'Ghosts drove me out of my mansion'

WHEN Anwar Rashid purchased Clifton Hall in 2006 he thought he had bought his dream home. But, less than a year later, he and his family have left.

He says there were driven out of the 52-room mansion by ghosts.

"I loved that place, I really did. It's beautiful," said Mr Rashid. "But there was no way we could stay there."

Mr Rashid lived in the house with his brother, his parents, his wife and their four young children.

He claims the first ghostly incident happened on the night they moved in: "We were all sitting downstairs watching TV when we heard a knock on the wall and a man's voice say 'hello, is anybody there?'.

"When I went to check, there was nobody there and the door was locked. There was no way anyone could have got in."

For several months things remained quiet, but in April Mr Rashid says one of the maids saw a grey figure sitting on her bed.

"She was so frightened she collapsed," he said. "Then members of my family started seeing things."

He claims that things began to get really scary when the ghosts started to take on the form of his children.

On one occasion his wife saw one of their daughters sitting in a front room but when she went to her bedroom she was in there sound asleep.

"I get goose bumps just thinking about it," he said. "I never believed in stuff like this before, but I do now."

Mr Rashid bought the house from millionaire businessman Chek Whyte in November 2006.

He moved in in January 2007 but by August that year he and his family had moved out , unable to cope.

"The thing that really knocked us for six was when we went in to the baby's room and found spots of blood on his white quilt.

"There was no sign of any cuts on him, and we found a big white hair laying on his head."

In a bid to get to the bottom of it Mr Rashid called in the Ashfield Paranormal Investigation Network.

Lee Roberts, team leader of the network, said: "We've carried out two investigations there now and this is definitely the most active place we've ever been to."

The first investigation took place over a weekend in August 2007.

During the first night a woman's voice came over the team's radios saying "We know you're alone in there."

On the second night, the same voice was heard saying "So, you've come back then."

They also heard a constant whistling that they could not explain.

On the second occasion, in August this year, two people fainted in the same room after spotting a little boy behind one of the curtains.

Neither man knew about what the other had seen but both described the same boy standing in the same place.

Mr Roberts, a police officer based at Radford Road, said: "Clifton Hall 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."

After failing to sell the property Mr Rashid – who owns a chain of nursing homes in the county, a hotel in Dubai and 26 other properties – said: "The only way forward was not to pay the mortgage and hope that the bank would repossess."

The house was eventually repossessed on Thursday.

Mr Rashid said: "It's a relief. It's a burden off my shoulders."

He says the action will not affect his nursing homes, which operate under the banner of Park Group Nursing homes.

Representatives from Cooper Parry's business recovery and insolvency services department attended Clifton Hall on Thursday.

Knight Frank LLP of Birmingham have been instructed to market the property.

Bailiffs emptied the property of it contents before the locks were changed.

A security firm has now been employed to keep watch over the property's 52 rooms 24-hours a day and prevent trespassers from entering.

Chris Snelling of Bridge Gate Security, said: "We will have someone stationed at the house 24 hours a day, who will be able to contact extra staff for back-up if necessary. It is an unusual and interesting place."

Anyone interested in acquiring the property should contact Cooper Parry on 0115 958 0212.

sarah.gillett@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk