumble
Mumble, I did read another one of OMG Real UFOs stories.
(06:08):
And actually that was the secondstory that I read, this story
about poor Benny and his lack ofjaw.
This is the story that I read first from OMG Real UFO.
But because of the beginning, itreferences an earlier story.
I was like, well, now I got to read both stories and I got to
start chronologically. So now this is actually the
(06:30):
first story that I read that really hit me because it's so
spooky. So look, OMG Real UFO.
Your aunt or aunt is definitely a victim here and she was so
smart because you know what she did what I love, you know I love
to do it. Absolutely not, absolutely not.
(06:50):
Two of my favorite words, absolutely and not.
They have to be together though,because I can't say absolutely
to a ghost situation. It's going to be an absolutely
not for me and also for your aunt slash aunt.
She made the right choice there.But poor Betty Benny is the real
(07:11):
victim here. Poor Benny.
Benny, first of all, doesn't have a jaw.
So listen, there's not going to be any jaw Breakers being
enjoyed by poor little Benny. Kids love jawbreakers.
I never loved a jawbreaker personally, but I imagine, you
know what, like ghost kids from the 20s and 30s, you know they
(07:35):
loved a hard candy. You know they loved them like
barley sweets and lemon drops. Those sound like those are
things. Those are old style candies.
You know he loved those and he can't even enjoy a jawbreaker.
You know what? You know what?
(07:57):
Maybe a jawbreaker was involved.No, he fell down the stairs.
OK, OK, so no spectral jaw Breakers will be enjoyed by poor
Benny. And also, of all the places to
get stuck as a ghost, as a care home.
Like, no wonder he goes and sitson the patient's beds.
(08:19):
He ain't got nothing else to do,you know, It's sad.
Poor Benny. What a, what a tragic end.
I, you know, I, I, I think someone said in the comments, I
think there's only one comment, but I think someone said like,
oh, imagine those poor old people who are waking up and
they have this terrifying, terrifying young child ghost
(08:44):
sitting on their bed. I however, I think that they
would not be terrified because here's the thing about old
people is they have seen some shit and also they're really
lonely. So I bet they were thrilled.
I bet they looked forward to Benny visiting them at night or
anytime. I bet they were thrilled to have
(09:05):
him and they probably told theirstories for the five thousandth
time to him. And he probably had a great time
too. So I think you have to answer.
You have to ask the question, OK, when it comes to hauntings,
right, There's residual hauntings and there's
intelligent hauntings. So a residual haunting is sort
of like a ghost repeating the same thing over and over as if
(09:26):
on a loop or like on a a record,right?
And it's just repeating over andover and over again, sort of
like the Stone Tape theory, which is, you know, as I've
mentioned, the theory that you have something that happened
over and over enough or that wastraumatic enough or, you know,
violent enough that it sort of stuck in time.
(09:51):
And so that's that kind of like residual haunting where the
ghost is not interacting with you.
It's literally just pretending like it's living its life and
nothing new has changed and it doesn't know that it's dead,
that sort of thing. Then intelligent haunting that
would be some interaction. So whether or not it's knocking
or whether or not it's messing with you like hiding things or
(10:13):
even you know, a, a poltergeist would technically be considered
an intelligent haunting, but in some way where there's an
intelligence there and it's not just over and over and over
again. Now stay with me here, because
although Benny did turn and lookat Auntie, and even though Benny
did run up the stairs toward her, I don't know that that
(10:37):
necessarily means that he was doing so intelligently.
I don't know that that means that he was aware of her.
Or was this just one of his loops that he did?
Because if you think about it, kids with nothing else to do and
there's stairs around, they're going to be running up and down
the stairs. That's going to be their whole
thing. Especially like, oh God, like
(10:59):
clambering up the stairs, spot on his hands and feet.
That's so scary. I don't know that he was trying
to scare Auntie. I think that's kind of like AI
think that's like a horror movietrope at this point.
You know, I, I guess the conceptof like humans moving in a way
that seems inhuman, you know, maybe not impossible, like maybe
(11:21):
not full on heads spinning around 360° all of the exorcist
all right, but doing humans moving in a way that they
shouldn't move is just kind of uncanny and it gives you the
heebie jeebies, right. So, you know, like maybe he was
trying to scare her, but I don'tthink he was.
I think he was just being a kid.If if this, if this is a
(11:44):
haunting, if this is a ghost, I think he was just being a kid
and that this might actually be a residual haunting.
And you may say, oh, but hold on, Madam.
Excuse me. Benny went and sat on the beds
of patients. Yeah.
But like, if this house has beenused as a hospital for a long
time, then it's fair to say thatactually this is just, again,
(12:08):
this is just a residual thing and that he was sitting on
various beds and etcetera before.
