With Halloween upon us, we look at one of the most haunted locations in the area.

THE Ragged Cot in Minchinhampton may offer wonderful food and display a lovely cosy décor - but it also has a morbid tale embedded deep in its past.

A famous incident took place in December 1760.

The owner at the time Bill Clavers decided to rob the midnight stagecoach to London while under the influence of alcohol.

After deciding to leave the Cot armed with pistols, his wife attempted to intervene while her child was in her arms.

Clavers ignored the pleas of his wife and barged past her, knocking her down the stairs as he left the house.

Upon returning, Clavers found his aggression had disastrous consequences as he saw his wife and child dead at the bottom of the stairs. He then put their bodies in a trunk.

The local constables were onto Clavers following the robbery, and one of them was about to fire after a shot rang out as they approached the house.

A scream was then heard as Clavers saw the ghost of his wife and child drifting up the stairs.

The next morning, the bodies of the wife and child were found at the bottom of the staircase, as if they had never been moved.

Clavers was subsequently sentenced to death by hanging, and the Ragged Cot is said to be haunted by the ghosts of the wife and child.

Standing inside the hotel and restaurant, current owner Stuart Hansen knows exactly where the incident took place.

As he pointed to the area now occupied by the restaurant’s tables, he said: “There was a door there where it happened, the staircase came to a door here, and that X marks the spot.”

Stuart has been the owner for eight years, and in that time the hotel’s haunted past has attracted the attention of the media, including Channel 4.

“We’ve also had paranormal societies come here as well,” he said.

“They picked up a child’s voice in the dining room and had a conversation with the child.”

He was also told by his former manager of spooky happenings, including an incident where the fires went out one night and suddenly relit themselves.

Guests have also reported hearing strange noises and on occasion, there have been sightings of two ghostly apparitions.