THE STOCKSBRIDGE HAUNTING
THE SCARIEST UK GHOST STORY EVER REPORTED
On September 11th 1987, a well-respected police officer, PC Dick Ellis and a former Special Constable, John Beet were two of a number of witnesses to see probably the scariest and noticeably witnessed ghostly apparition ever to be reported in the UK.
The location – A616 bypass (under construction at the time by the McAlpine building company), Stocksbridge, near Sheffield. Situated in the north of England.
This ghost story is very vivid in my mind as I come from Sheffield and have driven over the bypass on several occasions, but more importantly – my sister used to work as a police officer in the same ‘Deepcar Police Station’ as PC Ellis. Although she never knew him, the story has always remained consistent.
…
Tuesday night, September 8th 1987 – two security guards employed by McAlpine to patrol the bypass site and guard building materials telephoned their boss, Peter Owens in a frantic state.
Owens arrived at the site to find the two large men in a state of hysteria.
Owens then questioned the two men, who told him strange things had started around 12.30pm the night before.
They had been driving along Pearoyd Lane, near Stocksbridge steelworks and were very surprised to see children playing near the half constructed bypass at the side of a pylon and far away from the nearest houses.
They told Owens they had decided to investigate, therefore they parked their car and watched the children skipping about, but they were both puzzled by the children’s unusual and outdated clothing.
In an attempt to discover why the children were out so late, they got out of their land rover and proceeded in the children’s direction, only to find the children were now nowhere to be seen.
When they arrived at the spot where they had seen the children playing, they were puzzled to discover…there were absolutely no footprints in the mud.
They described to Owens how the following morning they were still more baffled than frightened as they relayed their story to the McAlpine builders and how this was heightened when they were then told by some of the men…they had heard children’s voices in the night as they rested in their caravans.
Owens was told how their bafflement turned into fear just before they phoned him. They went on to describe how they were driving as usual up Pearoyd Lane towards the site. Upon reaching it, they saw a large, dark figure of a monk on the partly constructed bridge. They then explained, as they drove towards the figure, when the headlights reached the apparition, it disappeared.
After listening to the security guard’s story, Owens was convinced they were being truthful, and called Deepcar Police Station. As you can imagine the police officer who took the call, PC Ellis laughed and suggested they call a priest instead as this was hardly a police matter. However, Ellis got a surprise later that day, when a priest called, Stuart Brindley phoned him at the station and asked if they could send someone to help him with two security guards at his church.
The priest went on to describe how the guards were demanding an exorcism of the Stocksbridge bypass site, but his main concern was for the men’s state of distress, which he had no control over.
The police station had no alternative but to investigate the guard’s story. Therefore, PC Ellis and Special Constable John Beet were commissioned to the job.
As Ellis and Beet drove towards the site on the 11th September 1987 both of them were very sceptical about the story’s authenticity and believed that the security guards were being hysterical and attributed the saga as being one of the most hilarious they had ever heard.
The evening was quite warm, so Ellis and Beet sat in their car facing the bridge with the windows down. It wasn’t too long before they noticed ‘something’ moving on the bridge. Ellis climbed out of the car and ran to the bridge, where he found a piece of loose tarpaulin flapping around in the wind. Ellis went back to the car and they decided to wait a little longer before calling it a night.
PC Ellis commented to Beet how he had just had the oddest sensation as though someone had just walked over his grave. He asked Beet if he had felt anything. Then suddenly, Ellis felt a presence at his side. He turned his head sharply to find a dark ,clothed torso pushed right up to his door. Ellis noticed the dark clothing had white ‘v’ shaped material running down the chest.
Suddenly the apparition vanished and appeared at Beet’s side in an instant. Then it vanished again as Ellis stepped out of the car. He walked all around the car and looked underneath…nothing was there.
Ellis got back into the car and turned the ignition, but nothing happened… he tried again but still nothing. On the third attempt the car started.
Ellis decided to drive to the construction area, where he pulled up and radioed the station to give their whereabouts. Suddenly, there was a loud bang on the back of the car, which Ellis later described as sounding like it had been hit with a baseball bat or pick axe handle.
Beet sat rigid in the car as Ellis hesitantly climbed out. Again, there was nothing around – not a sound or sight of anything. Ellis rushed back and jumped in the car, just as the car was struck again. A booming noise reverberated as the car rocked up and down. Ellis frantically started the car, but again it was hit. Ellis put his foot down and raced back to Deepcar station.
