Haunted Hull E-Book

Mark Riley

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

The bustling city of Hull has a long and distinguished history, but the area also harbours some disturbing secrets. Discover the darker side of Hull with this terrifying collection of spine-chilling tales from around the city. From poltergeists and phantoms to the mysterious stories of the floating vicar, Little Emily and Old Mother Riley, this book includes many pulse-raising narratives that are guaranteed to make you blood run cold. Illustrated with over sixty pictures Haunted Hull will delight everyone interested in the paranormal.

Leseprobe

I would like to dedicate this book to my mum, Eileen, who sadly departed during the writing of this book. A wonderful wife, mum and nanna.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people for their support and encouragement throughout the writing of Haunted Hull, especially my lovely wife Angela and our children, for without their support this project would not have been possible. Also to all my friends, for their continuing support and help gathering the stories. I would also like to thank Hull Library; the Hull Daily Mail; Mark Lindsey; Keith Daddy; Richard Hayton; Reverend Tom Willis, and my good friend Chris Bell, who shared their experiences and supplied some of the stories. A final thank you to The History Press, and in particular Beth Amphlett, who gave me this opportunity.

Contents

Title

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

one

Ye Olde White Harte

two

The Holy Ghost

three

Ye Olde Black Boy

four

Old Mother Riley

five

Hull Citadel

six

The Hull Prison Ghost

seven

The Floating Vicar

eight

School for Thought

nine

Mystery Shoppers

ten

New Year’s Eve Ghost

eleven

The Hull Rapper

twelve

More Hull Ghost Stories

Bibliography

Copyright

Introduction

THE city of Hull is steeped in a colourful history. As well as once being home to William Wilberforce, who played a key role in the abolition of slavery, it also became one of the country’s major shipping ports; its main trade being the export of wool. The city was involved in the civil wars, and was heavily damaged in the Second World War during the Blitz – Hull was in fact the most bombed city after London. The city is also known for its distinctive white telephone boxes, unlike the red majority across the rest of the country. The city also has another side to it, a history of ghosts and spectres, with spine-chilling tales from haunted pubs and a haunted shopping centre, and featuring the Floating Vicar, Lady in the church, and old mother Riley. These stories are sure to make your blood run cold.

1

Ye Olde White Harte

AFTER hearing that Ye Olde White Harte pub on Silver Street in the old town of Hull was haunted, I contacted the present owners to arrange to meet them and hear their stories. The owners were happy for me to call into the pub, and arranged for me to meet up with a chap called Patrick O’Malley, who has lived at the pub for several years and has experienced more than anyone else at the property. Patrick and I agreed to meet in August 2010, on the appropriate Friday the 13th. Would this date prove unlucky or lucky for us to be discussing ghost stories? Would they even show up to add a little spice to the discussion that was about to take place? Patrick has also written a small book called A History of Ye Olde White Harte, and things that go bump in the night!! from which he has given me permission to use some of the information contained within – I thank him very kindly for both.

We met in the main bar area and sat near the big inglenook fireplace that once housed a secret passage (now bricked up but with a small window inside showing where the passage once was). Patrick told me of the first night he stayed in the pub. He slept in a room on the top floor, which he describes as Victorian in style with wood panelling. He told me the room was once used as a meeting room for the freemasons and would once have been filled with fine leather chairs. It was easy to picture a scene in which the rich men of Hull sat in discussions, smoking their large cigars and having a drink of whisky, pushing the bell for service – there are still bell pushes around the room on the walls. Early the next morning Patrick was laying in his bed asleep when, suddenly, he was woken by the sound of footsteps coming from the staircase and hallway. He sat up waiting for someone to enter the room, believing it may have been the landlady, landlord or another member of staff. After several minutes and no one knocking on the bedroom door, he got out of bed and made his way to the staircase outside his room. It was dark and no one could be seen, so he made his way down the stairs, checking each and every door as he went, finding them all locked. He eventually arrived in the bar, thinking that someone must be there, but he was surprised to find the place in complete darkness and the doors locked tight. He decided that it must have been his imagination – his tired mind playing tricks on him – however, his thoughts soon changed as several minutes later he was still awake, fully compos mentis, and he could still hear the footsteps.

The sign above the doorway leading to Ye Olde White Harte.

