Haunted Wigan

by Sarah Carberry, Nicola Johnson

Overview

The vibrant industrial town of Wigan has a long and distinguished history. However, the area also harbours some disturbing secrets. Discover the darker side of the Wigan with this terrifying collection of true-life tales from across the region. From the old cotton mills to the public houses there seems to be a ghost lurking around every corner. Featuring ghouls, poltergeists and phantom creatures this book is guaranteed to make your blood run cold. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources and containing many tales which have never before been published, Haunted Wigan will delight everyone interested in the paranormal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752481739
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	01/31/2012
Series:	Haunted
Sold by:	INDEPENDENT PUB GROUP - EPUB - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	5 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sarah Carberry and Nicola Johnson run Wigan Paranormal, a team which investigates ghostly phenomena in the region and also hosts public ghost-hunting events. Between them they have over twenty years’ experience in the field. They have their own website: www.wiganparanormal.co.uk. Sarah lives in Skelmersdale and Nicola lives in Wigan.

Read an Excerpt

Haunted Wigan

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By Sarah Carberry, Nicola Johnson

The History Press

Copyright © 2012 Sarah Carberry & Nicola Johnson
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7524-8173-9

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CHAPTER 1

Types of Hauntings

Elementals

These are believed to be types of spirits or beings which inhabit nature, and are thought to possess supernatural powers. The belief of their existence was universal in the ancient era of religions and today many people still believe that all things possess life, especially occultists and neo-pagan witches.

Elementals are believed to exist as the life force in all living things; even the elements of earth, air, fire and water, the stars, zodiacs and the planets, are ruled by higher spirits called divas or archangels, and are generally thought to be benevolent creatures that maintain a natural harmony.

Some people describe them as evil or just mischievous, others say they are between angel and man and are able to materialize in animal or human form. They lack souls and seek sex with humans in order to acquire one, and are also capable of bearing children.

Some are said to be deceitful and hateful, causing tragic accidents and creating grief. They are associated with ritual magic and when sent on psychic attacks they attach themselves to human auras. If they are not dispelled when their mission is done, they can drain the energy from their victims and become confused and troublesome.

Poltergeists

There is slight controversy with regards to what a poltergeist actually is. 'Poltergeist' is a German word which means noisy spirit. What can you class as a noisy spirit? One that makes tapping noises, calls out a name, or one that throws objects? Some spirits can do one or all of these things, depending on how strong that energy is. Some believe that a poltergeist isn't a spirit at all, but psychokinetic energy which is caused by the subconscious mind of an individual. This person is often under physical, emotional or psychological stress and is often associated with young adults going through puberty. It is reported that poltergeists can turn lights on and off and effect other electrical appliances and make objects move; the manifestation of physical phenomena.

Intelligent Haunting

This is what most would call a classic haunting, where the spiritual entity is fully aware of the living world and if strong enough and willing to, will interact and respond to the living. In most cases this is because the spirit wishes to get the attention of the person, as it may be a relative or family friend. They will do this by moving objects, opening and closing doors, making parts of a room cold, giving you goosebumps, making sounds – like calling out your name – and even turning on lights, taps, TVs and radios. Sometimes they may be a bit more mischievous by throwing things or pushing people, this may be the result of the spirit not wanting you to be there, as you may be in what was once their home.

Normally, the prime time a spirit will show itself is between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. This is because it takes a lot of energy for them appear (think of a flashlight shining during the day, you will hardly notice it, but turn the lights out ...) although, very strong spirits have been known to be seen in daylight.

Some spirits are just lost souls that don't know what to do or are too scared to pass over; some don't even know they have died and carry on their day-to-day business.

There are many spirits who come back to their loved ones, to look over them and guide them through troubled times. There have been many times on investigations when we have encountered our own families with us, who are curious to know where we are going and wish to communicate with us.

