Alfred Street, Redcar

At 2.00 am, one morning in 1963, Mrs Pamela Iredale, her brother Barry Gardner and her nine-month baby fled their terraced house in Alfred Street, Redcar.

Mrs Iredale said, quote: “I just couldn’t stand it any longer.. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I wouldn’t spend another night in that house for a fortune. I knew that an old lady had died there and I was used to hearing strange noises during the night, but thought nothing of them. Then the stairs began to creak as if someone was coming up them. For no apparent reason the baby’s cot collapsed and the curtains fell to the floor. Then the living room door, which was fastened with a tight ball catch began opening and shutting. There were no draughts and on one occasion it slammed and opened continuously for half an hour. I was so scared I locked myself in the bathroom and stayed there until it stopped. After that I asked a girl friend to stay with me, but she said the house gave her the creeps and she moved out after a few days. Last night’s happenings were the last straw. I had just gone to bed and my brother was just getting undressed in his room when I saw this old woman with a lighted candle. She was dressed in a grey frock and had white curly hair. I was petrified and called out to Barry. It wasn’t a dream, I wasn’t even asleep. The room became icy cold. I gathered up baby Colin and the three of us just fled the house. There is no way I will go back and live there again.”

The property’s owner Mr George Smee of Yeatby, confirmed his wife had died in the house and she was a small grey haired lady. He put the claims of a ghost down to a case of a vivid imagination.

Account from Now & Then issue 19, July 2002.