In the spring of 1950, an unsung pioneer of electronic music and variety star returned to his native Calderdale for a series of concerts at the Drill Hall, Halifax as part of the Halifax Home and Industrial Exhibition.[i] His name was Joseph Forest Whiteley, but he was best known by his stage name Musaire becauseContinue reading “Weird Musical History 2 ~ Musaire! Calderdale’s Unsung Pioneer of Electronic Music”
Category Archives: Yorkshire mysteries
Easter Ghost ~ Halifax 1843
At Easter 1843 crowds began to gather round a certain Halifax house, and more curious onlookers joined the throng each day. The house was said to have been unoccupied for 20-30 years and yet strange sights had been seen through its upstairs window: a bed was seen to fly around the room and a ghostlyContinue reading “Easter Ghost ~ Halifax 1843”
Vampire Hunters and Me
I’ve only ever had any dealings with two vampire hunters. I found myself in the middle of a decades long feud that involved occult duels, black magic, a bishop, vampires, a giant spider, Long John Baldry’s cat and Robin Hood… It all began in 2003 when I was working on the first edition of WeirdContinue reading “Vampire Hunters and Me”
On Seeing Things…
Many are familiar with former Todmorden police constable Alan Godfrey’s 1980 UFO adventure. It’s a thrilling tale involving a mysterious death, conspiracy, UFOs, teleporting cows, hypnotists (not all of them reputable), an alien and his robots. And a big dog. Of course, all is not as it seems, and I invite the reader to seeContinue reading “On Seeing Things…”
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“
Todmorden UFOs ~ Previously undiscovered historical UFO sightings from the 19th and early 20th centuries!
This experience can be found in a letter to the editor of the Todmorden Advertiser from 1932, and is perhaps the strangest of the pre-saucer era sightings I uncovered in researching Weird Calderdale. It is signed ‘Old Lydgatian’ and is reproduced below in full. A CURIOUS PHENOMENON “Sir,- One day this year, in about theContinue reading “Todmorden UFOs ~ Previously undiscovered historical UFO sightings from the 19th and early 20th centuries!”
Weird Calderdale Bonus Chapter ~ The Halifax Witch Doctor
Here’s a chapter about a strangely comic episode from the mid 19th century that didn’t make the final edition of the book due to space considerations…. The Halifax Witch Doctor ‘The plaster and the pills, and the bottle that I gave him would fotch t’ watter from him. The pills are harmless. I know whatContinue reading “Weird Calderdale Bonus Chapter ~ The Halifax Witch Doctor”
Paul Weatherhead 