Residual Haunting

These are the most commonly reported type of phenomena and also widely discounted by non-believers and scientists. The idea that actions are imprinted into an object or the environment can be very hard to comprehend and it can sometimes be difficult to understand, let alone explain, however, we will give it our utmost effort. I can, without doubt, confirm that it does exist; how and why is another matter as at times it does seem to defy the laws of energy and physics, but that is the beauty of the paranormal – it does not need to have any real scientific basis to support it.

Residual hauntings are not what we call an actual haunting, as there is no inhuman or human interaction at all, but it does display past events. These types of hauntings are like a reel of film playing in a loop over and over again. As to why it happens and what is it, no official explanation exists, but with research and many years of study the paranormal world has a pretty accurate conclusion.

These audible or visual 'films' are past events which are imprinted into the environment by a certain type of energy, this is called the Stone Tape Theory; a paranormal hypothesis that was brought about in the 1970s as a possible explanation for ghosts. These events usually occur in the same spot, whether the past event was a suicide, accidental death, murder or torture, and sometimes in happy times, you may hear music from another era. Certain materials, such as crystals, water, limestone and sandstone have excellent qualities for absorbing energy from living beings and you may find a lot of supernatural activity around where they are.

CHAPTER 2

Public Houses

Most people you speak to in Wigan about hauntings will point you in the direction of a public house. These historic watering holes have been used for many, many years, not only as a place of rest for the living but at times as a morgue or a hideout. Tunnels make their way underneath the streets of Wigan, spilling out into public houses and bringing, sometimes, a little more then a draught.

The Mount

Probably the most famous haunted pub in Wigan is The Mount. Many people have spent a cold, dark night in this beautiful building and its cellars in the hope of catching a glimpse of just one of its ghosts. The Mount has an interesting history and can be traced back to the Domesday Book. This once magnificent home of Abraham Guest and his family is now a well-established restaurant, which is busy both day and night.

As you enter through the front door, you are met by a grand staircase with a wide balcony. Standing at the balcony edge, the apparition of a young girl has been seen watching and smiling. She is thought to have fallen over the edge to her death. Many customers and staff have seen the little girl. One member of staff reported her own daughter playing with a little girl at the top of the stairs and when her mother was taken to greet the mystery girl, it became apparent the girl was, in fact, a ghost. Another story associated with the girl on the stairs is that she was actually killed outside, in front of the building, when it was once a family home. She is thought to play on the stairs and run around the rooms as if she was still alive. An eyewitness describes what he saw:

In the early 1970s, my wife and I worked as assistant managers at The Mount, which was, at the time, a Chef & Brewer restaurant. One morning we both arrived at work and up the stairs walked a girl in a summer dress. She passed us and went into what was then the ladies' toilet on the ground floor. It was a February morning and it was raining heavily. Only the cleaning staff were in and I checked if any had brought a child to work. None had and it became quite a talking point. My wife was convinced we'd seen a ghost. A few weeks later, two nuns came in and asked to speak to us about what we had seen. They told us a little girl had lived in the house and was knocked down by a tram in front of the house – the ladies' toilet the little girl had walked into had once been the child's playroom.

Venturing up a winding staircase onto the third floor, a feeling of hopelessness and fear surrounds you. At the top of this staircase there is the reported sad ghost of a man who hung himself and who now walks the stairs full of regret.

Many women have said they have felt heavily pregnant and heard sobbing whilst being in one room in particular. The spirit of a young pregnant woman is said to haunt this room after being beaten and left for dead.

The cellars are a warren of tunnels, each as eerie as the next. One of the rooms was used to store bodies of the local people prior to burial, and the ghost of what can only be described as an undertaker lurks in the shadows. It is said that the room could sometimes be full of bodies and the small bearded man showed no respect as he climbed over them, breaking bones where he lay his feet. The cracking of bones can still be heard to this day echoing around the cellar. He is seen wheeling a cart through the cellars, moving the bodies to their resting places.

