It’s that creepy time of year again when the shops are full of pumpkins and scary witches’ masks.
From ghostly halls to spooky sightings on the street, here are 13 spooky stories from across Gedling borough that could have come straight from a Halloween film.
Train line near Netherfield Station
A woman was travelling to Nottingham from Grantham by train after receiving news that her mother had been admitted to hospital after having a fall. During the journey, the woman spotted her mother on the train carriage as they approached Netherfield, she smiled and vanished. After arriving in Nottingham, the woman was informed that her mother had died.
RHM Factory, part of which was Daybrook Railway Station
Back in the late 70s and early 80s workers at the factory often reported seeing a phantom woman in one of the mixing rooms, which was once Daybrook Station. After improvements were made to this part of the plant, ‘Mabel’ as they called her, never returned.
Mapperley Tunnel, southern end
In the 1970s two school children playing in the tunnel heard a steam engine rapidly approaching them – terrified they ran out into the fresh air. A few seconds after their escape they realised that the train could not have existed as the north end of the tunnel was…barricaded!
George’s Hill, Calverton
Since the 1930s, there have been many sightings of a strange ghostly figure dressed in black and wearing a large broad-brimmed hat roaming about on George’s Hill. As well as travelling on foot, this ghostly figure is also keen on hitching a ride with those driving alone on the hill at night. Many drivers have narrowly avoided crashing their vehicle after spotting they’ve picked up an unwanted passenger in the rear view mirror.
Many walkers venturing up the hill after midnight also claim to have been chased away by this menacing figure dressed all in black. Taxi drivers are said to still avoid this route into Calverton after dark, preferring to go into the village via Woodborough instead because of the amount of reported sightings.
Mapperley Hospital, Porchester Road
Since closing down back in 1994, the ghosts of this former asylum have found their voice. Workers on the site have heard their names being called by an unknown voice, and disembodied footsteps also heard. A woman dressed in old fashioned clothing has been observed several times walking down corridors, and a man has been heard to call out “hello”, though he can never be found.
Redhill Cemetery, Arnold
There have been many reports of the ghost of a man waiting outside the cemetery who has been known to catch one of the late night buses that go past there. Many years ago he was said to have boarded a bus, walked past the conductor and taken the stairs to the top deck. When the conductor climbed the stairs after him, the man vanished.
Bonington House, Arnold
Many visitors to the house have often mentioned they had experienced ‘cold spots’ as they moved around the property. A builder working in the cellar was astonished to come back from a break to discover the imprint of a child’s foot in some newly-laid cement. The cellar had remained locked while the builder had been out on his break.
Railway Bridge, Wood Lane, Gedling
A phantom woman is said to peer over the edge of the bridge and watch passers-by. Many believe she is the same woman who has been spotted haunting the site of the former railway station in the village.
Gedling House, Gedling
A small white dog has been spotted on numerous occasions over the years roaming about in the woods around Gedling House. On occasion, the dog is spotted accompanied by an elderly woman dressed in white who has been seen using a walking stick.
Witnesses who have seen her claim she could have been blind during her former life as she has been seen tapping her stick on the ground as she moves slowly around the site.
A nun has also been spotted roaming the woods and disembodied screaming has been heard.
Disused railway sidings, Netherfield
Many residents living near the disused railway sidings at the back of Jackie Bells Playing Fields have reported hearing strange noises at night. One family attempting to capture evidence of vandals damaging nearby property using CCTV were taken by surprise when reviewing footage from the night before. Instead of footage showing criminals being caught in the act, they instead captured noise of muffled voices, mostly European, and music too. When one of the family looked into the local history they discovered Italian prisoners would be escorted up the railway track a nearby World War II POW camp.
Newstead Abbey
There are many stories about appearances of the Black Friar or Monk. In the 1930s the wife of a houseowner in Newstead village was due to give birth. Her husband telephoned the doctor to come to the house as soon as possible.
The doctor arrived late and said he would have been later still if he hadn’t stopped by a waterfall in the grounds of Newstead Abbey and asked the way of a monk who was standing there. The black robed figure said nothing but pointed in the right direction. There had been no monks at the Abbey for hundreds of years.
Shortly before his disastrous marriage to Anne Milbanke, Byron encountered the Goblin Friar. The Goblin Friar was said to appear to the head of the Byron family before any unhappy event.
When sleeping in his bedchamber, the Rook Cell, at Newstead the poet was woken by the sensation of something mounting the bed. On sitting up he was confronted by a shapeless black mass, featureless apart from two red glowing eyes. The apparition rolled from the bed onto the floor and disappeared.
At one certain place in Newstead, where a passageway crosses the bottom of a staircase there is often a strong, heavy, Victorian scent of roses and lavender. No-one has actually been seen but there are numerous stories of people smelling the perfume.
After Byron left Newstead Abbey he sold it to an old school friend, Thomas Wildman. A devoted fan of the poet and his work, Sophie Hyatt came to live at a nearby farm. When the Wildmans learned how fond she was of Byron’s work they kindly allowed her to wander around the grounds whenever she wanted. Sophie lived on an income provided by a relative. In 1825 the relative died and the money dried up. However, Sophie had another relative in America and decided that she must try to make contact to ask for help. She left a note for the Wildmans to let them know what she was doing and set off.
When Mrs Wildman read the note she dispatched a rider to catch Sophie and offer her accommodation in the grounds of Newstead for the rest of her life. The horse and rider set off in hot pursuit and reaching the Market Square found a great crowd gathered around a horse and cart outside the Black Boy pub. Intrigued, the rider dismounted and pushed through the people to find Sophie lying on the ground – dead.
She had been run over by a cart, not hearing the drayman’s warning. She can now be seen wandering through her beloved gardens, especially along one path now known as White Lady’s Walk
Washington Irving, the author of the famous American ghost story ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ stayed at Newstead in the 1800s. He noted with interest that each morning the rooks would fly away, en mass, to sweep the countryside for food. They would return in a similar manner in the evening, where their discussion of the days events would echo around the estate.
Irving was told that the rooks observed the Sabbath; they set out every day except Sunday, when they stayed in the abbey grounds. He didn’t believe this until he saw it for himself. Indeed it appeared that the rooks visited their neighbours and friends, devoting Sunday to their nearest and dearest, but didn’t leave the estate.
Irving tells us that the local tradition had it that the rooks at Newstead were the souls of the ‘Black Monks’ reborn as birds, still occupying their old abbey. Indeed so strongly was this belief held that, contrary to common country practice, the Newstead rooks were not shot, and were generally left unhindered.
