Bad ManorsOakley Court - Inside 110 & The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Knock, knock. Whose there? It's alien transvestite which can mean only one thing... Today we're at Oakley Court a.k.a. Dr Frank N. Furter's castle from the Rocky Horror Picture show. Today we are talking dead cats, drownings, ghosts and witches... Prepare yourselves - it's going to get freaky.
TRIGGER WARNING - This episode contains stories about drownings & infant mortalities.
Links
Check out Jake’s book, The story of Oakley Court here
Follow Bad Manors on Instagram
Follow Tom on Instagram and TikTok
Follow Jake on Twitter
Credits
Produced by Atomized Studios for iHeartRadio
Host: Tom Houghton
Producers: Willem Olenski, Rebecca Rappaport & Chris Attaway
Executive Producers: Faye Stewart & Zad Rogers
Production Manager: Kaitlin Paramor
Production Coordinator: Bella Salini
Contact
For any podcast enquires please contact: willem.olenski@atomizedstudios.tv
Hello, and welcome to Bad Manners. This is the podcast that takes you inside Britain's stately homes and tells all the tales the guide books don't. My name is Tom Wharton and I'll be your host. As a comedian, I'm not really bothered about the facts and figures. I just want the juicy stuff. So I'm on a mission to find out the frightening, filthy and downright jaw dropping stories of these stately homes and the people in them. Oakeyed Oakey. Today we'y in Oakley, more specifically Oakley Court, a Gothic country house on the banks of the River Thames. Without knowing it, you've almost definitely seen this place before. In fact, if houses were actors, this would be an a lister, all be as an aging one who's had some serious work done and has a slightly problematic past. The gothic vibe begins on its beautiful gravel driveway.
You've got massive treesy of the side of you. And then once you get to the main front entrance, the hotel where you foundain used to be in this beautiful front door, which is a very famous front door.
Actually, yes, that's right. Any fans of doors out there are about to lose their minds, because this house is the proud owner of one of the most iconic front doors in cinema history, most notably as Dr Frankenfurter's Castle in the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And this horror history isn't just an on screen persona. Oakley Court has a pretty horrific history of its own. Joining me on the podcast today is Jake Roach, who survived working at Oakley Court for seven years. Oakley Court do they call it the oc.
The staff do? Yeah, Yeah, it's one of the names.
And I just think of the program callsing loads of castle outside, wins the castle, have some phone Oakley.
Court, It would work, It work, perfect works.
So Jake, I think you should introduce yourself and tell me about how you first found out about Oakley Court.
So I actually worked at Oakley Court when it was a luxury hotel, which it still is to this day. I spent several years working in various different roles within the building and it was actually during this time that I fell in love with the building itself. I was really intrigued by the history and obviously knowing the film connection. I wanted to know more, and I ended up writing the history of the building into a full book. I started writing it more for myself than anybody else. It was a bit of an obsession which turned into four years of research. I watched maybe two hundred films that were associated with Oakly Courts. There was various different films in the seventies when the building was empty, and it just had this amazing history all the way up to the present day where they still use it for filming now. And it's just started a fascination because I could see places that I was going every day.
That's really nice to know that it's gone from this amazing manor house to a derelict building. And then everyone loves a comeback story. Well exactly, and you're responsible for that. Well, I wouldn't go that far necessarily, But not all heroes wear cakes. Some write novels. Indeed, indeed, right in that case, I think it's time for Jake to lead us up the gravel path and in to Oakley Court. So what we want to do is we want to the scene. So I imagine you and me are approaching Oakley Court. We are walking up. I was shooting a long driveway we are.
Indeed, it's a beautiful gravel driveway. You've got massive trees of the side of you. And then once you get to the main front entrance to the hotel where he foundain used to be in, there's a beautiful front door, which is a very famous front door.
Actually, what's it is? It featured in some films.
If you're a rocky horror fan, you will know this front door.
That's all I'll say, because that's where what's his name, riff Raff.