As you walk down the dark, cold tunnel you come across another room which is closed off by a door. Opening the door you see a staircase that leads to a locked door and it is clear that the passage behind it is no longer in use. This used to be the servant's entrance and in this small space a dark and chilling secret is held. The ghost of a young woman has been seen at the bottom of the staircase and she can be heard sobbing. The woman was found murdered at the bottom of the steps and still haunts the area to this day.

Back through the tunnels, a nun, Sister Magdalene, wanders, looking for the children hiding down there, afraid of their punishment. One visitor claimed that she spoke to a girl crouched in the corner, who said she had been abused. As she put her hand out to touch the girl she disappeared, and her quiet sobs a second or two after.

It is also believed that the spirit of the architect haunts one room in particular, the Rivington Room. Plans of the building are still to this day displayed on the wall and it is possible that he visits the site of his work as a form of pride, or to keep an eye on it.

A few years ago, a member of staff had some money go missing from his pocket. It was taken as a serious matter and eventually the police were involved, but the matter was never resolved. One night, a medium went into the pub; he knew nothing of this event or even the history behind the building, but he was asked to pass on a message to the pub manager. The ghost of a young man wanted to say he was sorry and that he didn't mean to cause so much trouble. When the medium asked what he had done, the spirit replied he had taken some paper from a pocket and it has the number twenty on each sheet. He only did it as a joke and it ended with everyone being so angry. So, the mystery was resolved but it was never confirmed who the ghost of the young man was. However, although the ghost has moved items and played tricks on people since then, he has never touched money again.

In 2008, The Mount and its ghost stories was in the news and an article was published about the ongoing sightings. The story went on to talk about Agnes and Joe Fox from Glasgow, who, visiting friends in Wigan, found themselves in The Mount's hotel – the Orrell Premier Inn. Agnes was woken from her sleep late at night by a man standing over her bed. As Agnes screamed with fear the ghostly figure disappeared. After researching the hotel on the internet she realised that what she had witnessed was not an unusual occurrence, although she had never mentioned it whilst there, for fear of being ridiculed. Agnes stated:

We were in room number six and it was in the middle of the night when I woke up suddenly to see this man just standing there looking at me. He was white, 30 to 35-years-old with a squarish face and well-kept mousy to brown hair. He was wearing a suit which would be in fashion in the 1950s or 60s. I was quite startled but not exactly frightened. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't. If he was a ghost, then the dead can't harm you anyway. That experience won't stop us coming back to the Premier Inn at Orrell because the service, facilities and the staff were wonderful. We might not have the same room though.

Upon asking The Mount for a response to the claims, the duty manager Rob Hale said:

It could well be true. There have been quite a few sightings at both The Mount and Premier Inn. The latter is built on an old nunnery and its graves, and all sorts of figures have been seen. I once saw a lady and a cat one night at The Mount upstairs. She was wearing old Victorian clothing. The cat went into the function rooms but then disappeared. I couldn't find it and there was no other way out.

Rob also goes on to say, 'The reputation for ghosts doesn't seem to be putting people off. No one comes to any harm and people are intrigued by it. In fact, we have had ghost walks and séances.'

So, if you are ever visiting Wigan and want a truly haunted experience, book in for a stay at The Mount and say hello to its many ghosts.

Legs of Man Hotel

The arcade once stood here, and it was an old favourite for all Wiganers, but was unfortunately demolished to make way for the Marketgate shopping arcade. It was here where you could buy your pots and pans, washing tubs, scrubbing boards, or get weighed on Bob's weighing chair, and the famous Gorners Café used to tempt you with the aroma of hot food – the specialty being hotpot with red cabbage. There was a pub here called the Legs of Man Hotel, which is an incredibly long pub – it was so long it had two nicknames; 'top legs' and 'bottom legs'. It was supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Lord Derby, when it was called the Old Dogg Inn; he was nursed here after being wounded in the Civil War. It is stipulated that it is in the arcade where 'Big Norm' roams. Norman Melling, from Pemberton, fought Bill D'arcy over a mutual sweetheart, Mary Hogan. Norman died from his injuries and is believed to be searching for D'arcy to reap revenge before he can be reunited with his loved one.