So, you know, let me know what you think.
Let me know. Do you think this sounds like a
residual or an intelligenthauntingmadamstrangeways@gmail.com?
Let me know. But also what I find the most
compelling about these kinds of haunting stories is that it's
like you don't share the assuming this is true.
(12:31):
OK, I am assuming that OMG real UFO is correctly and truthfully
relaying the story from his auntwho accurately and truthfully
relayed the story to him withoutembellishment, whether that
embellishment was purposeful or accidental.
Because as I've said before, yes, you're right.
(12:53):
Good point that every single time we access a memory, we're
actually writing over it. We're saving over the memory.
And so actually you can't trust a single memory that you have
because every time you you thinkof it, it's altered.
And so truly, what is reality and memory?
I don't know. Great question.
Aside from that, assuming that all of this is true and this is
(13:15):
exactly how it happened, I thinkit's always so spooky when a
story is effectively someone accidentally discovering the
built in lore, especially at their workplace.
I don't know why work stuff is just it's like work sucks
already and then what? Now I'm going to be haunted
during work hours? I mean, I guess I would prefer
(13:39):
to be haunted on an employer's dime than in my free time,
personally, if I had to choose. So, OK, it's fine.
I just find these stories very, very spooky.
Very spooky, you know? OK, look, from a, from a
naturalistic or a mundane standpoint, could you argue that
(14:03):
Auntie Auntie did hear about Benny and kind of forgot or like
wasn't really paying attention, maybe heard that there was some
kind of ghost or, you know, sure.
And then forgot? Yeah.
But I mean, you would think, youwould think that that would be
an included detail. Although here's the thing about
(14:24):
humans is that we do love a goodnarrative.
We love a good narrative. And so it is a better narrative
for her to not mention that she had already heard the story of
Benny. So I couldn't blame her for
leaving that part out. And I'm not even saying she
would be doing it consciously. She may even that's how much we
(14:48):
love narrative is that we kind of subconsciously alter what we
share with people. And I know I will find myself
doing it and I'll be thinking, well, let's not like I am
leaving out this detail, but it does make a better like as I'm
saying it, I find myself doing it, but it just happens.
And so I would have to then go back and be like, OK, hold on.
(15:11):
I, you know, no. And then I got to get semantic
and be like, well, technically this thing OK.
No, no, no, no, it's fine. So from a naturalistic
standpoint, I think the easiest,the easiest explanation for this
would just be that, you know, OMG, real UFOs.
Aunt had actually heard the story of Benny and then
(15:32):
experienced it in that order. However, like I said, you know,
I do like to take these stories at face value.
So I guess a different naturalistic explanation, you
know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
(15:53):
Besides, you know what? Besides Auntie just sharing a
scary story and wanting to scarethe shit out of her nieces and
nephews, I feel like that's, I feel like that might be it.
That's, I mean, look, I'm not saying I would do the same in
(16:14):
her shoes, but I also couldn't blame her.
So I think those are the two most naturalistic explanations
for the story Would just basically be it's a better
narrative to tell it a little differently and maybe
misremembering it over time and not even remembering that that
happened the other way because that's how memory works.
(16:35):
Or she just wanted to scare you guys.
It's one or the other. Or there was really a ghost with
his jaw missing named Benny. Now, how hard do you have to
fall down the stairs for your jaw to be hanging off?
Right? All right, so you OK.
You may have noticed if you are a listener of the show that I do
(16:59):
have a soft spot for Wales. I just feel like Wales get slept
on. I feel like in terms of the UK,
everybody is all about, you know, England, jolly old England
and you know, Ireland and Scotland and then no one really
talks about Wales. So I have a soft spot for Wales,
but I don't want this to turn into a one hour episode where I
(17:21):
tell you interesting facts aboutWelsh folklore and ghosts and
hauntings and etcetera. So do you want to hear more
about Welsh folklore and Welsh ghost stories?
Let me know madamstrangeways@gmail.com.
I would be happy to do another episode like a Will's a Palooza,
(17:43):
a Welsh, there's, I don't know, there's something there.
I would be so happy to do that. So let me know
madamstrangeways@gmail.com But what I am going to do because I
thought this was really interesting.
So what I am going to do is explain like who and when,
where, why, how Manor houses would even become care homes in
(18:05):
the UK and why so many of them would be haunted as hell.
All right, so OK in a nutshell. In a nutshell.
No. Yes, this is a nutshell.
I assure you what I am telling you is a nutshell.
I spent too much time this morning researching this.
(18:25):
So this is I assure you, this isa nutshell.
OK, so there's first you got to say, OK, OK, OK, OK, who?
How do I start this social hierarchy?