Riff Raff famously opened that door to a poor young couple pouring rain. Hello, this is my fiancee, Janet White.
That bloke his name no one knows, but has quite a large package if you see when they get stripped down inside them.
Yeah. Yeah, it wasn't where my eyes went immediately, but it was my eyes.
I could my eyes off it. I was like, well, lucky, Susan, well done.
I think perhaps a better boat.
I'm inside.
And you said that there was a fountain in front of the house, but there isn't one anymore. What happened to the fountain?
I mean a lot of things have gone from the original house because it was so dilapidated. So in the seventies when they're filming Rocky Horror, this building is virtually falling apart so much so. I don't know if you know this, but Susan Sarandon actually got pneumonia filming Rocky Horror. I did not get because of the conditions in the building. It was that bad.
Oh wow. Well, and also everyone's running around half naked most of the time in the show. So put some layers on, guys, turn the heating on.
Put some clothes, I think, so please, it's the middle of autumn.
Come on, get that ghouler scuff. I'm trying to think because the Rocky Horror the picture show came a lot later. Yes, when did the actual building get made? I'm thinking it's it's eighteen fifty something, Is that right?
It is indeed eighteen fifty nine, okay, And it was actually built as a family home for the Richard Halsay family, a family of four people.
Okay, so let's name the family Richards Hall Say Ellen, his wife, who is French.
She's not French, she's not French. She's about as French as I am.
The rumor has it is that the house was built for her because she was homesick and they wanted to make it as.
French as possible, unless she particularly loved French cuisine. I don't know where that came from, because she lived five miles down the road of her family in as called Botney Court, and I think if you got to the flag tower Oakly Court, you will be able to see Bobney Courts.
But the house, would you say, the house itself looks French.
You could argue it looks French. I mean it's a Gothic vibe. Yeah, it's a Gothic castle, so very quite popular at the time. In the late eighteen fifties it became a really popular kind of architectural design, and actually a story about that. Eighteen sixty Queen Victoria was so fascinated by this brand new building being built in her local town that she made her coachman drive her down to Oakly Court just to have a look.
Oh nice.
She didn't get out, she was just wanting to be nosy. She went up to the drive, looks at the house and then went back to Wendsor Castle as happy as anything, just a queen doing a little drive by Sunday drive. Peru's yeah.
Nice.
Yeah. Can you imagine the staff there at the time. This is sound unbelievable. I think the Queen of England has just driven her carriage past the front door. Shut up, Manuel or whoever it is. I was just assumed they booked French staff to try and make friends.
As possible with a name like Manuel.
Yeah, so Richard and is missus who isn't French?
They had two young children at the time.
Now these two children quite unfortunate stories, Am I right?
No?
No, these aren't.
You got your a few decades away from that yet.
Okay, I'm clearly getting ahead of myself. How about we just start the story by heading through the front door. So now we're in the house. Yeah.
Again, it's very gothic inside. You've got large, dark paneled walls around you, the big staircase that winds around above us. It takes you to the bedrooms, and these are the bedrooms where all the films were shot throughout the seventies. So this is the original house. This is where everything could have happened, would have happened, and indeed did happen.
Right before we go into the bedrooms. It's not that I'm not enjoying on going straight there, Jay, I'd like to be wind and dine before we go to the children, please, I want to stay classy on this podcast.
Fair enough, Okay, So if you want me to wind and dine you I can downstairs. If you avoid the staircase and go round to the left, you find what is now the Hotel bar. Now this leads directly into the drawing room. And the drawing room is a grand, beautiful bay windowed room, large ceilings overlooking the river. And again, this is one of the really famous rooms that was iconic in many films. We talked about Rocky Horror. Most of the fans will know this room because it's where the Time Walk Dance would have been featured.
Oh that's amazing.
Although it wasn't filmed in the room itself. The room was rebuilt at Bray Studios so they could film it there because of the size they needed.
What did an exact replica of the room and put it in a different studio as.