The Stork Inn

Anyone who has travelled through Billinge will have seen this beautiful black and white building standing on the corner, welcoming people into the town. Inside, the main feature is a staircase taken from a sixteenth-century manor house, and even this stairway features its own ghost; the ghost of a girl who fell down them and died from her injuries.

This magnificent pub holds some secrets, especially within the tunnels, which are said to lead from its cellars to St Aiden's Church and the Crank Caves. Built in 1640, the building once stood as a toll tower and also served as a darker purpose: a jail. Within the cellars there used to be a torture bed with shackles, which are still attached to the wall. It is said that a cavalier was tortured to death here and that his ghost still haunts the building to this day; he is known to sit by the fire.

The ghost of an intoxicated man has been seen in the men's toilets and is heard making noises at night; this is possibly a local ghost who visits the place, just as he did while he was alive.

The ghost of local 1920s highwayman, George Lyon, who was often seen drinking in this hotel, still frequents this public house, as well as galloping on his horse through the village.

There is a previous landlord, by the name of George, who keeps a watchful eye on the pub and the new landlords. He has been seen behind the bar and is quite often mistaken for bar staff by unsuspecting public.

A hooded figure has been seen hanging from a beam in the cellar. It is unkown if he was murdered or committed suicide, but his ghost still lingers, trapped in the moment of his own death.

During the 1960s, a barmaid came running from the cellar in terror. She refused to go back down there again. Minutes later, all the glasses on the bar started to shake and although the staff tried to find a reason for this, they were unable to. Could this have been connected to the man hanging in the cellar, angry that his life was snatched from him or in regret for taking his own life?

The Honeysuckle Pub

In 2008, the Honeysuckle pub in Poolstock appeared in the local paper due to spooky goings-on. The landlord, John Purnell, who was running the establishment at the time, reported that both he and his family had had strange experiences, as well as the regulars. The sightings consisted of a young lady dressed in what seemed to be a 1960s-style raincoat. She walked through the bar then disappeared! This ghost is sometimes seen with a younger girl, and there was a suggestion that the girl's name was Lucy, who was just six years old when she perished due to smoke damage, and that the lady is her mother, looking throughout the pub to find her. One local had a deep conversation with these ghosts before they disappeared before his very eyes. The landlord's daughter saw a second reflection standing next to her in the mirror and his granddaughter has felt someone blowing in her face and has heard whispering.

Although these ghost stories seem unsettling, it is the cellar that holds the most frightening tales; prisoners held captive 400 years ago, awaiting their departure to Preston along the river, and one lingering spirit called Harris, who is said to be dressed in a black coat buttoned up high. The door to the cellar once locked itself from the inside, the key mysteriously breaking off and leaving the entrance sealed until the door was forced open.

Berkeley Square

The Berkley Square, which was once the Minorca Hotel, was listed in the Haunted Pub Guide (1985) and reported in Lancashire's Ghosts and Legends, written by Terence W. Whittaker. There is a tale that tells of pint pots which would fill after all the pumps had been switched off. Landlords, Jon and Vicky Ambrose, spoke to the local paper about their encounters, stating that their dog refused to go into certain areas, furniture was moved about and cold spots were felt.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Haunted Wigan by Sarah Carberry, Nicola Johnson. Copyright © 2012 Sarah Carberry & Nicola Johnson. Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Title,
Dedication,
Acknowledgements,
Introduction,
one Types of Hauntings,
two Public Houses,
three Stately Homes,
four Battle of Wigan Lane,
five Crank Caves and the Ghost of Edmund Arrowsmith,
six Dead Man's Hand,
seven The Last Highwayman to be Hanged,
eight Pit Explosion in Abram,
nine Local Ghost Stories,
ten Town Centre Ghosts,
Copyright,