They reported their findings to shocked colleagues, who wrote statements of their accounts. Both Ellis and Beet stated, their fear was so intense, they described it as; ’it was not that which one has when you are about to encounter danger – but worse, it was the kind where you have absolutely no control over…a feeling of ‘dread’.
Read Borley Rectory – the most haunted house in England – click on this
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To watch the ‘Strange But True’ tv programme of the re-construction of this story, click on the play button below, the Stocksbridge haunting starts at about 5 mins 22 secs after Flitwick Manor haunting: (NB: please let the video play on as the red line reaches the end).
By J Reynolds (aka eyepriestess) copyright, 2009 @ World Mysteries And True Ghost Tales
Wow!
Has the area where the over-pass is at, ever investigated?
Maybe a bad accident or something happened in that area.
Has there been more sightings in that area, since then?
That was really interesting!
The area is known to have had a monastry which farmed land in the viscinity hundreds of years ago. Legend has it that one of the monks at the monastry left and went to work elsewhere, when he died the monks would not bury him in consegrated (is that the right word? need to check that) grounds, so maybe that’s the cause of the monk haunting. (I didn’t put this in the main post as it is just heresay about the monk, but there was a monastry there).
As for the children, well many are said to have worked the pits in the olden days.
There’s been lots of sightings, too many to mention.
To say that freaked me out is an understatement! Lights on tonight.
Something about a monk as a ghost that is so creepy for some strange reason.
Alright, since this is about ghosts, and paranormal stuff, this is so random, but I’m going to comment in here anyways. I was watching TV in my room yesterday. (Family Guy to be precise) Well about 2 weeks ago, I got a puppy. She’s a Chihuaha so she’s small. Well she was on the floor, and she kept looking up towards the TV, and she started Barking. I was like. Okay yeah whatever. Then I turned off the TV. Well about 10 minutes later I put her on my bed, and I was on the chair at my computer. Then she looked at the Window and started barking, and then at the TV. At first I was like, maybe it’s her reflection. But she kept on barking and then she started looking down, like, following something with her sight and barking at it. It was pretty creepy. Well after that I felt like something Cold on my neck, and after that the puppy wouldn’t stay on my bed or on the floor, she just wanted to be next to me. Which is unusual because she usually makes me chase her when I try to pick her up…
But yeah I just wanted to share that.
Abby,
that is strange especially as she started looking down and barking as though she had picked up a scent or something.
If she keeps doing it i’d worry, but if it doesn’t carry on it may have been one of those mad half hours pups and even grown dogs get from time to time
Let us know if anything else happens though and thanks for sharing with us.
Abby, I think animals sence things that we don’t always see.
The day we had our freak toronado, my dogs were very restless before it happened.
One time one of my pugs kept barking at me, while I was watching TV. When I would call his name, he would start toward me, but when I got up, he would run from me. This happened about three times. When I finally got up and walked into another room he was okay. When I returned he was happy to see me. One other time he did the same thing at my bedroom door when no one was in there. As soon as I closed the bedroom door, he was okay. [Weird animal] LOL
alright so, yesterday I had a bad day and I’m just going to get to the point, I don’t know if it was me, or if it was my eyes or if it was because I had been crying but I tripped out so bad. I was laying down on the phone with my friend in tears, and I wiped my eyes and I was calming down. When I looked up at the ceiling I kid you not, the cieling looked like water…like it was moving like water. again I don’t know if it was my eyes or me or the water…but yeah…. :S it was pretty weird.
about the bridge- that sounds so scary…. i am embarrassed to even say..i’m a cop and i would not have checked more than once! After the first disappearance of that dark figure i certainly would not have looked under my patrol car!
i have a dog and cat and they act at times like they are staring at things..i also get a weired feeling like “somethings” there..who knows though.
good story!
Rebecca,
nothing to be embaressed about, most people would have legged it – i would have…bit of a hero that PC Ellis I think! …to PC Ellis
I’ve had the same with my dog barking at a wall and then i discovered he was responding to a dog barking over the road who we couldn’t hear at the time. They do freak you out though at times i have to agree with their random, all of a sudden barking!
Nancy is right our pets have senses us mere humans do not. I remember how my other dog had reacted when she knew i was coming home after a weeks holiday (I’d never left her before). My mum said, who had babysat her, she went to the front door and whined in an excited manner about an hour before we came back. When i got through the door my dog literally leapt into my arms, well almost as i’m a bad catch, lol
Abby,
hope you’re ok now sweetie? are you?
That ceiling thing sounds creepy, hope it was just an illusion from your teary eyes.
Yeah, I think I’m good, just creeped out lol.
