Castledown House

More Pensioner Syndrome and historical fact.


The block of flats in the centre of the picture is the site of Castledown House.It was a plain georgian mansion with a small amount of Classical detail built in the local sandstone that was popular at the time but weathers badly if in an exposed position.This house was visited often by Alistair Crowley who stayed their often.This house was a ruin up until the mid 80s.I used to go in it every so often to explore it.It was gutted by a fire but could easily have been restored as the shell of the building was sound.It stood in its own grounds once on the side of the West Hill in Hastings.Rumour has it that Alistair Crowley conducted certain rituals there and the house and the ground it stood was cursed.Also some urban myths about the house fire being re-enacted on certain nights of the year.Something about a servant in the house at an upstairs window nearly engulfed in flames throwing a Baby out of the window in an act of desperation.So the story goes anyway.


The house was sadly demolished by the council as it wasnt listed.Another example of vandalism and destruction.Instead you have the pile of rubbish that you see in the picture.THe land stood empty for years with one dead tree that stood in the centre of it.Someone started to build flats but something went wrong and it again stood unfinished again.I bet there was bad luck story there.

Why do i say that ? Rumour has it that like i said before the land was cursed as rituals had taken place with who knows what consequences.The only way to break the curse if it involves occult ritual is to conduct its antidote in another ritual that has the effect of neutralising the previous ritual .A bit like neutralising a strong Alkali with an Acid of equivalent strength.

Easy in principle providing you know what ritual had taken place first.If you dont know you will never know but you could try a standard ritual in the hope that it works or repeat it a few times.

What do i know ? I dont get involved in it but i have an understanding of it that comes from somewhere.It could all be superstitous nonsense but i do know that dark forces do exist so i take it fairly seriously and stay well away from it also there are others who do take it very seriously particularly in Hastings where there is a very old occult tradition.

I had a bit of a scare in that myself when in the basement of the house when i had the feeling that the walls where closing in and a terrible feeling of being trapped that took over from rational sense.I got out of there very quickly.


Local folklore says that if you live there and have a connection with it then it will never let you go and you will always be drawn back.Perhaps this is why i am writing about it so much and looking at pictures as part of me wants to go back and live there again.I always liked it there and was very happy to live there.

I dont believe the curse that draws you back is real but i did something to break it but maybe it didnt work.However if i dont believe in the curse then that should cancel it out but i still feel drawn back anyway so it seems like you cant win either way.

This curse is well documented in local myth and folklore.

Its full of weirdos and odd people is Hastings and it has a culture and eccentricity all of its own.We couldnt stand it sometimes so we used to go to Battle or Tunbridge Wells or Maidstone instead just to get away from it.Its a bit like being in a 24 hour freakshow that never ends.I had a terrible habit of laughing at some of the more unfortunate folk but i never let them know it but it was just too much sometimes.How very un PC>


We nearly lived in Tenterden and Hythe instead as they were close to dungeness but Hastings was the best option as it was fairly close to London.





END of Pensioner syndrome transmission.