A head in the wall and a ghost 'haunting' the hall

Anne Griffith, who died in 1620, is said to haunt the corridors of Burton Agnes Hall

It is one of the most popular and enduring ghost stories in East Yorkshire.

The legend of Katherine Anne Griffith has echoed through the corridors of Burton Agnes Hall for centuries and shows no sign of fading.

Built in the early 1600s by Sir Henry Griffith in Bridlington, the hall was home to his three daughters: Francis, Margaret and Katherine Anne.

Their portraits still hang on its grand walls. Anne's, painted in black, is the one that draws the most uneasy glances and fuels the folklore that surrounds her.

"She threw furniture, slammed doors and screamed," says Pauline Waslin, head guide at Burton Agnes, describing the disturbances attributed to the youngest daughter.

Ms Waslin, 81, has worked at the stately home for 27 years and dreamed of living there as a child.

The guide said Anne was deeply enamoured with the house as it was being built but she did not live to see it completed.

Anne was attacked and robbed after visiting friends in Harpham in 1620. Gravely injured, she was brought back to Burton Agnes but died a few days later in the Queen's state bedroom.

Head guide Pauline Waslin grew up dreaming of living in Burton Agnes Hall.

"She told her family that when she died, she wanted them to keep part of her in the house," Ms Waslin explains.

"They did no such thing and she was buried in the crypt underneath the church."

Standing amongst the wood panelled walls, Ms Waslin tells the BBC there were "unexplained disturbances" until the family remembered her dying words and consulted a local vicar.

"He let them open up the coffin, and her head and body had separated. The head was brought into the house," Waslin says.

The skull's exact location remains unknown but legend says it was buried within the walls of the great hall.

The Queen's state bedroom where Anne spent her final days in 1620

Ghostly sightings have been recounted over the years including one in the early 20th century, when Mrs Wickham Boynton, the then owner of the house, claimed to see a figure pass by the window.

She thought it was the vicar's wife and sent her husband to invite her in, only to find the door closed and no one there.

"She actually wrote and told Lord Halifax," Ms Waslin says, referring to the peer who compiled a book of ghost stories.

Anne Griffith was the youngest daughter of Henry Griffith who built Burton Agnes Hall

More recently, staff members at the hall have reported sensing a presence.

"One of our house stewards was between the bedrooms and felt somebody behind him. But when he turned around, there was nobody there," Ms Waslin recalls.

Marcus Wickham Boynton, the last private owner of the hall, was often asked about the ghost but would claim he had "never seen her".

But what does Ms Waslin think?

"I've never felt a presence but I sometimes sit outside the Queen's bedroom hoping she'll appear.

"She doesn't, but I wouldn't rule out that she exists."

Burton Agnes Hall will run a spooky Halloween Trail until 2 November.

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