After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

Episode: Britain's First Ghost Hunt

Hosts: Anthony Delaney, Dr. Eleanor Yanaga
Date: March 26, 2026

Overview of the Episode

In this engrossing episode of After Dark, Anthony Delaney and guest co-host Dr. Eleanor Yanaga journey into the shadowed halls of Hinton Ampner, exploring what is often dubbed “Britain’s first ghost hunt.” The pair unravel the chilling saga of the Ricketts family and the infamous 18th-century haunting that would help set the template for haunted house stories ever since.
This episode looks beyond gothic tropes, linking the haunting to the grim realities of its era—particularly the transatlantic slave trade—and how wealth, scandal, gender, and class influenced not just the experience of ghosts but the stories told around them.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Setting: Hinton Ampner’s Dark Past

• [03:41] The haunting centers on Hinton Ampner, a Hampshire estate rented by the wealthy Ricketts family, whose fortune was built on Jamaican slave plantations.
• The house’s dark history—filled with scandal, unexplained deaths, and the wealth of “untold bloodshed and human misery” ([13:40], Dr. Yanaga)—forms an eerie backdrop.

Shifting Perceptions of Ghosts Through History

• [05:49–09:02] Dr. Yanaga discusses the evolution of ghost beliefs:
  • Medieval and ancient ghosts were often linked to purgatory (“Purgatory is hell with a timer.” [08:23], Dr. Yanaga).
  • By the 18th century—following Protestant reforms—ghosts shift from souls in need of prayers to disturbingly present, unexplainable phenomena: knocks, apparitions, slamming doors.

Scandal and Haunting: The Stowell Family Saga

• [13:54–15:06] The narrative traces scandals within the manor:
  • Mary Stokely's death, followed by rumors of her husband Edward Stowell’s affair with her sister Honoria.
  • Honoria possibly bears a child, which “never materializes.” The subsequent deaths of Honoria and Edward stoke local gossip and prime the house for stories of haunting.

The Ricketts Move In: Early Haunting Experiences

• [17:27] Mary Ricketts hears vehemently slammed doors and other noises soon after moving in:
  • Classic reactions: blame falls first on servants, then on villagers—reflecting both the class lens and social anxieties of the era ([18:07], Delaney/Dr. Yanaga).
  • “Where am I gonna go?” – humorously highlighting servant powerlessness ([18:45], Dr. Yanaga).

Escalation: Sightings and Apparitions

• [20:21–21:29] The first apparition is seen by Elizabeth Brailsford (nurse), followed by staff member Molly Newton.
• George Turner, a gardener’s son, also reports a “man in a dark coat” ([26:50], Dr. Yanaga).
• At first, Mary Ricketts dismisses the servant accounts as “tittle tattle” and a sign of their “disordered mind” ([27:38], Dr. Yanaga), paralleling Enlightenment skepticism and class prejudice.

Gender and Class in Ghost Narratives

• [25:09–28:04] The early reports come from women and servants; escalation and “apparition phase” flow through working-class women.
• Upper-class men (William, and later John Jarvis) only take it “seriously” when their own senses are challenged.

Masculine Skepticism Meets the Supernatural

• [38:42–41:14] John Jarvis (Mary’s brother, an admiral) and Captain Luttrell decide on a proto-scientific “all-night vigil” to seek explanations, signaling the birth of the “ghost hunt.”
  • Both experience unexplainable footsteps, slamming doors, and other phenomena, ultimately deeming the house “inhospitable” (“We got a ghost... it is inhospitable.” [41:08], Dr. Yanaga).

Leaving Hinton Ampner: Consequences and Legacy

• [43:12–44:55] The Ricketts family finally abandons the house in 1772 after years of disturbances.
• It becomes so notorious for hauntings that it is eventually demolished in 1793.

Solutions, Explanations, and Moral Lessons

• [47:08–51:16] Popular explanations for the haunting include:
  • The ghosts of the Stowells (connected to adultery and rumored infanticide—a tiny skull is found, possibly a “dead baby under the floorboards” [47:40], Dr. Yanaga).
  • The idea that the atrocities and scandals (including the slave trade) create a haunting moral residue: “Maybe the guilt is keeping the ghosts walking.” ([47:55], Dr. Yanaga).
  • Or simply “Londoners who moved into a big old creaky house in the winter and got freaked out.” ([50:07], Dr. Yanaga).

The Haunting as Dark Historical Mirror

• [36:00–49:31] Throughout, hosts challenge listeners not to lose sight of the “real” horrors—the enslaved lives in Jamaica underpinning these ghostly tales:
  • “The really frightening thing is what's happening in Jamaica... that's the frightening thing.” ([12:27], Dr. Yanaga)
  • Delaney and Yanaga note the 19th-century retellings use the haunting as a veiled critique of slavery and aristocratic moral failings.

The Legacy: Template for Modern Ghost Stories

• [54:06–56:25] Hinton Ampner’s story gives rise to “the gothic blueprint” for haunted houses:
  • Characteristics established: a grand house, escalating stages of haunting, narrative linking past sins/scandal to ghostly unrest.
  • Its details echo in later works like The Turn of the Screw and The Haunting of Hill House.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On 18th-century ghosts:
  “This is the classic haunted house story in many ways. This is where it all began. This is really the beginnings of investigations into hauntings, and there's just a really different and very modern take on what ghosts are here.” – Dr. Eleanor Yanaga [05:58]

• On purgatory:
  “Purgatory isn't like limbo—people think it's like limbo. Purgatory is hell with a timer.” – Dr. Eleanor Yanaga [08:23]

• On the “real” horror at the heart of the haunting:
  “The scary thing is like, what's happening in Jamaica? Like, that's the frightening thing!” – Dr. Eleanor Yanaga [12:27]

• Class & gender bias in the ghost story:
  “You have a disordered mind. And of course you have a disordered mind because you're poor.” – Dr. Eleanor Yanaga [28:01]

• The modern “ghost hunt”:
  “Classic ghost hunt. We see this in the 20th century, we do it now... they're up at night and they're like, yeah, there's footsteps walking across the lobby.” – Anthony Delaney [40:20]

• On morality and guilt:
  “Maybe the guilt is keeping the ghosts walking.” – Dr. Yanaga [47:55]

• On ghost stories as templates:
  “This is going to be like the gothic blueprint for the rest of time.” – Dr. Eleanor Yanaga [57:19]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:41] Introduction to Hinton Ampner and background
• [05:49–09:02] How ghosts were understood: medieval to Enlightenment
• [13:54–15:06] The Stowell scandal that “primes” the haunting
• [17:27–18:14] Mary Ricketts’ first ghostly experiences
• [21:29–26:17] Servants and other staff encounter apparitions
• [38:42–41:14] Admiral Jarvis and Captain Luttrell’s ghost hunt
• [43:12–44:55] The family’s departure and house’s fate
• [47:08–51:16] Theories explaining the haunting; the role of guilt/slavery/authenticity
• [54:06–57:19] Hinton’s legacy as the haunted house template

Conclusion

This episode not only delivers a meticulously detailed haunting—from midnight groans to class and gender tensions—but also uses the ghost story to reflect on broader truths about history, morality, and memory. Delaney and Yanaga skillfully blend irreverence (“Sister shagger and the shagged sister” [47:36], Yanaga) with sober historical analysis, making for both a spooky and thoughtful listen.

If you enjoy ghost stories that echo with the footsteps of real history and invite you to look beyond the veil, this episode of After Dark offers tales as chilling as they are revealing.