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Helena · Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 75 Location: yorkshire, UK

A-Z of Yorkshire's Ghosts

Appletreewick
A ghost dog with fearsome eyes called “The Barguest” haunts nearby Troller’s Gill.

Nappa Hall, Askrigg
Mary, Queen of Scots is supposed to haunt Nappa Hall, the fifteenth century fortified manor house. She stayed there in 1568 possibly as a break during her period at Bolton Castle. A vivid account of the apparition was written by a visitor in 1878.

Aston
The former rectory, now known as High Trees, is haunted by the ghost of a rector who caught his wife in the arms of the butler and murdered her. There is an indelible bloodstain on the floor where the deed was done.

Attercliffe, Sheffield
A silent phantom army was seen by the river here in 1661 dressed in all white. The troops took more than an hour to pass by William Bloom, vicar of Attercliffe, who recorded the phenomenon in his diary.

Atwick
A headless horseman has been seen occasionally in the area, though no one knows his identity. At the foot of the hill on which the church rests, a spring is said to have been haunted by a hobgoblin called the Haliwell Boggle.

Batley
William Nevison earned the nickname “Swift Nick” after riding from London to York in fifteen hour and a half hours on Black Bess in 1678. Nevison undertook this ride to establish an alibi, but in spite of this he was arrested and executed at York. His reason for haunting at Batley is remote, but it is probably because he killed a man there in 1681, shortly before his capture.

Birstall
On 30 December 1684, William Batt rode up to his home, Oakwell Hall where he was son and heir, passed his family without speaking and climbed the stairs to the main bedroom where he disappeared. A bloody footprint there was the only sign of his presence and this may still be seen. A few days later his family learned that he had been murdered in Barnet at the time when he appeared in the family home. To this day he still appears.

Beningbrough Hall
The now-vanished Beningbrough Hall was the scene of a double tragedy in 1670. The housekeeper at the Hall, a good looking middle aged woman, was murder by local poacher William Vasey, at the instigation of the steward of the estate, Philip Laurie, possibly out of jealousy for her known attachment to the gamekeeper, Martin Giles. Vasey was caught by Giles breaking into the gamekeeper’s cottage and later confessed to murder also. He was hanged at York and Laurie committed suicide. Until the end of the 19th Century, the housekeeper’s ghost was said to haunt the banks of the Ouse near the spot where she had been drowned.

Bolton Abbey
King George V was one of the witnesses to the Marquis of Hartington’s account of seeing the ghost of a monk in the rectory in 1912. A black-robed spectre that haunts the church accompanied by a strong smell of incense usually appears in July in the daytime.

Boroughbridge
The old course of the Great North Road to Scotch Corner is haunted by the ghost of Tom Hoggett, a notorious highwayman who drowned in the River Swale while trying to evade capture. His apparition wears a long, strangely glowing coat and travels along the road at great speed.

Coverham
A Black Lady walks from the church over the moor towards Middlesham. The ghost is said to be that of a woman whose body was discovered by peat diggers about fifty years ago.

Drighlington
Lumb Hall is haunted by a ghost which the owners have named Charlie. He has appeared as a cloaked figure said to be like a Civil War fugitive but is more frequently heard making a shuffling noise at the front door.

East Riddleston
The hall at East Riddleston has four ghosts. A Grey Lady who was starved to death by her husband, rocks an ancient cradle gently. Another ghost is that of a Scottish Merchant murdered by a treacherous steward for his money, a white lady ghost who died after she drowned haunts the pond and a Blue Lady haunts the grounds of the Hall for an unknown reason. This district is well-known for its unfriendly spirits!

East Scrafton
A flickering light that defies explanation and disconcerts motorists haunted the minor road through the hamlet. Known as the “Pennine Light” it could be connected to the ruins of St Simon’s Chapel by the riverside.

Flamborough
Detailed elsewhere is the Flamborough Figures photograph, possibly showing the spectres of two drowned fishermen. There is also the ghost of a young girl called Jenny Gallows. Local tradition states that if children’s games disturb Jenny’s ghost by calling out a rhyme it will disappear. The ghost of a headless woman has been also reported in the neighbourhood; and a spectral “White Lady” is said to haunt Danes’ Dyke, an Iron Age earthwork nearby.

Flixton
This village was well known for its deadly werewolf. In Saxon times a hostel was built to protect travellers from such animals.