Patrick’s second unusual experience came on a summer’s day in July 2005. It was roughly midday and he was in the garden reading the newspaper, when the landlady came out. Putting the newspaper down, he engaged in conversation with her. Noticing that he had ink on his hands from the print of the paper, and that he was wearing white jeans, he excused himself to go and wash his hands in order to acoid getting ink on his trousers. After he had washed and dried his hands he turned and was surprised to see a dark shrouded figure standing in the doorway. As he hadn’t heard anyone coming down the hallway to the toilets he was a little surprised to see anyone there at all, and as he jumped back and blinked, the figure disappeared. I was shown the area where this took place and can testify that in the toilets you can clearly hear someone approaching.

A few weeks later Bernard, the then manager, was in his sitting room in the building next door, which was annexed to the pub in 1881, when he caught a glimpse of someone dressed in black standing beside him. As the landlady, Fiona, always wore black he, at first, thought it was her, but looking up he realised it was the same black shrouded figure Patrick had seen in the toilets. However, Bernard has since claimed it was not a ghost as he was tired and that Patrick had put the thought into his mind.

Patrick and Bernard were not the only ones to see the figure. Only a couple of weeks later, a TV repair man was returning a fixed television to the pub, and, as he made his way up the stairs to the landlords’ flat, he thanked the person who was standing at the top when they moved out of his way. As he put the TV down he realised that no one was there, which made him wonder who it could have been, so, when he went downstairs, he asked Bernard who it could have been, but Bernard assured the repair man that no one was in or near the flat. When he asked the repair man what exactly he had seen, the repair man answered, ‘All I saw was a dark figure’!

A full year passed before the figure was encountered again; this time by a cleaner. Both the lady in question and her husband helped out around the pub, cleaning and getting it ready for opening time. She was trying to light the fire in the bar, when she became aware of someone standing behind her. Thinking it must have been her husband (as they were the only two in the pub at the time) she started to talk to him, but getting no response she turned to see what he was doing, and much to her surprise, she was shocked to find that it was not her husband at all, but the dark figure.

Entrance to Ye Olde White Harte, via Bowl Alley Lane.

Patrick was eager to learn more about the shrouded figure and began to ask some of the older regulars if any of them had encountered it, but sadly none of them had. That was until a visitor from South Africa called into the pub one evening, he spoke to Patrick and revealed that he originally came from Hull and used to be a regular at Ye Olde White Harte. He said that about fifteen years ago, he had been part of a quiz team belonging to the pub and they regularly met in the room upstairs, which is now the restaurant. One night, two of the team arrived late and as they entered the room they were joined by a third figure, which every member of the quiz team took to have been a monk!

One Christmas, Patrick was given a set of keys to the pub from Bernard as he was going away. Patrick was not living in the pub at the time, but he agreed to keep an eye on the place whilst the owners were away. He called in on Boxing Day to check that everything was okay, and as he did so he heard a loud sigh – similar to the noise one might make as if to say thank heavens someone’s finally here. Patrick turned, wondering if he had really heard it, but saw no one. He checked to make sure everything was in order and then left to meet up with some friends in town.

On another occasion, Patrick had seen the landlady off at the train station. Upon his return to the pub he went to his room, and, on reaching it, he heard a ‘tut hmm’ directly in his ear and he turned, once again wondering what the noise was, only to find that there was no one there. Not long after this second experience, Patrick had been out with some friends and returned late at night and was about to enter his room, when he heard an ‘Aha’, as if someone was saying ‘and where have you been you dirty stop out?’ He describes all of the noises he heard as emotional sighs and that each time it sounded like a males voice.

As you enter the pub there is a staircase almost directly in front of you, and it is here that ghostly encounters have been had. On one occasion the landlord was showing a lady who was visiting from Ireland around the pub, and as they made their way up the staircase, just before entering the plotting parlour (a room next to the restaurant) she looked further up the staircase and asked him who the lady was who stood above them; Bernard looked up but saw no one. He told the visiting lady that there was no one there, but she insisted that there was, saying that the lady was wearing a blue dress and looking a little lost. The Blue Lady was seen on another occasion by a man doing some work in the pub. He was sitting in the restaurant shortly before opening time waiting for the landlord to meet him, when he turned and noticed a lady sitting in the small annex room next to the restaurant – this was once a secret room that went behind the staircase in the middle of the pub, and came out through a secret door in the plotting parlour.

The Blue Lady has also been witnessed by a chef. He was sitting in the dining room talking to one of the pub’s suppliers; facing the staircase near the plotting parlour, when suddenly he saw what he described as a blue mist floating down the stairs before disappearing behind the plotting parlour door.