Great story, I got chills all over just from reading it. It really bothers me anytime I read a story like this with children involved. It makes you stop and think what they could have went through that resulted in their spirits not being able to move on in peace. It’s really sad.
I am scarygirl67 from the talkparanormal forum..
I just clicked on to read this story. England holds a fascination for me, not just because of my interest in the paranormal, but also because my paternal grandparents are from Gilford. I always felt that the United Kingdom is such rich ground for paranormal activity, and this story is one more example. Thank you for sharing it.
Hi, i know who you are from the forum
I actually went to Sudbury yesterday to find Borley Rectory. I made the fatal error of taking my two girls and my grandson. I ended up in Borley and was hunting and hunting for Hall Road where the rectory was. Could i heck find it. I would have gone into one of the local pubs if i’d been on my own and asked about, but my grandson was kicking off too much. It was a hot day so i had to abandon the search and ended up at the fair on-route back home in a place near to the village of Claire.
I am going to go back again this week sometime, hopefully.
Absolute load of twoddle.
Ile let you all into a little secret cause im from the area.
The children that the security guards sore and heard are local children from the farm house, playing in there old farm working clothes.
google earth the bridge, and up from the bridge to the left is a long driveway that goes above the pylon and ends at a farm( The farm is also a well known and respected landrover service and repair centre ran and owned by doug dransfield)( take note because that will be relavant later).
The children would not have vanished,instead they actually sore two strange men aproaching late at nite ,so they hid in the ditch that runs along side the driveway to the right.
The monk on the bridge that disapeard was infact a local that was upto no good,( ie probably knicking stuff from the construction site or doug dransfields landrover centre) on his way home from the pubs at green more.
And when he sore the lights of a landrover aproaching ( which are quite distinctive) probably thought it was doug dransfield returning home so he jumped over the beggining part of the bridge which isnt that high.
As for the coppers having a monk at the side of there car.( dont make me laugh).
This is what happened.
The coppers on hearing about the so called ghostly aparitions from the phone call earlier would have told the security staff at the steel mill below the bridge( once again google earth ). this is because it is and was common practice for the local deepcar police to call in to the steel mill gatehouse and have a cup of tea and a laugh and joke with the security staff.
Also there is a security gatehouse not more than 50 yards from the incident site.
so after hearing the story of the ghostly children and the vanishing man the security guards then sore the police vehicle drive past them on route to the incident site again.
The security guards would have got hold of some of the protective steel making clothing Which is dark blue and very heavy woolen fireproof clothing that actually looks quite oldy worldy.
and gone and banged on the police car. The coppers never got out of the police car like they said because they shat thereselfs.
As for the car not starting until the 3rd attemp. thats because the coil on the starter motor was probably knackered.
there are no mad monks or ghostly children, just a pair of stupid coppers that had the piss took out of them by there mates at the steel mill.
Oh did i also mention that i used to work at the steel mill when this happened( if you get my drift)lol
Well i’ve been all morning looking for the tv coverage of this story and i’ve found it. So play it and see for yourselves if you think ewan in the above comments is right, or the video. You will also notice that the policemen DID get out of the police car, but ewan said they didn’t. Every part to my article is accurate as you will see when watcing the video.
Just to add, the children that were playing were in that area very late at night, i think it was around midnight. Very strange that children should be allowed to play away from their home at that time.
Also ewan, why do you keep saying ‘google it’? What’s that going to achieve? It doesn’t prove or disprove anything. Watch the video, which also shows interviews from the policemen and other eyewitness’s.
That was really great, still got goosebumps, I believe the documentary on all the eyewitnesses accounts. Ewan, even if the children were wearing their “old clothes” I doubt they’d look like something from the 1800′s. I wonder if the girl died in that attic room. Ewan, you just have rumors going around the steelmill cause you guy’s probably like to laugh because the police were scared. I however am totally convinced of the facts in the above article.
Ewan, I actually live quite close to the area too and, as well you will know, this isnt the only kind of activity reported. What about the reported ‘Ghost runner’ or the man that stands on the roundabout heading towards sheffield? I read this one story about a couple who were returning from a Steelers match in Nottingham, heading back home to Sheffield. It was around 11 or 12 in the evening and the couple were just idly talking about the game when the woman noticed this figure following them behind the car ( thats about 50/60 miles per hour ). The woman, too stunned and terrified to speak, just kept her eyes on the figure until it finally disappeared into thin air as they were coming towards the end of the bypass. As soon as they turned off the bypass the man slammed on the breaks and freaked out. He explained how he had seen the figure following them but didnt want to freak his girlfirend out so just got off the road as quick as he could.Its not just one story, other unexplained things have happened there, and for all you want to believe that it may have been a wind up, there’s nothing to say that this kind of thing hasnt happened to other people. I myself, from a very young age, have always felt uncomfortable about travelling on the bypass, I dont know what it is or why I feel it, but I know theres something definately there. I dont write this to disprove your theory, just to highlight that there have been so many incidents other than the one shown on ‘Strage But True’
More tales of high speed runners, but this time in the UK! Do the steelers run that fast?? There are a few tales of ghosts of happy, running, noisy children, including here in the US Southwest.
