Unseen Murder

Murder is always a terrible crime, but murder of a baby is perhaps worst of all. This famous story begins one rainy night in 1575, near Hungerford in southern England. As the local midwife was going to bed, she heard a carriage stop outside. Opening the door, she was surprised to see a servant from nearby Littlecote House, home of William Darrell. Darrell was known as 'Wild William' for his reckless habits and cruelty. The servant told the midwife that she was needed at Littlecote House because a woman was having a baby. The midwife gathered her things, but was shocked to be forced to wear a blindfold all the way to the room where the woman lay.

Vital Clues

The midwife delivered the baby, but no sooner had she wrapped it in a blanket that someone grabbed it from her. The horrified midwife then heard the baby being thrown in to the roaring fire. A purse of coins was thrust into her hands and someone roughly pushed her out of the room. As she left, she snipped some curtain material from the bedroom. She also counted the stairs as she was hurried down them into a carriage. The next day, the midwife reported what had happened to the magistrate. Investigations matched the material to a bedroom in Littlecote House and the number of stairs as leading to a particular room. The baby's mother was a maid who was seduced by Darrell. Fearing discovery, he had murdered it as soon as it was born.

Justice

Although 'Wild William' managed to bribe his way out of punishment at his trial, he paid for his awful crime fourteen years later. His horse reared and Darrell fell and broke his neck. People said the ghost of his murdered baby had terrified the wicked villain's horse.