YORK GHOST TALES - THE MOST HAUNTED CITY IN EUROPE?

York Minster in the fog, haunted by Seamus the dog (Karli Watson/Flickr)

York has a lot of ghosts. In 2002, the International Ghost Research Foundation said it was the most haunted city in Europe, with 504 hauntings within the confines of the ancient walls.

Founded by the Romans in 71AD, the city's violent and volatile history – including Viking invasions, the Norman Conquest and the Civil War – makes its ghostly legacy easy to understand.

The Minster, which stands towering over the city, is said to be haunted by Seamus the dog, whose barks echo through the halls at night. Legend has it that Seamus and his stonemason master worked on the Minster when it was being built. Other workers did not like the pair so one night decided to brick Seamus in behind a wall. With his master unable to find him, Seamus died alone terrified in the darkness, his barks never answered.

In one of the houses behind the Minster, another ghost wanders the upper floors. A family that had moved into the house quickly became aware of a strange presence. A crying sound would come from the children's bedroom upstairs and people who entered would be overcome with feelings of sadness and regret.

The house on College Street where the crying girl haunts the upper floors (Google)

The girl had lived in the house in the late 14th century. Just six years old, her parents had died from the Black Death in the family home. Fearing she too had the disease, the child was locked in with her parents' bodies by locals. However, she was not infected and after the doors and windows were boarded up, she slowly starved to death all alone.

Rachel Lacy, a paranormal historian from York worked in the Haunted House, on Stonegate, before it closed down just a few days ago. As a paranormal historian, she used to lead ghost tours of York and has researched ghost stories from the city for many years.

Explaining why York was so haunted, she said that before the Romans arrived about 2,000 years ago, there were early tribes that had kept the land as sacred ground. "Then the Romans came and built a great city on sacred site. Maybe they disturbed something much earlier," she said.

While working in the Golden Fleece, one of York's most haunted pubs, Lacy said she and many other members of staff saw ghosts or experienced paranormal activity. "The Fleece is weirder than anywhere I've ever worked. I've heard a lot of stories from different people. I saw things there that I've never seen anywhere else."

Staff members told stories of seeing their colleagues walking through rooms only to later discover they weren't there or had only just arrived. People heard furniture being moved around when alone in the pub, while others heard their names being called.

The now closed Haunted House on Stonegate (J Lawrence/Flickr)

Discussing her favourite ghost tale from York, Lacy said she had personally interviewed Harry Martindale, whose story about the Roman soldiers walking on their knees is one of the city's most legendary.

Martindale had been working at the Treasurers House where a Roman road had been discovered in a cellar. He went down on a broken ladder and began work. However, as he came to the end of his shift he heard music coming from the wall he was leaning on. He fell down and scrambled into a corner, when he saw Roman soldiers emerge from the wall and march down the road. He could only see to their knees – however, when they walked over the hole to the Roman road, he could see their full legs. He could hear them talking, but could not work out what they were saying.

"Now I could see them exactly as I can see you now, they weren't no wisp of smoke, they weren't whirly, you know, the atmosphere didn't change, they were human beings as came out of the wall except they were dressed as roman soldiers," he said.

Martindale's story gained legitimacy after describing several aspects about the Roman soldiers' clothing that he would not have known at the time, including how they laced their sandals, their tunics and their shields.

The seance room of the Haunted House(J Lawrence/Flickr)

Lacy said that although a number of popular ghost stories in York have been corrupted over time, there was a great deal of evidence and sightings to support the city's ghostly reputation. The Haunted House has now been bought by a property development group which plans to refurbish and rent out the house.

She said that after Haunted House closes, they will be working to purge the property of ghosts through rituals, including the spirit of a girl cursed by her own mother in York Minster. The girl had been betrothed to a boy living next door. However, she was caught sneaking out from his house and the moral police dragged them to court.

After being questioned, the pair supplied contradictory stories and she was cursed. She ended up marrying a different man who turned out to be "incredibly violent". After trying to flee, he caught up with her during an Easter Parade and beat her so severely doctors believed she would die. However, her ultimate end remains a mystery. "The court records stop before the story ends, so either money changed hands to make it go away, or the documents were lost. But the last documents with the husband's name showed he had married another woman, so she either died or he killed her," Lacy said.

"I can't think of a better reason why she would haunt the house."

Source: InternationalBusinessTimes

`GHOST` IMAGES DISCOVERED ON PHONE MEMORY CARD BY OWNER

A FAMILY were spooked when they discovered ghostlike pictures of a little girl in Victorian costume shadowing them from room to room around a museum.