I live in Deepcar and have heard many stories. Just thought I would add a couple of my own.
Firstly I used to live in the Silver Fox pub in Stocksbridge which was known for having a ghost. One day when in the cellar bottling up (I was about 10 at the time) I saw a figure run across the room and into another. Despite absolutely crapping my pants I had a quick look (don’t like running away as you can’t see who is after you!) in the room. Nothing there. An empty room with no way out. Creepy. Then a few nights later my 2 dogs started going mental at the wall. Barking at it and trying to bite it and scratch it. Moving across the wall as if they were following something. They did this in a few rooms until they suddently stopped. They never did this again. We left not long after.
Also Deepcar School seems to be haunted. My wife has just been there for a playgroup session (there just for the holidays) and someone has seen a child run across a room but upon looking no one is there. They have also found notes on the floor saying ‘I love you’ and heard banging. In the kitchen someone has opened all the cupboards. Spooky!
Thanks for that D Smith, very interesting and spooky, did you get to see if it was a man or woman figure run across the room? Your dogs seem like they saw something not very nice to have gone off like that!
No I’m afraid not. Just a figure but with short hair so thinking male. Running very quickly with a brown jacket. Like I say I went into the room and all there was was a few empty crates. Nothing more.
There was a rumour the pub was built on top of something where someone had died but I forgot that story. Been a while since I heard it.
Life is in abundance everywhere. Any organic matter has an element of consciousness, albeit undetectable to a greater extent. Death is just a Man made word for the end of their understanding. Energy just changes forms, and cannot be extinguished. The change of form occurs upon cessation of organic life. That change of form puts you into a different dimension, where earthly rules no longer apply. It’s a natural progression. You will all be blessed with the truth one day, and the truth is stranger than fiction. Your consciousness will evolve whether you want it to or not. The horrid acts perpetuated by Mankind isn’t met by an all knowing Judge, but will just throw you back to endure another lifetime existance, which is quite random, with no knowledge of the one you have now. You cannot cheat the universe, of which you are all children…
You have a gift with words JHC…great asset to this site and much needed!
Thank you!
Great reply Spaceman (now and again we get them) however, i did encounter the paranormal because of the ouija board, so i cannot agree with you totally…wish you’d been there to witness my experience!
I do get you, but still, i have what i experienced above, so there is no point in trying to reason with me on the subject, but at least an intelligent response…thank you for that!
its a monk i seen that
Really? tell us more!
i live in manchester uk neer this road and have traveled on it several occasions and have never seen anything but this has really freaked me out and next time i am going to take another route
I am a retired Trucker. I once did a delivery just off the Stocksbridge Bypass. The middle aged Stocksbridge lady signed my notes and told me this. One fine morning a hearse ran along the Bypass carrying a coffin from Sheffield to Stockport. For no apparent reason the hearse left the road, tumbled down the bank throwing the coffin out and killing the driver and passenger. A hearse would be well maintained so what caused it to swerve left and leave the road. EWAN cannot spell, it is saw, not sore, and he is completely deluded, but he probably won’t know what that word means anyway.
At one time there were plenty of tea vans or places you could eat in the many lay bys on the Bypass.
Having a great interest in this I always mentioned it and no one ever mocked or sneered as Ewan did.
One man used to be there all night. He said a truck pulled in early one morning and the driver sat having his break. He of course locked his truck doors. Another truck pulled in and the driver told the first driver he had better go out and look at his truck. Both doors were wide open and the radio was blasting out. Another man who used to be there all night said his mate drove up from Barnsley to see him one summer night. On entering the Bypass the man from Barnsley said it turned freezing cold in his car and there was a horrible smell of rotten meat or rotting flesh and it freaked him out. Going back to the lady who told me about the hearse accident. She said many Stocksbridge people will not go anywhere near the Bypass. All this was over 10 years ago in the 1990s…
I have to write a story about this for school. And make it as creepy as possible. Not that hard :/
Hi Olivia, good luck with your story for school, this one doesn’t come much more creepy does it?
that was an extrmely scary story when i go to stockbridge i will definitrly go to this site to see any strange happenings there! that was so real i had chills all over!