All right, you've got the peerage and the landed Gentry
and they are the ones that own these manners or houses or
(18:45):
estates, etcetera. And also, when I'm talking about
a house, I need you to understand that what I am saying
is not like an American house. It's not like 1300 square feet
or less. I mean, this is like a mansion
or you know what, you might evenconsider to be like a castle.
It's huge. All right, so you've got the
(19:06):
peerage that owns these manners and houses, etcetera, and these
are like hereditary titles like Duke, Marquis, Earls, viscounts,
barons, Lords, etcetera. So they are the ones that pass
their titles down like through birth, otherwise known as
primogeniture. Then you also have the landed
(19:27):
Gentry. So the landed Gentry don't have
noble titles and are basically quote UN quote, lower class or
lower quote UN quote lower classor quote UN quote commoners.
So they're they're one tier below the aristocracy, but they
own land. Now they may own land because
someone else a really long time ago owned land and then it gets
(19:50):
passed down. And so someone's great aunt dies
and they're the only one that's surviving in their family.
And so now they have inherited land.
So because they have land, it's not just land.
You understand the land. The land, you understand, the
land includes, you know, houses,estates, etcetera, and also
(20:11):
farmland. OK, so you've got this massive
house that requires a huge amount of workforce to run.
And on top of running the house,you also have the farmland,
which includes tenant farms run by tenant farmers who rent the
land. So they basically pay the land
(20:33):
owners for the right to farm that land.
These houses would also effectively kind of support the
nearest town or village by giving the people that worked or
the people that lived their jobsor you know, they need
resources, they need food, they need etcetera to run this house.
Think Downton Abbey basically asan American.
(20:57):
I think that's probably the easiest.
I don't remember if Downton Abbey, if the family had tenant
farmers, but pretend that they did if they didn't in the show.
So, you know, it's it's basically like a little mini
ecosystem. And that's that's more or less
how these houses worked. However, with the decline in
farming, not only due to apparently an agricultural
(21:22):
depression in the 1870s. Aside from that, you also have
the industrial revolution happening.
And so, you know, cities are booming and jobs are moving to
the cities rather than out in the countries.
And aside from the Depression, you know, these farmers need
jobs and so they're going to thecities.
(21:42):
So this is reducing the rural labor pool.
Literally every single time I say rural, I always think of the
rural juror from 30 Rock. I think of it every single time,
the rural juror. All right, so it's reducing the
rural labor pool, right? So they're moving to the cities.
(22:03):
So there's no one to work the fields and there's no one to pay
to work the fields, right? And then the people in the
villages and the towns are also moving to the cities.
And so now there's no one to work at the houses.
And then also, by the way, some of these estate owners, like,
you know how at least in America, I'm sure everywhere,
(22:25):
you got the term house poor. So that would happen where,
yeah, maybe you own all this crazy amount of land and you
have this estate with houses andfarmland, but you don't have any
money. You have no money, you know,
especially if you inherited it as the landed Gentry.
And some families actually even had multiple estates, you know,
(22:46):
smaller houses, larger houses, etcetera, all around the UK.
So sometimes they just didn't have A use for some of these
houses. And in I think in some cases
they would just start selling them off just to get some cash
flow, you know, because all the tenant farmers are gone.
So they're not getting any rent.So they need some money.
(23:07):
So maybe that's why they were selling it or they just want
more money. Maybe they had plenty of money
and they just wanted more because what else?
What what is more human than that?
Just wanting more. So I'm about to potentially
enter enemy territory because although I love history, I am no
Tony Soprano, OK. I don't watch World War One and
(23:28):
World War 2 documentaries for fun.
You know, Ken Burns I know does a great job, but it's just not
my thing, although I do love history.
However, I don't know if I am fully qualified to talk in
detail about World War One versus World War 2 in terms of
the amount of injured or the technology that was invented
(23:49):
between World War One and World War 2.
And that was the reason why there were far less injured
soldiers that needed room in hospitals in World War 2 versus
World War One. But you know what, just imagine
that I just spoke very eloquently about it and that you
fully understand. And obviously if you fully
understand, that means I fully understood.
(24:10):
OK, good. I'm glad we had that talk.
So in World War One and World War Two there we needed extra
hospitals more in World War One than in World War Two.
We just we just we as in the theroyal we we as in the United
Kingdom during the world wars. So like I said, some of those
estates were donated temporarily, some were permanent
(24:31):
and some were so badly damaged that they just had to be, you
know, razed to the ground. Raz, were they razed?
I like saying that word, but I don't think that that I don't
think they were burned. They were just demolished.
OK, it's fine. Don't worry about it.
I need to play SIM five I think is how many Sims are there.
