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Examining folkloric, paranormal & cryptozoological locations in the UK and beyond

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Rail Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Black Mist

Location: Canewdon (Essex) - Gardeners Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Summer or Autumn 2008
Further Comments: A small patch of black mist is said to dart out in front of cars along this lane.

Headless Man

Location: Carlisle (Cumbria) - Carlisle Railway Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several entities were reported in the Cumberland News to haunt this station, including a headless man on platform eight, another man who points towards the Undercroft, and a woman in a veil who travels along corridors.

The Mourning Woman

Location: Charfield (Gloucestershire) - Charfield graveyard, memorial to those killed in the Charfield Station rail crash
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 13 October (reoccurring)
Further Comments: This woman in black, who covers her face with her hands, is widely believed to be the mother of two children killed in a rail disaster which occurred in 1929. Ten people, including the children, who were killed in the train crash could not be formally identified and are buried in a mass grave.

Shaking

Location: Chartham (Kent) - Chartham signal box
Type: Other
Date / Time: Circa 1991, around 23:00h
Further Comments: A young signalman was on the phone to a colleague in the signal box in Wye when the man on the other end of the phone started screaming. The young signalman asked what was wrong and was informed that the box in Wye had just started shaking. At that moment, the young signalman's box also began to shake, likened to someone hitting the building with a sledgehammer every second. The young signalman opened the door ready to face the person hitting the building; the shaking stopped, and no one could be seen. The young signalman continued to work in the box for several years, and while the intensity of the experience was never matched, the shaking would occasionally repeat.

Man in Blue Overalls

Location: Chester (Cheshire) - Old lead steel works (no longer standing)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2002
Further Comments: This ghost, said to be a workman who died after being hit by a train, may never be seen again: the area he haunted was scheduled for demolition and new flats will be built on the former works site.

Squeaking Cycle

Location: Chester (Cheshire) - Saltney Junction railway station, area of
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early winter mornings (reoccurring)
Further Comments: An old man on a squeaky bike haunt the area around this old station - it is thought that he hanged himself in a shed here.

George Stephenson

Location: Chesterfield (Derbyshire) - Tapton House
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Inventor of 'The Rocket', Stephenson retired in later life to this house. Many years after his death, Stephenson was seen by a caretaker's wife who mistook him for a 'real' person after he demanded a glass of water.

Aubrey Clark

Location: Claxby (Lincolnshire) - Railway Signal box
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s onwards
Further Comments: Aubrey was found dead in the signal box which he had manned for many years. Since then, other railway workers have reported heavy breathing in the area.

Black Chrysler Hit by Express

Location: Conington (Cambridgeshire) - Railway junction (8m NE Peterborough)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 16 October, 4pm (Reoccurring)
Further Comments: 1948 saw the tragic death of Colonel Mellows, when he drove his car over the tracks only to be hit by a speeding train. Another explanation of the ghosts here says that a lorry of German POWs was hit during the Second World War, and that one of these soldiers now haunts the area.

Art Student

Location: Coventry (West Midlands) - Old railway building (currently Horizon Recording Studio?), Warwick Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1980s
Further Comments: This building is haunted by both an art student who died of a drug overdose and by a former rail employee. People recording at the studios have felt something brush past them or breathe heavily down their necks. Disembodied footsteps run down the corridors, while lights also turn themselves on and off.

Something on the Track

Location: Crowthorne (Berkshire) - Railway line between Crowthorne and Wokingham
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several train drivers have reportedly hit something on the track while travelling at speed. Expecting to find pieces of body, when investigated, there is nothing there...

Blurred Figure

Location: Croydon (Surrey) - Addiscombe railway yard - sheds (station demolished in 2001)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 11 April 2006
Further Comments: While the buildings stood, one worker witnessed a grey figure walking from the sheds, the apparition's face blurred and distorted. The sounds of machinery being moved at night were also reported, though the buildings were locked. The grey figure has been seen since the demolition, viewed from the fence along Capri Road.


An old postcard of Furness Abbey.

Monk

Location: Dalton in Furness (Cumbria) - Furness Abbey
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2005
Further Comments: A ghostly figure in robes was seen walking towards the gatehouse before vanishing into a wall. It is said the monk sometimes appears on horseback, and the site is also haunted by a white woman.

Roaring Train

Location: Dalton in Furness (Cumbria) - Old rail track between Goldmire Junction and Millwood Junction
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Some witnesses allege hearing the sudden sound of an engine and feeling the rush of wind one experiences when a train passes by.

Fireman

Location: Darley Dale (Derbyshire) - Rail station - area around the sheds
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The ghost of a fireman reportedly haunts the sheds at this aging station.

Hound Attack

Location: Darlington (Durham) - Old Darlington and Stockton rail station
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 5 December 1890
Further Comments: A night watchman reported being attacked by a man and his dog as they came out of the coal house - the watchman defended himself and tried to punch his attacker, only for his fist to pass through the figure and hit the wall behind. The pair of entities then went back into the coal house and vanished.

Clibbon

Location: Datchworth (Hertfordshire) - Area around the station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Found guilty of highway robbery, Clibbon was tied to the back of a horse and dragged around the town until he was dead. His screams are sometimes heard. The same area is also home to a headless horse, though it may not be the same creature associated with the highwayman.

Princess

Location: Didcot (Oxfordshire) - Old Relay Room
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Circa 2000s
Further Comments: Crew on the nightshift were said to have heard footsteps and seen what appeared to be the imprints of high heeled shoes appear and disappear on the lino floor. The ghost was nicknamed Princess by staff.

Misty Figure

Location: Ditton (Kent) - New Hythe train station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This ghostly figure is reported to haunt the area in and around the railway station.

Empty Train

Location: Dunphail (Moray) - Site of old railway line
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This ghost train is said to follow the route where the tracks once lay, and even though the vehicle's lights are all switched on, no-one can be seen inside.

Dark Driver

Location: Dunster (Somerset) - Dunster Station, large goods shed
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Killed in an accident in the shed, a former driver is now reported to haunt the location of his death. His shadowy form has unnerved several people.

Faceless Woman

Location: E11 (Greater London) - Beacontree Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1992
Further Comments: A station employee working alone heard the door to his office rattle several times. Unnerved, the man began to climb upstairs to find a colleague but felt he was being watched. Turning around, he saw a woman standing there with long blond hair but no face - her features were completely smooth. Talking to his colleague a short time later, the employee discovered that he was not the only person to have seen her.

Grinning Man

Location: E15 (Greater London) - Channelsea Depot, Stratford
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: June - December 1994
Further Comments: A former British Rail employee reported seeing a tall man wearing a cape and top hat standing by a hangar. He had a terrible grin and a mouth full of white teeth, and immediately vanished, leaving the witness very cold and apprehensive. A few months later, in the same area, the witness felt a strong tug at her bag that almost pulled her over; she spun around expecting to see a colleague, but no one was in sight.

Workman

Location: E17 (Greater London) - Blackhorse Road Underground Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The station is said to be haunted by the ghost of a workman who died during the construction. A figure has been observed on the platform late at night, and his footsteps heard in other parts of the station.

Cries and Screams

Location: E2 (Greater London) - Bethnal Green Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1981
Further Comments: A station master working alone in the station office late at night heard the soft sounds of children crying. As time went by, the cries grew louder and were joined by the screams of women. He ran from the office. One hundred and seventy-three people died in the station in a single accident during the Second World War, the vast majority being women and children.

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