{222} There is only the very vaguest evidence for hauntings at Lady Hillsborough's old house of Hinton Ampner, near Alresford, before Mr.
Ricketts took it in January, 1765.

He and his wife were then disturbed by footsteps, and sounds of doors opening and shutting.
They put new locks on the doors lest the villagers had procured keys, but this proved of no avail.

The servants talked of seeing appearances of a gentleman in drab and of a lady in silk, which Mrs.
Ricketts disregarded.

Her husband went to Jamaica in the autumn of 1769, and in 1771 she was so disturbed that her brother, Captain Jervis, a witness of the phenomena, insisted on her leaving the house in August.

He and Mrs.Ricketts then wrote to Mr.Ricketts about the affair.