Hannah Grundy – the Headless Ghost of Staithes If you take a night walk on the beach near the North Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes at Christmas, you might see an eerie transparent figure floating down from the towering coastal cliffs. As the shape comes closer, it crosses a bridge and comes onto the beachContinue reading “Some Headless Xmas Ghosts”
Category Archives: Ghosts and spooky legends
The Blue Hand ~ a Hebden Ghost
A grave danger faced the terrified pupils of Central Street Infants School in Hebden Bridge in the early 1970s: The Blue Hand. This ghostly hand scuttled around the school’s corridors and was apt to pounce on unsuspecting children, especially if they were alone in the toilet. The spectral hand would gouge out the little one’sContinue reading “The Blue Hand ~ a Hebden Ghost”
Weird Musical History #3 ~ The Elvis Presley Séance (1979)
Two years after Elvis Presley died, a seance was arranged in a North London Spiritualist Church. The aim was to contact the King of Rock and Roll from beyond the grave. The event was recorded and released as a vinyl LP by Shadow Records in 1979. The event is narrated by the softly spoken RadioContinue reading “Weird Musical History #3 ~ The Elvis Presley Séance (1979)”
On Ghosts, Demons, Aliens and a Haunted Light Switch
Part One ~ I am plagued by ghosts and a demon I’m often asked if I’ve ever had any supernatural experiences myself. Well, sort of…. In fact, I’ve done battle with ghosts and a demon in the wild Balkan Mountains of Northern Greece. But of course, there’s a twist. I lived in a town calledContinue reading “On Ghosts, Demons, Aliens and a Haunted Light Switch”
The Broad Bottom Ghost
The story of the Broad Bottom Ghost was told by Hebden Bridge born political activist and suffragette Lavena Saltonstall to the Todmorden and District News in the early twentieth century.[i] It concerns the area between Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd with the unflattering name of Broad Bottom, consisting of some woods, fields and a few houses.Continue reading “The Broad Bottom Ghost”
Brown Dick of Blackstone Edge
This version of the legend in all its melodramatic Victorian glory is adapted from the ‘Lancashire Burns’ Edwin Waugh’s dialect telling.[i] Most of the action takes place a little outside Calderdale, but I’ve decided to include it here. One snowbound mid-winter evening, a party of travellers were sheltering from the weather by the warmContinue reading “Brown Dick of Blackstone Edge”
Old Red Eyes ~ The Ghost of Todmorden Station
There was a great deal of alarm in Todmorden at the end of May 1864.[i] Rumours had circulated that one Saturday at midnight, the night watchman on the station platform had seen a ghost and that subsequently both the ghost and the watchman had disappeared. The following Sunday and Monday great crowds gathered round theContinue reading “Old Red Eyes ~ The Ghost of Todmorden Station“
Paul Weatherhead 