I agree Carla, when i was researching this story, i got chills writing it, more than most others i’d written. It came close to the ‘true story behind the exorcist’, which is on the home page here.
i live in Barnsley and me and 4 of my friends have been to stcksbridge to see if it was true about the mad monk up there. We went a few times before but 2nights ago. We went up and we was all going on about the monk and taking mick out of it. I was driving that night 2 and remember watching a clip on youtube about it and said that where he was meant to walk but everyone in car said its a ghost it will walk where it wants. I got a bit cocky having a laugh and said it will walk where i tell it to f**king walk. i dont think it liked me saying that cause next thing we knew it sounded like my car door on my side got kicked really hard. We all sh*t ourself. i couldnt start the car any quicker and we couldnt all wait to get off the bridge as much x
thats what you call scary x
This is interesting and very creepy. Made my hair stand on end. There is something especially unsettling and sad about the idea of ghostly children. I thought the post debunking the story was quite entertaining too. Like the final scene from an episode of Scooby Doo. Pity he didn’t suddenly tear the mask off of the monk’s head to complete the scene.
Speaking about dogs, there was an incident with my faithful friend who sadly died of old age about 6 years ago. One afternoon he suddenly started growling at me and cowering away from me when I tried to reach out to him. It really spooked me and still puzzles me because he was always trying to snuggle in and loved a good pat. It was as if he didn’t recognise me and feared me. He was like this for about 10 minutes or so and then gradually calmed down. I wonder to this day what happened. I felt as if there was something in me that only he could sense although I didn’t feel unusual in any way.
That was quite creepy.
Billy
That’s very strange William, unless your dog was ill maybe. My dog went all quiet, odd and not wanting to know us recently and we didn’t know why, then we took him for a walk and he kept squealing now and then. We took him home and checked his legs, and body, but there were no broken bones or cuts or anything. It must have been a sprain or something. I was going to take him to the vet the next day, but he was fine then.
I agree, it’s sad when you hear of spirit children. I imagine them lonely and unsure.
datz really freaking
i think im not going anywhere today lol
It reminded me of an old farm, here in the region of Vale do Paraíba, São Paulo – Brazil. The property dates from the period prior to the republic. Many sad thing related to slavery and the land dispute occurred. Near an old bridge that still connects the entrance of the great farm, with the highway, children died because of violence. Fights between families by the dispute over land. In the 70s, during the construction of the highway, employees have a hard time at night with crying fits and hallucinations. The sight of people running away without body parts, and the appearance of children at the farm gate. It has never been investigated. I was studying agronomy in college that occupies much of the farm site, now restored. The staff of the city Roseira, which is very close, never use the bridge during the night. I never understood the kind of phenomenon.
Thanks for sharing that Ricardo – very interesting, i’d like to read more about that story.
There are many cases here in the Valley. The farm and bridge, near the city of Roseira, were the points that I met. Is also interesting that it always rains on the road that passes in front of Roseira, and always very strong winds. The explanation of INPE (aerospace research and climate) are the currents of air passing through the site.. but everyone finds it odd, wind or rain, all time. I live in town now, so do not really know much more detail of the local folklore, but the region has a long history of phenomena.
Are very interesting articles written here. I feel unfortunate to never see or feel such phenomena. I believe that without causing bad, the kind of experience is a stimulus for a different vision of continuity.
Thanks again Ricardo, i want to read more about that area. I’ll research it and find out what’s going on.
I too wanted to experience something – until i did (mine wasn’t pleasant)…now i do all i can to keep paranormal things from happening to me. Bedroom with Cross on wall and picture of Mary and Jesus below that – Bible under pillow. No occult books in house. Sometimes we should be careful what we wish for. That’s not being derogatory to you Ricardo, it’s just a saying i like and think of before wishing things.
I understand. We should never disturb the dead. Even listening to the story, I not dare to visit the place, the bridge at the time of the night. I was being a coward for my class friends. But, as you put it, caution with the desires.
Using google maps for a bit of nostalgia, it seems safe:)
-22.903979,-45.323356
The old bridge as a reference point. The farm (left center) adapted as a school course. I think today turned hostel, it’s been about 10 years. The city of Roseira, is right. Is a large area, but that’s okay for quick access. At night, intimidating. Too bad there are no paintings or even photos of earlier periods.