Close as possible. Yes, again, back in the seventies, the building was in a really bad state of dereliction. To be honest, I just don't think the room was habitable, let alone dart Tible.
Everyone's trying to do a step to the left to twist the right and then just collapsing because their lungs have.
Got exactly falling through rotten floorboards. It's not really the vibe.
What cut.
I'll try again, Susan O.
Susan exactly, exactly. Embraceidos is literally a two minute walk, so makes more sense to keep them alive.
And I think if you wag them up a minute walk and everyone perishes, can you remember the moves to the time warp, I'm going to test you now.
Gosh, it's just to jump to the left. Yes, And that's as far as I can get.
Is that it?
And I stepped to the right.
I step to the right. That's all I can remember. As well, Thank you you williem and then anyone else benjaneers and time turns out we all know one lyric each between us.
We can do an entire song.
We can perfect get us down. This house started as a family home and then eventually to the present day, became a swanky hotel. But there's so much that happened in between.
There is, indeed, I mean, the fascinating thing about this particular building is it was a family home for over one hundred years, and even during that time, the history is incredible. But most intriguing is the fact that once the last owner died in nineteen sixty five, this building was left derelict. And by this point he hadn't really been living there for nearly twenty years. So the building itself was not particularly in a great state of affairs. It didn't look particularly well maintained. The grounds were unkept so much so that they were actually renting out parts of the building for low income families in the area. So it really wasn't the grand house that we see today. So this wouldn't have been a place you want to be. This is a place you had to be.
Do we know how many sort of families could have been living there at one time?
I mean not just in the building itself. There's a lot about buildings. There's cottages on the grounds. I would say probably twenty to twenty five people may have been there during this period. As early as the nineteen fifties. There've been a lot of rumors about sinister goings on in the building. This is from people who'd been there, people who'd stayed the night there had seen and heard things, but more interestingly than that, there'd been a lot of suggest that the grounds themselves were being used for various different devices.
Yeah, I think it's worth saying that the grounds actually do stretch out quite far.
Yeah, today there's thirty three acres. Back then there was over fifty. There's allegedly a witch's coven in the grounds. People on the river had witnessed hooded figures in the nineteen fifties walking around these derelict, overgrown grasses at night. So there's this real bad aura there, real nasty vibe about what was happening at this time.
I say, Richard, what a perfectly wonderful day to go for a stroll by the river. But what about those hooded women on the opposite side of the back, pointing their sticks at us and enchanting in a strange language. What the hell do you think they're trying to do to us, Richard? Richard on a toad?
Now, oh, Richard, what have they done to you? Those beastly women. They've turned my dickie into a toad.
Like I said, there is plenty of is within the building and on the grounds, which have had lots of interesting sightings, But the most notorious one is a room called room one, one zero or one ten.
It up to the ante where there's a room with a number.
It is like the shining like the Shining room.
One oh one.
Yeah, that kind of vibe.
And can you just tell us about the room one ten?
Where do you start with one ten? I mean this is a room where most of the staff wouldn't dare spend more than five minutes alone. Put it simply. Do you know? The worst part about one ten is it's entirely set aside on its own in a corner, literally isolated from the rest of the building. It's almost like you have to make your way to this isolated corner of this very old derelict building.
Imagine we're walking down the corridor past one eight, made our way to the isolated corner. I'm going to turn the handle and open the door. Oh, there's a bit of a gust of wind as well. We're going to go around the campfire and we're going to hear about a real horror story.
Yes we are, and sadly it involves a young family. This is a young mother at the time. Her name was Penny Gallaot. She had two young boys. She was living at Oakley Court during the seventies. This is a time where as I mentioned, the house is not in a good state of repair.
There's holes through the glass windows. There's wind howling.
In various parts of the house. This is quite literally true. There's leaks, there's mold, there's parts of the building that are falling down. This is not a friendly place to bring up your children.