SIM 5 is my favorite. It's fine, don't worry about it.
(24:53):
Continue, continue with the episode.
OK, so wartime requisition is more or less an initial, what
just happened there? So in World War One and World
War 2. So in fact, by the end of World
War 1 / 1400, auxiliary hospitals had opened across the
United Kingdom, many in private homes.
(25:13):
So just to give you an idea, some of those places after the
wars remained in use as hospitals or convalescent homes
or elder care, as in this case, as care home.
So especially because out in thecountry you've got that like
Crisp, the crisp country air, the clean air, like I mentioned,
(25:33):
I think in the last episode or two episodes ago, one or the
other, where you know, the rich would go to convalesce to
recover from their illness. So a lot of these Manor houses
were out in the country where the air was nice and clean as
opposed to like London where it was awful and choking.
But here's what I will say is that OMG, real UFOs.
(25:56):
Auntie Auntie said that Benny was dressed like the 1920s.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that she probably wasn't a
fashion expert and a history expert.
So I think it's safe to say thatBenny could have been dressed
like, for instance, the year 1918.
(26:17):
And for those of you who are also not Tony Sopranos, when it
comes to history, World War One spanned from 1914, 1918.
So I ask you, did he lose his jaw falling down the stairs?
(26:39):
Or did Benny suffer this injury because of a bombing?
Just some food for thought, justsome food for thoughts.
So see, aren't you so glad you waited till the end of the
episode? Aren't you glad you've listened
to the end? Because come on, we know that
(27:01):
the care home was at least 100 years old in the 2000s, early
2000s, right? So that would be 1900.
OK. And it was probably older than
that because everything in the UK is super old.
So it was probably older than that.
So to me this is my pet theory and I don't want to be talked
(27:23):
out of it. So OMG real UFO.
If you have information that doesn't jive with my theory, you
know what, I don't need to hear about it.
You can just keep that to yourself.
You don't need to tell me I'm just kidding.
Please tell me if you have more details, I would love to hear it
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. And if any of you listening have
(27:46):
ever experienced anything spookyor if your family has a ghost
story that they like to tell, I would love to hear it.
Go ahead, e-mail me at madamstrangeways@gmail.com or
you can go to the website at madamstrangeways.com.
(28:14):
Thank you for joining me for more true strange stories of the
unexplained, remember that you can feel afraid and not be in
danger. You're safe here with me,
probably. Please follow the podcast, leave
a rating on Spotify or Apple, ortell your friends and foes about
the show. It would mean the world to me.
(28:36):
The underworld, obviously. I mean, come on, was that not?
Was that not clear? Madam Strangeways is produced
and narrated by me. Madam Strangeways theme music is
by marina.ryan@marinamakes.co. Cover art is by Andrea Chisel
Roldan at Cult of Teddy on Instagram.
(28:57):
You can submit your own true strange story at
madamstrangeways.com or e-mail it to
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. See you soon, she said
ominously.
Oh, I didn't hear you come in. What's that?
You've got a true strange story of the unexplained you'd like to
hear narrated on the show. E-mail it to me,
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. Welcome strangers, strangelings
and strange Kateers to Madam Strangeways, where I, Madam
(00:25):
Strangeways, narrate your true strange stories of the
unexplained. And as always, solicited or not,
usually not. I share my strange thoughts and
observations and drag you down aslew of strange rabbit holes,
kicking and screaming if absolutely necessary.
Today I've got one new spine tingling true strange story for
(00:50):
you. But first, the strangest of
shout outs to my Patreon patrons, TJ, Hotter, G, Mad
Music, Ted, Keith and Tori, thank you so much to my Feral
Fiendish 5 for supporting the show.
Do you want to hear your name atthe beginning of every episode?
Or how about an exclusive sticker or even access to Madam
(01:14):
Strange Notes KA Strange bonus content?
Join the Patreon today at madamstrangeways.com or
patreon.com/madam Strange Ways. And now on to our true Strange
story here on Madam Strange Ways.
(01:57):
The boy at the bottom of the stairs by OMG Real UFO.
It seemed like a lot of you liked my post about the
Whispering Girl. I don't have any other
paranormal experiences myself, but my Auntie Linda does and
honestly it's one of the scariest true stories I've
(02:21):
heard. So my Auntie Linda is a very
straight talking woman. She never believed in ghosts or
the paranormal until she experienced something.
So this encounter was about 20 years ago.
My Auntie Linda was working at acare home in Wales.
(02:42):
Now the care home is really old and it's been a few different
buildings in the past. The building is over 100 years
old so my Auntie Linda was doinga night shift so she started
working around 6:00 PM and then would finish the next day around
9:00 AM. She was doing her rounds and
(03:03):
checking that all of the residents were asleep and all
seemed fine. She went upstairs to the staff
room to get ready to go to sleep.
