In Memory of Ann Noblett
The area of Marshalls Heath is on the B653 between Harpenden and Wheathampstead. Marshalls Heath Lane leaves the main road opposite Cherry Tree Lane and the former Cherry Trees Public House which has now served as an Indian restaurant for nearly 20 years. Up Marshalls Heath Lane is a play area and associated heathland and then the road continues on towards Gustard Wood. This lane became notorious in the late 1950's when shy and naive 17 year old local girl Ann Noblett was abducted and murdered in December 1957 after alighting from a bus from Harpenden where she had been having a dancing lesson at Lourdes Hall. Ann Noblett lived about a quarter of a mile up Marshalls Heath Lane and would have been used to the walk up the lane in the dark. A neighbour passing on a scooter saw her heading up the lane around 6pm but this was the last anyone saw of her until her body was discovered in Rose Grove Wood at Whitwell over a month later - the discovery being made by RAF man Hugh Symonds and his 13 year old brother Brian. Because of the state of preservation of her remains in what was a particularly mild winter the murder became know as the 'deep freeze' murder as detectives believed that her body had been hidden in a freezer and then dumped at Whitwell shortly before her body was found, as the location she was found at had been previously searched in the days following her disappearance. Whilst detectives followed up may lines of enquiry, including a similar case in Essex, no firm leads were ever discovered and the case still remains unsolved.
Following her disappearance local residents campaigned for streetlights to be installed on Marshalls Heath Lane and this was done, as can be seen here.
Some 17 years later, in 1974 a former pig farm close to her home on Marshalls Heath Lane experienced some unusual phenomenon. Workers had reported doors locking and unlocking themselves and then a worker in a large storage barn saw the figure of a girl playing in the far corner of the barn. The worker walked over to speak to the girl but when he got to the corner of the barn the girl was nowhere to be seen. She had disappeared and there was no way she could have got out apart from walking straight past the worker. It was suggested at the time that this was the spirit of Ann Noblett who had been murdered some 17 years before. Whether the ghost bore a resemblence to Ann or not the sources do not say, so it is unclear if it really was her or whether it was just locals connecting two unsolved mysteries. Any more information on this is welcome.
Update March 2016.
On reading further into the haunting (of which there are two more detailed accounts on Google Books, but I cannot copy into here) it would appear by a strange coincidence that one of the witnesses to some of the phenomenon was the late father in law of my opposite neighbour when I lived in Harpenden in the 1990's. I didn't know him well but he seemed unlikely to be someone to make up things. Funny how these things happen. The hauntings were of a poltergeist nature, with slamming doors and touching in the Autumn of 1974 which culminated in the sighting of the figure of the young girl in December of 1974. Apparently many local residents believed it was Ann including my neighbour's father in law who as a young man had been one of the many who had searched for Ann at the time of her murder.
A séance was conducted at the (by now disused) buildings in the early 2000's and contact was supposedly made with a spirit who identified themselves as Ann and who named a man from Whipsnade who was still alive at that time as the murderer. Further, at least one source states that local Police had been receiving regular calls regarding this murder certainly up until the late 1990's from a call box in the Luton area with the caller admitting that he was the murderer. As this murder is otherwise forgotten by the vast majority of people one can only assume that the caller truly had specific knowledge of the incident however it would appear that they have never identified themselves. At their youngest they would be likely to be in their mid-70's by now so it is very possible that the culprit has now died and taken their secrets to the grave.
In Memory of Ann Noblett
The area of Marshalls Heath is on the B653 between Harpenden and Wheathampstead. Marshalls Heath Lane leaves the main road opposite Cherry Tree Lane and the former Cherry Trees Public House which has now served as an Indian restaurant for nearly 20 years. Up Marshalls Heath Lane is a play area and associated heathland and then the road continues on towards Gustard Wood. This lane became notorious in the late 1950's when shy and naive 17 year old local girl Ann Noblett was abducted and murdered in December 1957 after alighting from a bus from Harpenden where she had been having a dancing lesson at Lourdes Hall. Ann Noblett lived about a quarter of a mile up Marshalls Heath Lane and would have been used to the walk up the lane in the dark. A neighbour passing on a scooter saw her heading up the lane around 6pm but this was the last anyone saw of her until her body was discovered in Rose Grove Wood at Whitwell over a month later - the discovery being made by RAF man Hugh Symonds and his 13 year old brother Brian. Because of the state of preservation of her remains in what was a particularly mild winter the murder became know as the 'deep freeze' murder as detectives believed that her body had been hidden in a freezer and then dumped at Whitwell shortly before her body was found, as the location she was found at had been previously searched in the days following her disappearance. Whilst detectives followed up may lines of enquiry, including a similar case in Essex, no firm leads were ever discovered and the case still remains unsolved.
Following her disappearance local residents campaigned for streetlights to be installed on Marshalls Heath Lane and this was done, as can be seen here.
Some 17 years later, in 1974 a former pig farm close to her home on Marshalls Heath Lane experienced some unusual phenomenon. Workers had reported doors locking and unlocking themselves and then a worker in a large storage barn saw the figure of a girl playing in the far corner of the barn. The worker walked over to speak to the girl but when he got to the corner of the barn the girl was nowhere to be seen. She had disappeared and there was no way she could have got out apart from walking straight past the worker. It was suggested at the time that this was the spirit of Ann Noblett who had been murdered some 17 years before. Whether the ghost bore a resemblence to Ann or not the sources do not say, so it is unclear if it really was her or whether it was just locals connecting two unsolved mysteries. Any more information on this is welcome.
Update March 2016.
On reading further into the haunting (of which there are two more detailed accounts on Google Books, but I cannot copy into here) it would appear by a strange coincidence that one of the witnesses to some of the phenomenon was the late father in law of my opposite neighbour when I lived in Harpenden in the 1990's. I didn't know him well but he seemed unlikely to be someone to make up things. Funny how these things happen. The hauntings were of a poltergeist nature, with slamming doors and touching in the Autumn of 1974 which culminated in the sighting of the figure of the young girl in December of 1974. Apparently many local residents believed it was Ann including my neighbour's father in law who as a young man had been one of the many who had searched for Ann at the time of her murder.
A séance was conducted at the (by now disused) buildings in the early 2000's and contact was supposedly made with a spirit who identified themselves as Ann and who named a man from Whipsnade who was still alive at that time as the murderer. Further, at least one source states that local Police had been receiving regular calls regarding this murder certainly up until the late 1990's from a call box in the Luton area with the caller admitting that he was the murderer. As this murder is otherwise forgotten by the vast majority of people one can only assume that the caller truly had specific knowledge of the incident however it would appear that they have never identified themselves. At their youngest they would be likely to be in their mid-70's by now so it is very possible that the culprit has now died and taken their secrets to the grave.