And this woman arrives with her too. Let's say, angelic children Innocent is the day. Who are the boys? Can we talk a bit about them?
We can't mention the names, but one was only two at the time, and one was no more than a baby, so we are literally talking about infants. She arrived, she'd lived there for maybe a year or so, and a lot of these sinister goings on were starting to become apparent to her. Tragically, a few weeks before the event I'm going to talk about, she actually had a nasty didn't occur without any explanation. She opened the front door of the building a knock she claimed to have heard, and there on the porch was the mangled body of her family cat.
And it was just splayed out.
This wasn't a normal tragedy involving a cat being killed. This cat's body had been mangled, it had been torn apart. It was a gruesome act. It was very distressing. The family have no idea how it happened, so to find this is quite a shocking thing for her, I imagine. So that was sad enough. But following this, a real tragedy took place, and this is one that kind of shook the core of this family. And indeed, when we look back at the history of Oakly Court, is one of the worst parts of that history. So several weeks after the cat incident, this young woman, Penelope, she was very unsteady in this house, uneasy as you can imagine.
I can imagine.
On one particular night, Penny's running a bar for her young toddler and the phone rings downstairs, so naturally she goes off. She goes downstairs, she picks up the phone, Hello, Hello, but nobody's there. Instinctively, she runs straight back up the stairs. When she returns to the room, she's met with an unspeakable tragedy, something that nobody could fathom having to walk into. There. The bar is still running. Is her young toddler drowned with a up.
I mean Penny's not having a good time here at all, is she? I mean, she's already down on her luck being at the house anyway. Then she's opened the door, and then the cat's dead. Now she's getting phone calls with no one there, which I imagine makes her feel like she's going slightly mad. And then this tragedy walking in and seeing your child there. Have they even got into the bath. It's a hard thing to have happened.
Oh, it's awful, and actually sadly it doesn't end there.
Oh God, this poor woman.
But it gets worse because several months after, her other child was left in this playpen while she was distracted by something, but the latch on the playpen mysteriously opened. The child got out, crawled down to the river, and supposedly saw the reflection of its dead brother, causing it to fall into the river and drown.
I don't know how you'd even begin to start processing and getting over this series of events that have happened to Penny. How did she deal with it? She would have blamed herself, I imagine.
Wow, this is the key thing about this whole story. She actually blamed the house. She believed, as many people have done in the past and will do even today. That there is sinister going on in this building. There's an aura something is creating bad things to happen in this building. And whilst she never really recovered, as nobody would, she maintained she was not a bad mother, she was not unfit. She believed that the building has caused these tragedies to happen.
It's such an interesting situation, isn't it, Because when you start associating something with something, If you believe a house is bad, then you're more prone to bad things happening.
I get that, but you have to look at this history of this building. This isn't the first event that's happened here.
No, I mean, you're right, there is definitely a series of unfortunate events which may go there is the one factor is always that the house.
You know, the house is the key part of this whole story, and the house continues. Things come and go, people come and go, tragedy happens, but the house is always there. Fast forward fifteen years and it's renovated to a luxury hotel. Things change, perceptions change.
Yes, but how often does room one ten get booked out? Because who the hell's staying in that room.
Listen on the whole this is a stunning place to be.
Yes, Apart away from all the death and the witches coven and the mangled animals on the doorstep, it's actually a wonderful day out.
It is lovely to stay and I've stayed there many times and I've never encountered such things, have you not? But I believe that's because the building accepts me.
Okay, why does it accept you? Why would it accept you and not the wonderful Penny, who seems like a nice woman just trying to do best for her kids.
I think it comes down to the acceptance of the building itself. Penny was forced there. She didn't want to be there, she didn't like it there. It was a necessity. For me. I embraced the building. I love it. I think it's a great place. I'm intrigued by it. The history for me is part of the character of the building. So I think me embracing that means the building embraces me.
So it's quite a vain haunted house, this one, isn't it. Look I'm going to be nice to you, but as long.
