It is on the banks of the Avon that one of Stratford’s most recent hauntings takes place and it is connected to a murder which is still unresolved and the case is still open.

One summer morning in 1954 the verger of holy trinity was entering the grounds of the church when he made an unusual discovery. On the ground in front of him he found a ladies left shoe and a pair of lower dentures. It was unusual enough in it's own right but in post war Britain they were articles which were not just discarded.

He carried on into the grounds and made another discovery, a pair of spectacles with very strong lenses. This caused him more concern as the person who they belonged to would not be able to see properly without them. And then a handbag - now really alarmed he raced into the vestry and called the police - convinced that foul play was afoot.

The police duly arrived and began to search the grounds, whereupon a final gruseome discovery was made - one of the tombstones had been ripped from the earth and was missing. The banks of the river were searched and even the town itself, but nothing was found.

Then they dredged the river and soon found a ladies body weighted down by the missing tombstone.  The body belonged to Olive May Gardener Bennett, a local midwife. Olive had no known enemies and she had never been in trouble with the police.  Locals, however, did link her to some illegal abortions which had taken place, but the police never found any truth in these rumours.

The police have never made any arrests for Olives murder but there is a chance that her killers are still alive today. I say killers because it would be nearly impossible for one man to carry a tombstone from holy trinity to the place in which it was found.

The murderers, of course, might just still be alive today as the crime took place in 1954.

Olive is one of Stratford’s newest ghosts and there have been many reports that a lady has been stood in the water about waste deep mournfully looking down, this apparition has been so clear that some people on boats have been known to dive into the water mistaking olive for a drowning woman, when they break the surface of the water the vision disappears. 

A certain part of me believes Olive will only find peace when her killers are found, if they are alive there may only be a very short period of time left before she becomes a permanent ghostly resident of Haunted Stratford.