22/10/2026
👻 HAUNTED HITCHIN: The Lavender Lady of 9–10 High Street 💜
Next time you look up at the upper windows of the former M&Co building on the High Street, take a second glance—you might just spot Hitchin’s most aromatic phantom watching back.
Long before it was M&Co (or Woolworths for those with longer memories!), this very spot was the home of Perks & Llewellyn, the famous 19th-century lavender distillers and chemists who put Hitchin on the world perfume map.
Their original shop was demolished in the 1960s to make way for a modern retail store, but it seems one former resident never got the memo to move out…
Shortly after reopening, shop staff and browsers began reporting strange, impossible happenings:
👣 The Phantom Flight: An apparition of a woman dressed in Victorian clothing was seen walking up a staircase that wasn't there—floating diagonally across the shop floor along the exact angle where Perks & Llewellyn's staircase had stood decades prior.
🌸 The Scent in the Shadows: Sudden, overwhelming waves of sweet, freshly crushed lavender would drift through empty aisles and quiet upstairs storerooms out of nowhere.
👗 Ghostly Browsers: Staff regularly reported catching glimpses of two Victorian women calmly wandering between the clothing racks before dissolving into thin air.
☎️ The Call from an Empty Shop: One store manager locked up alone for the night, only to receive a silent phone call at home. When checked, the call had originated from the phone inside the dark, bolted-shut store.
Locals have dubbed her "The Lavender Lady", and whispers of footsteps, cold spots, and faint perfume lingered right up until M&Co shut its doors.
Did you ever work at M&Co, Peacocks, or Woolies? Did you ever catch the scent of lavender on a cold evening, or get that uneasy feeling you were being watched from the upper floor?
Tell us your stories in the comments below! 👇👁️