As you say I'm fabulous, it doesn't end with Penny. You know, there's many people who've worked in the hotel over the years who've experienced things that they can't explain.
And do you feel there is a theme of the people who accept the building more get on with the building better, and the people who don't accept it bad things.
Happen quite potentially.
Yeah, interesting. I'll just tell you this story. When I moved into the Tower of London, which is obviously very haunted, I lived in Queen's House, which is now King's House. I was at a dinner party and I met a woman who lives in Dover Castle and she said to me, so, Tom, here's what you ought to do when living with ghosts in a haunted castle. It's a very niche conversation to have, but I did basically. When I went into Dover Castle on my first night, I went into the main hall, popped open a glass of champagne and I addressed the ghosts and I said, listen, spooks, specters, spirits. My name's Joe. I'm going to be here for the foreseeable future, so let's just have no silly buggers throughout the night. I won't mess with you. You don't mess with me. By gones, be bylons, and will all be fine? And she said, ever since I addressed them, they've left me alone. It's been fine. So my first night in the Tower of London, I cracked open a can of fosters because I didn't have any champagne. And then I went into the guy for Interrogation room, which was one of the dining rooms I was in, and I was like, all right, lads, just let you know I'm now living here. My name's Tom, so just be cool and I'll be cool. And then they didn't bother me.
It worked worked. It worked because there's a lot of ghosts to talk to in that place. There are loads.
Yeah, have you ever tried to talk to the ghosts in Oakly Court?
I mean it's hard enough talking to the guests sometimes. No, I've never spoken to a ghost Oakly Court, and must say I have had interaction with ghosts before, but not in not in the ocle Court. So I can tell you little story if you want, I mean, please do ye, imagine, I said, just carry on. So my when I was a child, my mum bought a small cottage in a village and it was a very old cottage and I was actually in my room one night, and I could always feel something in the room. It was cold, never felt comfortable, and I was always giggling. Whenever I went to bed, I could here giggling. There was no reason for it. I wasn't giggling. There was no one else in the house who should be giggling. And every now and.
Then, very humorous family, did you no, don't laughing? Thank you laugh?
Come on? But I constantly had giggling going on in this room, and it kept me awake many nights, and in the end it got worse because actually I could feel something tickling my toes. But in effect it kept going on for months and I felt really downeasy in this room. And then one day I was unpacking a box in the room and in the corner of my eye I saw what looked like a young boy in a full Victorian outfit sat on a chair behind me. Oh my god, and talking of ghosts. I went as pale as one and made a run for it. And I was absolutely traumatized. Wouldn't go in the room for weeks.
So you are playing you one hundred percent saw.
This, yep, And to make it more interesting, a few weeks later, my mum, who's a big history buff, came home from the local library. We have a book about the village, and in the village book was a picture of our cottage. And in that cottage picture was the young boy. No, no, seriously.
I don't like it. It's all it's like, Oh, God, gives me that film the Witches.
Yes.
Do you know when the little girl gets caught in the painting and they can see it. It's like that.
It's that kind of vibe.
Oh my god.
So yeah, compared to that Oly courts to Doddle for.
Me, I bet you were very bal about all the nah, just all the drowned kids. I've seen it all. Don't worry.
I must say. Whilst I don't get many negative vibes from oketly Caught personally, the room itself is one that I was never comfortable going in.
Interesting that you don't get negative vibes, but you do in that room.
I think the reason for that is because I have such an affiliation with the building and its history. Sure, I feel a part of that history. So for me it's important to believe that. You know, I've played a valuable role, I hope in maintaining the building's legacy.
Well, you've written a whole book.
Well that helps, I suppose very good. So you know, if I can't give a ghost a glass of champagne, I'll try and write them a.
Book kind of Foster's don't cline, don't you worry?
How does writing a book work? Now that you've written one? Have you caught the book writing bug?
I've always been a writer. I love it. I'm actually still writing. But I'm a big aga for CHRISTI fan, so I'm actually writing period murder mysteries at the moment, a lot of which do base themselves on manor houses like Oakley Court.