Fountains Abbey
A ghostly choir has been heard chanting in the abbey’s Chapel of Nine Altars but the most interesting ghost resides in nearby Fountains Hall. Built by Sir Stephen Proctor, a blue ghost, that of his daughter who witnessed her father’s evil doings and remains at the hall for eternity. An Elizabethan man has been seen emerging from the panelling in the stone hall.

Gillamoor
The naked ghost of Kitty Garthwaite is seen by the River Dove. Two hundred years ago Kitty was left pregnant by her suitor and drowned herself in the river. Now she seeks revenge by attempting to lure passers by to a similar watery death.

Harpham
Whenever the head of the St Quinton family, lords of Harpham was about to die, a ghostly drumming is said to have sounded from a well in a field near the church, now known as the Drumming Well.

Haworth
The ghost of Emily Bronte has been seen walking on the moorland path near the waterfall. On 19 December 1978, the anniversary of her death, she appeared at Weaver’s restaurant, where she climbed a staircase that had been removed years before.

Hickleton
A phantom highwayman (sometimes appearing headless) haunts the main road. Paranormal investigator and author, Terence Whitaker saw him in 1953 and described the ghost as wearing a cloak and a tricorn hat and being the most terrifying experience he had known. Some think that three skulls displayed in the church porch once belonged to executed highwaymen and maybe one of them appears to this day.

Ivelet
The quaint old bridge over the River Swale near Muker is haunted by a headless black dog, a token of tragedy to follow. The bridge is part of the Corpse Way, the route taken by funeral processions from remote farms and there is a stone by the bridge where the wickerwork coffins were laid while the bearers rested.

Kippax
The Old Tree Inn has the ghost of a former landlord described as a white haze with a smiling face. He was held responsible for turning off beer taps and moving glasses.

Kirklees Park
In the park Robin Hood’s Grave can be found. It’s alleged that the grave is haunted by a number of evil spirits that cause misfortune for anybody who visits.

Leeming
The airfield at Leeming is well seen from the Great North Road and was a bomber station during the second world war. The bomb store used to be at the remote southern area of the field and close by was a mound of earth concealing the wreckage of aircraft that came to grief at Leeming. This area is haunted by wartime aircrew in flying kit and their ghostly voices have also been heard.

Long Marston
In 1644, Oliver Cromwell defeated a Royalist Army at the Battle of Marston Moor, about a mile north of Long Marston village. The ghosts of the Royalist soldiers have frequently been seen in the area, including three phantoms in Cavalier costume; they were recently reported by two motorists travelling on the A59 York – Harrogate road. The Old Hall in the village, used by Cromwell during the battle, is said to be haunted by his ghost.

Ripon
At the Unicorn Hotel the ghost of Tom Crudd can be found. He was the bootboy at the hotel until his death in 1762. Also known as Old Boots, Tom could hold a coin between his chin and his nose – probably looking like Mr Punch.

Rossington
Incorporated within the buildings of the village are roman masonry and decoration from the nearby settlement of Brementium. To the north of the village a semi-naked woman ghost has been seen weeping at dusk on summer evenings.

Sand Hutton
Busby Stoop Inn takes its name from an incident in 1702 when Tom Busby killed his father-in-law at the pub by hitting him with a hammer. Tom was hanged and gibbeted on gallows built outside the pub and his ghost can be seen on moonless nights with the noose around its neck and the head at an unusual angle.

Scarborough
King Edward II’s favourite, Piers Gaveston haunts Scarborough Castle after he was captured here and taken to Kenilworth Castle for execution. His headless ghost is malevolent and rushes at trespassers who unwisely visit the castle at night. The resort also has a Pink Lady, Lydia Bell, who haunts the street where she was murdered in 1804, and a black horse has haunted here since Norman times, appearing out of a thundercloud.

Wakefield
In her will, Mary Bolles of Heath Hall, near Wakefield, left instructions that the room in which she died was to be permanently sealed. After her death in 1661, the room was accordingly closed off. Fifty years later, however, it was opened, and after this the ghost of Mary Bolles never ceased to haunt the hall. Stone effigies were laid on her tomb in Ledsham Church in an attempt to quiet her restless spirit, but in vain. Troops stationed at the Hall in 1943 claimed to have seen the ghost. A caretaker reported also that his alsation guard dog would never walk through the death room. The house has now been demolished, but the door of the haunted bedroom has been preserved in Wakefield Museum.