While they have never been able to find out exactly who the Blue Lady is, there is one possible explanation as to who she may be. As she appears mostly near the staircase, it could be assumed that she may have died in that area. In 1809, a fire ravaged the pub, and some signs of this can still be seen today in the scorch marks on the beams. At the time, a man by the name of John Clarkson was the landlord and he suffered severe burns during the fire, and tragically his daughter died in the blaze. Is it possible that she could be the Blue Lady so often seen in the area?

Patrick admits that he has only been scared once whilst staying at the pub. One night, he was in charge of locking the pub up once it had closed. He was sitting near the inglenook fireplace finishing his drink before he left, and he could hear what he described as a ‘swish’ – similar to the sound a sword makes when being swiped through the air. He called out, ‘Behave in there and keep the noise down’ and made his way to the staircase, but the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Curiosity getting the better of him he retreated. Thinking that maybe he had left the one arm bandit machine plugged in, he realised that the machine’s plug had been pulled out of the wall. It was at this time that he heard the ‘swishing’ noise again, directly by his ear this time. He was about to run out when he thought better of it, calling out, ‘Right, you, it’s time you behaved yourself. I’m going to sit down and finish my drink, then I’m leaving,’ which he did. After fifteen minutes or so, the noise had gone, and finishing his drink he got up and left. Afterwards, Patrick gave some thought to what may have caused the sounds. Any time the freemasons were present at the pub, they would have placed a young man on guard at the bottom of the stairs, who would have held a sword to stop anyone getting into the meeting upstairs. Maybe the young man became bored at times and practiced his sword skills whilst waiting? If you look at the staircase, you can see cut marks in the banister, which have been made by something sharp, like a sword.

There have been some unusual instances in the pub that have been witnessed by more than one person at a time. One December, roughly around tea time, Patrick and some friends met up for a drink. The pub was not very busy, and Patrick was standing near the hatch at the bar. He was talking to two friends when something caught his eye; a glass on the shelf moved slightly before flying off, clearing the bar and the till before landing on the floor without breaking. This was very unusual because the glasses were on a shelf which had a mesh mat that stops glasses moving when they have been placed there after being washed. The two friends also witnessed this. On another occasion, a loud bang was heard coming from the cellar, which was heard by Patrick, the barmaid and a customer. The barmaid went down to the cellar to investigate and, on her return, explained that an ice bucket had fallen from a shelf. She swore it had been placed securely there earlier by herself and had no reason to fall.

One day, Patrick was stood at the bar when he heard a loud crack. He turned towards the barman, thinking that he had hit the glass fridge with a bottle or something similar. The barman looked at Patrick and asked him what the sound had been. As they looked down at the floor, a large ashtray – one of the big thick black ones – was lyng on the floor, split cleanly in two. Thinking that it had broken because of the temperature of the cleaning water, they picked up the ashtray to find that it was neither hot nor dirty, and they soon realised it was the same ashtray that had been sat on the bar all day.

Patrick started keeping a journal of things that he experienced at the pub. He wrote of another incident which took place on 15 November 2006, around 4 a.m. Both he and a friend had been drinking, and his friend became tired so decided to have a lie down, retiring to the room on the top floor, leaving Patrick where he was in a chair placed to the left of the large inglenook fireplace. Patrick was also tired but decided to stay downstairs; he turned off the lights and took up his chair once again to settle into a nice sleep. Within seconds he heard some creaking noises similar to those made by floorboards and staircases when the temperature in the room changes. This time, however, it was the not the floorboards or the stairs, Patrick knew those sounds, and these were most definitely different; they were accompanied each time by a swishing sound before the creak. As he sat up, he suddenly heard another very distinct sound – the bolt on the door that led to the cellar. He spoke to his friend about the incident the following day, who said that he had heard a crashing sound from the third floor, but had put it down to Patrick bumping into something in the dark.

A few days later, on 19 November, this time at around 4 p.m., a lady who was accompanied by a seven-year-old girl visited the pub and asked to have a look around. The owners asked Patrick to show them around, as he often gave little tours of the pub. He gave his usual talk, describing how entrance to the secret room was once gained, and pointing out the small stained-glass window that was there now to show people where it was. As Patrick opened the window to show them, a chair at the end of the table fell over for no reason at all. Patrick looked at the guests to see what their response was, and while the lady seemed a little shocked, the young girl appeared unsurprised