She was locking the staff room toilets upstairs before she went
to bed. Now the staff toilets are
directly opposite the stairs, sowhen she locked them she turned
(03:25):
around facing the stairs. She then noticed what looked
like a little boy sitting at thebottom of the stairs.
He was wearing old fashioned clothing, maybe something from
the 1920s, and was facing away from her.
(03:46):
Startled, she called out to ask if he was OK.
Then all of a sudden the boy turned to face her.
Now her description still freaksme out to this day.
She said. When he turned to look at her,
it looked like his jaw or something was broken because his
(04:11):
jaw was hanging from his mouth. He gave her direct eye contact.
Now you know how kids run up thestairs sometimes using both
their hands and feet. This kid started to run towards
my auntie up the stairs. She screamed in terror and as
(04:31):
soon as she screamed the boy disappeared.
My auntie then ran out of the building and called her manager
to say she's not staying the night.
When the manager asked what happened she said she saw
something at the bottom of the stairs and they ran towards her.
(04:53):
Her manager then said oh you've seen Benny.
Turns out the little boy was a boy called Benny who had died
from falling down the stairs in the building years ago.
Some of the residents at the care home said he visits them
sometimes and sits on their beds.
(05:15):
Honestly scared the shit out of me as a child.
This story did and my auntie to this day swears what she saw
really happen. From that point onwards, she
didn't dismiss the paranormal anymore.
(05:43):
Ba ba Ba Benny and the Jaws or lack thereof perhaps.
Thank you so much OMG Real UFO for letting me read yet another
one of your stories. This is the second story.
Actually, if you go back and listen to episode number Mumble
Mumble, I did read another one of OMG Real UFOs stories.
(06:08):
And actually that was the secondstory that I read, this story
about poor Benny and his lack ofjaw.
This is the story that I read first from OMG Real UFO.
But because of the beginning, itreferences an earlier story.
I was like, well, now I got to read both stories and I got to
start chronologically. So now this is actually the
(06:30):
first story that I read that really hit me because it's so
spooky. So look, OMG Real UFO.
Your aunt or aunt is definitely a victim here and she was so
smart because you know what she did what I love, you know I love
to do it. Absolutely not, absolutely not.
(06:50):
Two of my favorite words, absolutely and not.
They have to be together though,because I can't say absolutely
to a ghost situation. It's going to be an absolutely
not for me and also for your aunt slash aunt.
She made the right choice there.But poor Betty Benny is the real
(07:11):
victim here. Poor Benny.
Benny, first of all, doesn't have a jaw.
So listen, there's not going to be any jaw Breakers being
enjoyed by poor little Benny. Kids love jawbreakers.
I never loved a jawbreaker personally, but I imagine, you
know what, like ghost kids from the 20s and 30s, you know they
(07:35):
loved a hard candy. You know they loved them like
barley sweets and lemon drops. Those sound like those are
things. Those are old style candies.
You know he loved those and he can't even enjoy a jawbreaker.
You know what? You know what?
(07:57):
Maybe a jawbreaker was involved.No, he fell down the stairs.
OK, OK, so no spectral jaw Breakers will be enjoyed by poor
Benny. And also, of all the places to
get stuck as a ghost, as a care home.
Like, no wonder he goes and sitson the patient's beds.
(08:19):
He ain't got nothing else to do,you know, It's sad.
Poor Benny. What a, what a tragic end.
I, you know, I, I, I think someone said in the comments, I
think there's only one comment, but I think someone said like,
oh, imagine those poor old people who are waking up and
they have this terrifying, terrifying young child ghost
(08:44):
sitting on their bed. I however, I think that they
would not be terrified because here's the thing about old
people is they have seen some shit and also they're really
lonely. So I bet they were thrilled.
I bet they looked forward to Benny visiting them at night or
anytime. I bet they were thrilled to have
(09:05):
him and they probably told theirstories for the five thousandth
time to him. And he probably had a great time
too. So I think you have to answer.
You have to ask the question, OK, when it comes to hauntings,
right, There's residual hauntings and there's
intelligent hauntings. So a residual haunting is sort
of like a ghost repeating the same thing over and over as if
(09:26):
on a loop or like on a a record,right?
And it's just repeating over andover and over again, sort of
like the Stone Tape theory, which is, you know, as I've
mentioned, the theory that you have something that happened
over and over enough or that wastraumatic enough or, you know,
violent enough that it sort of stuck in time.
(09:51):
And so that's that kind of like residual haunting where the
ghost is not interacting with you.