You're a big fan of houses and murder, is what I'm getting from you, Jake.
They say, do what you love?
And also do you have a coloring in book? Is that right?
I do? I do? That was more of a side earner. But I made a coloring in book for the Royal Windsor Town.
Murder first, houses second, and then entertaining kids on this.
You know, if there's time.
Sure.
Yeah.
You said that when you saw Oakley Court you instantly had this connection with it and you felt something. Is that an experience you've had with many houses over the years. Houses have personalities, especially the ones that have been around for so long and have been lived in and a history. When people talk to me about the Tower of London and they said, do you believe in ghosts? And there's just always an energy in the house, there's an aura to it. You can feel that stuff happened.
I think you're exactly right, you can feel it Oakley Court. I felt good energy because, as we've discussed, I think it accepts me because I'm a good addition to that building. I'm there to relive its history, but in a positive like share story with the world. But I have been in many buildings where you feel a bad aura and you know, I've lived in it, in an old cottage, an old house where I've instantly felt that bad vibe and never really agreed with it until the day I left. I never really felt comfortable there. So yeah, one hundred percent. There's definitely this concept of buildings either want you to be part of their story or they don't.
What's your current house you're living in aura.
Luckily it's quite a new build so it's relatively safe.
This one.
I feel safe, and that's the key. I do feel safe.
The flat I'm currently living in. It's got this really weird energy coming from next door and I can't explain it. Sometimes I'll be having a party at three in the morning and this figure of a woman will appear at my front door and tell me to shut up and go to beds. And it's a mystery that's still yet to be solved.
And it keeps reoccurring every single time.
Yeah, it's with like clockwork, and.
You need to move. You need better neighbors.
Jake. If you were to pick a favorite manor house beside Oakly, what would you go for?
That's a tough question, Tom. I mean, I am loyal to ocally Court. Yeah, quite simply. It's it's the place that gives me the most interest and the most excitement, and the history really speaks to me. There's some amazing buildings. I love Clifton nearby, I love Tableau House. I mean in my area alone, there's fantastic buildings, but none of them have the history or the intrigue that Oakly Court brings. So I have to biased and say it is Oakly Court. I mean same to you, what do you think is the one that you like?
Did you know what Jake? Having talked to you now for a long time about Oakly Court and realizing that this house likes people to embrace it and like it. I'm quite scared to pick another house as well, because I don't want it. I don't want a house to come after that.
I think as long as you take a can of Foster's and go and introduce yourself properly, you might be Okay.
Should go get some beer now, it'll be nice. Let's do it. Deal a dead cat to the lift. I went to the ride on the bed.
Oh, we sure he's all right?
A court where everybody's in there? No one never staying in room one ten again. No one never staying in room one ten again.
Thank you very much. Sorry, my mum's phoning me. I am an airplane mobilem connected to the internet. That's how that's got very good. No, mum, No, I wasn't meant sorry. I wasn't meant to. I wasn't going to pick that up. Sorry. Ah. That's what's weird, you know, is I answered that phone and there was no one there. Oh the house is after me?
Was it really your mum?
Or right? I'm so good to have any children. Okay, I'm gonna turn my phone off.
Sorry.
If you want to hear more about Oakley Court, fret not for it will return for a Hammer Horror History special where we'll be hammering home the Houses Horrendous History, paying homage to the home of Hammer Horrors. Thanks for listening to Bad Manners. If you like the pod, please share it with your friends, Rate it on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave a review and make sure you spill the tea on any of your favorite Bad Manners that we could feature in future episodes. This podcast was produced by Asamei Studios for iHeartRadio. It was hosted by me Tom Horton. It was produced by Willem Lensky, Rebecca Rappaport, and Chris Ataway. It was executive produced by Face Steur and Zad Rogers. Our production manager is Caitlin Paramore and our production coordinator is Bellasolini.