John Burnside came out in goose bumps with he found the images of the child lurking in the background on his phone two years after they were taken.

They were taken two years ago – when he popped into York’s Castle Museum with partner Shona Backhouse and their son Johnthomas Burnside, then just 18 months' old.

John, 27, a labourer, of Wakefield, had no explanation for what had happened.

He had never seen the little girl before until he found his old memory card in the pocket of his pyjamas and transferred the contents onto his new phone.

He was sat next to Shona, 25, on the couch when they spotted the extra figure in the photos.

He said: “It was weird. I didn’t notice anything at first then I thought I was imagining it. So I asked Shona and she said ‘Yes. It’s a little girl.’

“When I phoned my mum she at first thought it might be a little girl that my sister lost but my dad spotted the girl in the picture was in Victorian dress.

“It’s enough to make you paranoid. It gives me goose bumps every time I think about it.

“I don’t like the idea of ghosts or anything like that. It gives me panic attacks. There was not little girl like that on the day at the museum.

“It was pretty dead there to be honest all through the day. Anyway, it looks like you can see right through her.”

There have been claims in the past at Castle Museum is haunted.

A crew filming an episode of Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns programme in 2006 insisted they had heard shrill voices and seen ghostly children running around.

Shona, who works in a tanning salon, said: “I don't know that the thing is. It is like it was following us because it was in the last picture of me taken outside.

"It is really weird. I never noticed it until other day when we looked through the pictures.

"But I told John when was at the museum that I had funny feeling and didnt like it there.

"The room one of pics was taken in I wouldn't go inside. It gave me goose pimples and shivers.

"Our son was around 18 months' old at the time. I can't really remember if he sensed anything - but I know I didn't like it at all though."

Source: YorkPress

To me, these photographs look fake. The first behind a grill looks more like an old photograph of a woman and child merged in with the background. The quality of the images are extremely poor quality which helps to mask any suspected fraudulent images.
And of course, the images lay unseen for 2 years before they were `shockingly` discovered...
I wasn`t there, I could be wrong. But from experience, these images look highly suspect.
But at least the images owners got their 15 minutes worth of fame ..

GHOST OF A CAT CAUGHT ON HAUNTED SHANLEY HOTEL VISIT

Here is a video shot at an investigation held at the notoriously haunted, Shanley Hotel in Napanoch, New York.

Screenshot showing the upright tail of a cat crossing
the hotel corridor. (Image from video by Stephen Barcelo)

The video is mostly an interview with the owner, Sal Nicosia who explains more about the cat that haunts.
But watch from 1 minute in. Quite amazing! There is more footage of the activities of my own `ghost cat` below this report.



Video Source: stephen barcelo

My own `ghost cat` footage is my former little friend, Shelly who was absolutely devoted to me in life, and in death (she died over a year ago) and periodically she still appears, particularly at night when I am in bed, as sometimes I feel her physically as she walks in spirit across me. It isn`t unpleasant at all, and in many ways is quite reassuring.
Initially she appeared in the form of EVP of a cat purring within my own home. Afterwards, she started to `appear` as more contented purring on outside visits, and on one which was many miles from where she lived with me.
Here is such an example which was shot inside Thetford Forest in Norfolk. Watch from 13:08.



Cat`s are very spiritual creatures, and far more psychic than any human I`ve met. The reason is that their minds are 100% open to spirit, and they don`t suffer the same insecurities that many humans feel when confronted by the paranormal.

Historically, cat`s are linked to the devil, and that primitive fear of them is manifested by drawings and paintings which depict them as `Satan`s familiars`. Indeed many were walled up alive - and sometimes with their kittens, inside houses in a bid to keep the devil from entering the home.

And even in the 21st century, there are still humans that have this fear of these creatures.
I have never seen cat`s as `evil`, instead I have found them to be quite the reverse. However such an opinion in the 17th century could have led to a quick show trial for `witchcraft`, and a slow death by fire.

I have many more examples in my work of my cat`s evp. And here below is another example from my own home.

Post by Chris Halton Haunted-Earth.

A sceptical thought was that somehow my camera motor/tape/battery, and indeed anything else was responsible for the purring. However, the argument is actually quite weak as all the activity thus recorded has been on three Hi8 tape DV camcorders. And as I use this equipment professionally, they are all checked and serviced regularly.

Chris Halton