It's literally just pretending like it's living its life and
nothing new has changed and it doesn't know that it's dead,
that sort of thing. Then intelligent haunting that
would be some interaction. So whether or not it's knocking
or whether or not it's messing with you like hiding things or
(10:13):
even you know, a, a poltergeist would technically be considered
an intelligent haunting, but in some way where there's an
intelligence there and it's not just over and over and over
again. Now stay with me here, because
although Benny did turn and lookat Auntie, and even though Benny
did run up the stairs toward her, I don't know that that
(10:37):
necessarily means that he was doing so intelligently.
I don't know that that means that he was aware of her.
Or was this just one of his loops that he did?
Because if you think about it, kids with nothing else to do and
there's stairs around, they're going to be running up and down
the stairs. That's going to be their whole
thing. Especially like, oh God, like
(10:59):
clambering up the stairs, spot on his hands and feet.
That's so scary. I don't know that he was trying
to scare Auntie. I think that's kind of like AI
think that's like a horror movietrope at this point.
You know, I, I guess the conceptof like humans moving in a way
that seems inhuman, you know, maybe not impossible, like maybe
(11:21):
not full on heads spinning around 360° all of the exorcist
all right, but doing humans moving in a way that they
shouldn't move is just kind of uncanny and it gives you the
heebie jeebies, right. So, you know, like maybe he was
trying to scare her, but I don'tthink he was.
I think he was just being a kid.If if this, if this is a
(11:44):
haunting, if this is a ghost, I think he was just being a kid
and that this might actually be a residual haunting.
And you may say, oh, but hold on, Madam.
Excuse me. Benny went and sat on the beds
of patients. Yeah.
But like, if this house has beenused as a hospital for a long
time, then it's fair to say thatactually this is just, again,
(12:08):
this is just a residual thing and that he was sitting on
various beds and etcetera before.
So, you know, let me know what you think.
Let me know. Do you think this sounds like a
residual or an intelligenthauntingmadamstrangeways@gmail.com?
Let me know. But also what I find the most
compelling about these kinds of haunting stories is that it's
like you don't share the assuming this is true.
(12:31):
OK, I am assuming that OMG real UFO is correctly and truthfully
relaying the story from his auntwho accurately and truthfully
relayed the story to him withoutembellishment, whether that
embellishment was purposeful or accidental.
Because as I've said before, yes, you're right.
(12:53):
Good point that every single time we access a memory, we're
actually writing over it. We're saving over the memory.
And so actually you can't trust a single memory that you have
because every time you you thinkof it, it's altered.
And so truly, what is reality and memory?
I don't know. Great question.
Aside from that, assuming that all of this is true and this is
(13:15):
exactly how it happened, I thinkit's always so spooky when a
story is effectively someone accidentally discovering the
built in lore, especially at their workplace.
I don't know why work stuff is just it's like work sucks
already and then what? Now I'm going to be haunted
during work hours? I mean, I guess I would prefer
(13:39):
to be haunted on an employer's dime than in my free time,
personally, if I had to choose. So, OK, it's fine.
I just find these stories very, very spooky.
Very spooky, you know? OK, look, from a, from a
naturalistic or a mundane standpoint, could you argue that
(14:03):
Auntie Auntie did hear about Benny and kind of forgot or like
wasn't really paying attention, maybe heard that there was some
kind of ghost or, you know, sure.
And then forgot? Yeah.
But I mean, you would think, youwould think that that would be
an included detail. Although here's the thing about
(14:24):
humans is that we do love a goodnarrative.
We love a good narrative. And so it is a better narrative
for her to not mention that she had already heard the story of
Benny. So I couldn't blame her for
leaving that part out. And I'm not even saying she
would be doing it consciously. She may even that's how much we
(14:48):
love narrative is that we kind of subconsciously alter what we
share with people. And I know I will find myself
doing it and I'll be thinking, well, let's not like I am
leaving out this detail, but it does make a better like as I'm
saying it, I find myself doing it, but it just happens.
And so I would have to then go back and be like, OK, hold on.
(15:11):
I, you know, no. And then I got to get semantic
and be like, well, technically this thing OK.
No, no, no, no, it's fine. So from a naturalistic
standpoint, I think the easiest,the easiest explanation for this
would just be that, you know, OMG, real UFOs.
Aunt had actually heard the story of Benny and then
(15:32):
experienced it in that order. However, like I said, you know,
I do like to take these stories at face value.
So I guess a different naturalistic explanation, you
know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.
(15:53):
Besides, you know what? Besides Auntie just sharing a
scary story and wanting to scarethe shit out of her nieces and
nephews, I feel like that's, I feel like that might be it.
That's, I mean, look, I'm not saying I would do the same in
(16:14):
her shoes, but I also couldn't blame her.
