Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Country and County: Greater Manchester

Apparitions / Hauntings / Roman Hauntings

Thurston Clough Romans

Thurston Clough is a hamlet near Scouthead, roughly 1.5 miles from the village of Dobcross, Saddleworth and Janette Quinlan in Mystical Oldham (2010) refers to a letter received by the Oldham Evening Chronicle in 1973 concerning Roman soldiers haunting Thurston Clough.

Apparitions / Haunted Hotels / Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

La Pergola Hotel, Saddleworth

According to Haunted Sites of Oldham by Janette Quinland and Shaun McGrath the 18th century La Pergola Hotel (now the Clough Manor Hotel) was haunted by the veiled apparition of a woman wearing a Victorian crinoline style dress.

Occult / Occult Traditions / Witchcraft

Witchcraft In Middleton

Around 1630 a man named Utley, presumably from Middleton was accused of witchcraft, tried at Lancaster, found guilty and hanged. It was thought that he had bewitched to death Richard Assheton (before 1625 – 1630), first son of Sir Ralph Assheton Esq, Lord of Middleton and his wife Elizabeth Kaye.

Apparitions / Black Dogs / English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales / Hauntings

Radcliffe Tower

Radcliffe Tower is all that remains of a fifteenth century (1403) manor house and is a Grade I listed building. At twenty feet high, this ruined remnant of the manors demolition in the nineteenth century is linked to a tragic tale of a stepmother arranging the murder of her husband’s daughter and is reputed to be haunted by a phantom Black Dog.

Apparitions / Civil War Hauntings / Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

Ye Olde Man & Scythe

Ye Olde Man & Scythe is one of the best known pubs in Bolton town centre, one of the oldest public houses in the United Kingdom and is reputedly haunted by James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby amongst others. Ye Olde Man & Scythe has stood in Churchgate since the 12th century.

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Folklore

The Bill o’ Jacks Murders

On April 2nd 1832 a landlord and his gamekeeper son were violently murdered at a remote pub on the edge of the bleak moorland above Greenfield near Saddleworth. Reported at the time as “one of the most diabolical murders ever committed” (1), the murders were never solved and have become a fascinating, if dark, part of the local lore of Saddleworth.

Black Dogs / Hauntings

Manchester’s Headless Black Dog

In 1825 a man reported being seeing a large headless phantom hound leap at him whilst he was in the vicinity of Manchester Cathedral.

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Articles / Folklore / Tall Tales

The Feytin’ Ape

Here’s a tall tale I collected from a local character when I was researching folklore in Oldham, Lancashire. While the tale is purely fictional it does include some half truths and was ‘doing the rounds’ of the local pubs.

Apparitions / Haunted Pubs / Hauntings

The Old Original

Haunted by an amorphous shape, thought to be a woman called Eliza Jane MacKay who committed suicide by drowning herself in the well of New Inn Farm, which is situated nearby. She is said to have been an alcoholic who drank at the inn and was buried in the orchard at New Inn Farm.

Apparitions / Hauntings

Cairo Mill

A security guard at Cairo Mill In Waterhead Oldham witnessed a UFO lit with a blue light after hearing a humming noise outside the mill. It was described as 30 metres in diameter, saucer shaped with a large window. After about 5 minutes the UFO turned and shot away into the sky. The factory cat also disappeared at the same time. There have been other UFO sightings in the area.