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Fans of the original version of Ghosts will know that the setting is as much part of the cast as the ensemble of ghosts that live in Button House. However, the real-life Button House – West Horsley Place – shares a remarkably similar backstory to the fictional version, with the owner inheriting it from a distant relative without any prior notice. However, that wasn’t why the BBC chose West Horsley House as the setting for Ghosts; in fact, they didn’t even realize it until they started filming.

For those who don’t remember, Alison Cooper inherited the fictional Button House in the first episode of Ghosts after the death of a distant relative. The real-life setting used for Button House is West Horsley Place, which was inherited by Bamber Gascoigne in 2014 following the death of his great aunt, who was Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe. Like Cooper, Gascoigne didn’t realize that he had been left the 50-room estate until he was contacted by the Duchess’ solicitor.

You’d think that the creators of Ghosts would have realized the remarkable similarities between the two backstories when they scouted the location, but that apparently wasn’t the case. At their MCM London 2025 panel, Ghosts co-creators Martha Howe-Douglas and Laurence Rickard explained that they had no idea that West Horsley Place shared such a similar backstory to the main characters in their show. They didn’t find out, according to the pair, until they spotted an informational leaflet while filming.

“We’d written the pilot and then found the house,” Rickard said. “And the backstory of the house was almost identical to the pilot.” 

“But we didn’t know that till we were filming,” Howe-Douglas added. “There was like a booklet in the green room. I’m flicking through like, ‘Oh my God. That’s really, really strange.’”

No word on whether West Horsley House has such an eclectic collection of ghosts walking the halls, but we’re willing to believe almost anything at this point.

Ghosts has become a phenomenon in the UK, America, and around the world. With CBS's third season of Ghosts underway, get to know your favorite apparitions with a guide to how the ghosts of Ghosts died, where to watch both Ghosts shows, a guide to the casts of Ghosts, why BBC's Ghosts ended, and learn about the other Ghosts the original show planned but never used. We even have some thoughts on why the American Ghosts has its own worthy charms.

Ad you can watch full convention panels with both the cast of BBC's Ghosts and CBS' Ghosts exclusively here on Popverse.