So I think those are the two most naturalistic explanations
for the story Would just basically be it's a better
narrative to tell it a little differently and maybe
misremembering it over time and not even remembering that that
happened the other way because that's how memory works.
(16:35):
Or she just wanted to scare you guys.
It's one or the other. Or there was really a ghost with
his jaw missing named Benny. Now, how hard do you have to
fall down the stairs for your jaw to be hanging off?
Right? All right, so you OK.
You may have noticed if you are a listener of the show that I do
(16:59):
have a soft spot for Wales. I just feel like Wales get slept
on. I feel like in terms of the UK,
everybody is all about, you know, England, jolly old England
and you know, Ireland and Scotland and then no one really
talks about Wales. So I have a soft spot for Wales,
but I don't want this to turn into a one hour episode where I
(17:21):
tell you interesting facts aboutWelsh folklore and ghosts and
hauntings and etcetera. So do you want to hear more
about Welsh folklore and Welsh ghost stories?
Let me know madamstrangeways@gmail.com.
I would be happy to do another episode like a Will's a Palooza,
(17:43):
a Welsh, there's, I don't know, there's something there.
I would be so happy to do that. So let me know
madamstrangeways@gmail.com But what I am going to do because I
thought this was really interesting.
So what I am going to do is explain like who and when,
where, why, how Manor houses would even become care homes in
(18:05):
the UK and why so many of them would be haunted as hell.
All right, so OK in a nutshell. In a nutshell.
No. Yes, this is a nutshell.
I assure you what I am telling you is a nutshell.
I spent too much time this morning researching this.
(18:25):
So this is I assure you, this isa nutshell.
OK, so there's first you got to say, OK, OK, OK, OK, who?
How do I start this social hierarchy?
All right, you've got the peerage and the landed Gentry
and they are the ones that own these manners or houses or
(18:45):
estates, etcetera. And also, when I'm talking about
a house, I need you to understand that what I am saying
is not like an American house. It's not like 1300 square feet
or less. I mean, this is like a mansion
or you know what, you might evenconsider to be like a castle.
It's huge. All right, so you've got the
(19:06):
peerage that owns these manners and houses, etcetera, and these
are like hereditary titles like Duke, Marquis, Earls, viscounts,
barons, Lords, etcetera. So they are the ones that pass
their titles down like through birth, otherwise known as
primogeniture. Then you also have the landed
(19:27):
Gentry. So the landed Gentry don't have
noble titles and are basically quote UN quote, lower class or
lower quote UN quote lower classor quote UN quote commoners.
So they're they're one tier below the aristocracy, but they
own land. Now they may own land because
someone else a really long time ago owned land and then it gets
(19:50):
passed down. And so someone's great aunt dies
and they're the only one that's surviving in their family.
And so now they have inherited land.
So because they have land, it's not just land.
You understand the land. The land, you understand, the
land includes, you know, houses,estates, etcetera, and also
(20:11):
farmland. OK, so you've got this massive
house that requires a huge amount of workforce to run.
And on top of running the house,you also have the farmland,
which includes tenant farms run by tenant farmers who rent the
land. So they basically pay the land
(20:33):
owners for the right to farm that land.
These houses would also effectively kind of support the
nearest town or village by giving the people that worked or
the people that lived their jobsor you know, they need
resources, they need food, they need etcetera to run this house.
Think Downton Abbey basically asan American.
(20:57):
I think that's probably the easiest.
I don't remember if Downton Abbey, if the family had tenant
farmers, but pretend that they did if they didn't in the show.
So, you know, it's it's basically like a little mini
ecosystem. And that's that's more or less
how these houses worked. However, with the decline in
farming, not only due to apparently an agricultural
(21:22):
depression in the 1870s. Aside from that, you also have
the industrial revolution happening.
And so, you know, cities are booming and jobs are moving to
the cities rather than out in the countries.
And aside from the Depression, you know, these farmers need
jobs and so they're going to thecities.
(21:42):
So this is reducing the rural labor pool.
Literally every single time I say rural, I always think of the
rural juror from 30 Rock. I think of it every single time,
the rural juror. All right, so it's reducing the
rural labor pool, right? So they're moving to the cities.
(22:03):
So there's no one to work the fields and there's no one to pay
to work the fields, right? And then the people in the
villages and the towns are also moving to the cities.
And so now there's no one to work at the houses.
And then also, by the way, some of these estate owners, like,
you know how at least in America, I'm sure everywhere,
(22:25):
you got the term house poor. So that would happen where,
yeah, maybe you own all this crazy amount of land and you
have this estate with houses andfarmland, but you don't have any
money. You have no money, you know,
especially if you inherited it as the landed Gentry.
