About Yorkshire Haunts

A little about ghosts...

What is a ghost? Everybody will have their own idea of how to answer this question. Belief in a supernatural world beyond th Dramatic 16th century depiction of an exorcism. The belief that troublesome spirits can be somehow 'removed' is still widely held. e comprehension and reach of our mortal existence has drawn believers, sceptics and the curious for centuries. The hard fact of the matter is that as we stand at the start of the 21st Century, with the great leaps in technology and science which have occurred, we have made very little progress in our understanding of this area.

What we describe as a 'ghost' is not as simple as might at first be thought. In fact a great range of apparently disparate paranormal phenomena are classified under this term. In very broad terms the most widely used categories are:

Poltergeists: from the German poltern, 'to make noise/knock' and geist 'spirit/ghost'. These spirits are the most active. Poltergeist activity will often start abruptly with no forewarning and will usually involve inexplicable noises, smells, movement/levitation of objects and assaul 'The Demon Drummer of Tidworth' is one of the oldest documented cases of poltergeist activity. ts upon people (although very rarely is anybody seriously hurt). In the majority of cases a child or adolescent will be the centre of the activity. Fortunately the majority of cases will end equally abruptly after a relatively short period of time; the paranormal activity appears to literally burn itself out. The poltergeist satisfies the Hollywood stereotype of what a haunting is like. For examples of poltergeist-type hauntings in the Yorkshire area see Gill Lane, Hoxton Road and Petersfield Avenue.

Natural Recordings: An altogether different type of haunting. In these cases a scene from the past, usually of great emotion (usually negative but sometimes positive) is seemingly played out to any nearby spectators. The figures are usually semi-transparent and silent; they will not be obviously aware of the modern world around them. In some situations only sounds from the past may remain, as ghostly echoes. This type of haunting is best likened to watching a piece of old film. The ghosts will usually be attached to a particular property, and usually a particular room within that property. Some theories suggest that this type of ghostly replay can only be triggered if the atmospheric and environmental A 16th Century engraving depicts the crisis apparition of a sailor appearing before his wife at the moment his ship sank in a storm. conditions are conducive to it. Examples of this type of haunting in the Yorkshire area include Bramham Park, Spofforth Castle, 'Discount for Beauty', Kirkgate, Lady Lane and Temple Newsam.

Ghosts with a Purpose: Are the most interactive type of apparition, and believed by many to be proof of survival of the soul after death. These ghosts will be aware of the world around them and will often try to communicate with a specific person to resolve some unfinished business from their mortal life. A notable case occurred in the Leeds Library.

Crisis Apparitions: Alternatively referred to as ghosts of the dying. Many cases have been documented of people on the point of death (often in tragic circumstances) appearing before their astonished loved-ones. Sometimes the ghost can impart a warning but more often the person just seems to want to see the people they love one last time. A noteworthy example reportedly took place at Oakwell Hall.

Ghosts of Inanimate Objects: Perhaps the most difficult category to understand. Examples have included boats, skulls, trains and buses. The phantom aeroplane at Bolsterstone is a famous example. 16th century scryer Edward Kelly apparently raising a corpse from the grave! - attempts (both real and fraudulent) to communication with the spirit world date back to mankind's earliest history.

Animal Ghosts: Have been seen and heard either by themselves or faithfully accompanying their human masters. A spectral black dog has been witnessed at Whitkirk Church, while the ghost of a stag has been reported at Kirkstall Abbey.

Ghosts of the Road: Although there is a good deal of overlap with other groups, road ghosts seem to be a subcategory in themselves. 'Nance' at Sheriff Hutton is a well-known example, while Roundhay Rose in Leeds is less famous.

How useful these 'pigeonholes' are is open to debate, if nothing else they satisfy the rational, organisational part of the human mind, where ghosts are otherwise a complete enigma.

A little about this website...

This website was launched in August 2005 as Leeds Haunts to compensate for the dearth of information relating to the supernatural in Leeds; both on the internet and in any other medium. As the site grew it eventually reached a stage where the number of new Leeds ghost stories I could add to it became limited, as the coverage grew more and more comprehensive. Therefore I took the decision to expand the area of reporting to include the whole of Yorkshire and changed in site's name to Yorkshire Haunts in August 2006 to reflect this.

People are not always willing to admit to paranormal experiences. As Derek Naylor, writing in the Yorkshire Evening Post many years ago suggested, this may be because "... hard-headed Yorkshire-men are not keen to admit seeing things." This is a great shame because so many ghost stories survive only through an oral tradition, and as these tales (however much truth there may be in them) form an important part of our social history; it's a part I feel deserves preserving.

Ghost stories, by their very nature, have a habit of growing in the telling; therefore I've resisted all temptations to exaggerate or embellish, drawing from sources close to the events wherever possible.

I see Yorkshire Haunts very much as a work-in-progress. I hope it will act as a catalyst to turn up even more Yorkshire ghost stories, perhaps of previously unheard of phantoms or to update the well known ones. I look forward to seeing how things develop.

Awards Yorkshire Haunts has won...