And some families actually even had multiple estates, you know,
(22:46):
smaller houses, larger houses, etcetera, all around the UK.
So sometimes they just didn't have A use for some of these
houses. And in I think in some cases
they would just start selling them off just to get some cash
flow, you know, because all the tenant farmers are gone.
So they're not getting any rent.So they need some money.
(23:07):
So maybe that's why they were selling it or they just want
more money. Maybe they had plenty of money
and they just wanted more because what else?
What what is more human than that?
Just wanting more. So I'm about to potentially
enter enemy territory because although I love history, I am no
Tony Soprano, OK. I don't watch World War One and
(23:28):
World War 2 documentaries for fun.
You know, Ken Burns I know does a great job, but it's just not
my thing, although I do love history.
However, I don't know if I am fully qualified to talk in
detail about World War One versus World War 2 in terms of
the amount of injured or the technology that was invented
(23:49):
between World War One and World War 2.
And that was the reason why there were far less injured
soldiers that needed room in hospitals in World War 2 versus
World War One. But you know what, just imagine
that I just spoke very eloquently about it and that you
fully understand. And obviously if you fully
understand, that means I fully understood.
(24:10):
OK, good. I'm glad we had that talk.
So in World War One and World War Two there we needed extra
hospitals more in World War One than in World War Two.
We just we just we as in the theroyal we we as in the United
Kingdom during the world wars. So like I said, some of those
estates were donated temporarily, some were permanent
(24:31):
and some were so badly damaged that they just had to be, you
know, razed to the ground. Raz, were they razed?
I like saying that word, but I don't think that that I don't
think they were burned. They were just demolished.
OK, it's fine. Don't worry about it.
I need to play SIM five I think is how many Sims are there.
SIM 5 is my favorite. It's fine, don't worry about it.
(24:53):
Continue, continue with the episode.
OK, so wartime requisition is more or less an initial, what
just happened there? So in World War One and World
War 2. So in fact, by the end of World
War 1 / 1400, auxiliary hospitals had opened across the
United Kingdom, many in private homes.
(25:13):
So just to give you an idea, some of those places after the
wars remained in use as hospitals or convalescent homes
or elder care, as in this case, as care home.
So especially because out in thecountry you've got that like
Crisp, the crisp country air, the clean air, like I mentioned,
(25:33):
I think in the last episode or two episodes ago, one or the
other, where you know, the rich would go to convalesce to
recover from their illness. So a lot of these Manor houses
were out in the country where the air was nice and clean as
opposed to like London where it was awful and choking.
But here's what I will say is that OMG, real UFOs.
(25:56):
Auntie Auntie said that Benny was dressed like the 1920s.
I don't think it's a stretch to say that she probably wasn't a
fashion expert and a history expert.
So I think it's safe to say thatBenny could have been dressed
like, for instance, the year 1918.
(26:17):
And for those of you who are also not Tony Sopranos, when it
comes to history, World War One spanned from 1914, 1918.
So I ask you, did he lose his jaw falling down the stairs?
(26:39):
Or did Benny suffer this injury because of a bombing?
Just some food for thought, justsome food for thoughts.
So see, aren't you so glad you waited till the end of the
episode? Aren't you glad you've listened
to the end? Because come on, we know that
(27:01):
the care home was at least 100 years old in the 2000s, early
2000s, right? So that would be 1900.
OK. And it was probably older than
that because everything in the UK is super old.
So it was probably older than that.
So to me this is my pet theory and I don't want to be talked
(27:23):
out of it. So OMG real UFO.
If you have information that doesn't jive with my theory, you
know what, I don't need to hear about it.
You can just keep that to yourself.
You don't need to tell me I'm just kidding.
Please tell me if you have more details, I would love to hear it
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. And if any of you listening have
(27:46):
ever experienced anything spookyor if your family has a ghost
story that they like to tell, I would love to hear it.
Go ahead, e-mail me at madamstrangeways@gmail.com or
you can go to the website at madamstrangeways.com.
(28:14):
Thank you for joining me for more true strange stories of the
unexplained, remember that you can feel afraid and not be in
danger. You're safe here with me,
probably. Please follow the podcast, leave
a rating on Spotify or Apple, ortell your friends and foes about
the show. It would mean the world to me.
(28:36):
The underworld, obviously. I mean, come on, was that not?
Was that not clear? Madam Strangeways is produced
and narrated by me. Madam Strangeways theme music is
by marina.ryan@marinamakes.co. Cover art is by Andrea Chisel
Roldan at Cult of Teddy on Instagram.
(28:57):
You can submit your own true strange story at
madamstrangeways.com or e-mail it to
madamstrangeways@gmail.com. See you soon, she said
ominously.
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