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Haunted Middleton

23/12/2002

WHEN it comes to ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night, Middleton seems to have more than its fair, or fear, share. It even has its own boggart to rival Blackley's at Boggart Hole Clough. Ghostbusters would have a field day.

Traditionally Christmas is the time for telling ghost stories, so we've resurrected some of Middleton's from the shadowy corners of the town's history.

First of all there is our boggart, or rather boggarts, which are said to haunt Blomeley Clough off Stanycliffe Lane.

During the Civil War a man called Blomeley lived in Stanycliffe Hall, a big man with, it is said, a hot temper. It was a time of unrest and he is reported to have killed a number of men. One day he shot a man in his own farmyard, the bullets passing through the man's body and embedding themselves in the heavy doors of t he barn. And from that day boggarts began to haunt the clough.

The barn door would open and shut for no apparent reason as a person approached it. A dog would appear and accompany the visitor to the open door but when the person entered there would be no trace of the dog. During the night in the Hall there would be sounds of crockery crashing to the floor would be heard followed by loud cries, but in the morning everything would be in its place. Cups and saucers moved through the air in the daytime.

It was from this turbulent period that what is probably Middleton's most famous ghost comes from - Edward the sad cavalier that is said to haunt the Ring O'Bells pub opposite the Parish Church.

There is an old chair in the corner of the pub, which is said to be Edward's favourite and past landlords have seen him flitting through the cellar. He was so famous that the pub was on the itinerary of a group of spook hunters from the United States touring haunted England.

Edward is said to have been murdered near the Parish Church by a group of Roundheads who had made the Old Boar's Head their headquarters. The legend says he died in the pub and was buried in the cellar. But as the pub wasn't built until 1806 he must have died of old age because he would have been going on for 200 at the time.

However, I'm told by a paranormal expert that it is not the building, but the land that is haunted, so perhaps Eddie is going to be a steady visitor to the Ringer for many years.

Just across the road is the Parish Church and there is a spooky story connected to that as well. It once had a verger called John Johnson who wanted to find out how much he would earn in grave fees the following year.

It was then the belief that everyone who was to die during the year would walk into the church on All Souls' Eve. So as the church clock struck midnight he hid himself in a pew.

As the last stroke sounded, spectral figures began to come in an out of the church. Johnny was counting up his prospective fees when a little old man came in. As the light fell on his face Johnny saw it was himself. He rushed home in horror and as the months passed he worried so much he fell ill and was dead before the next All Soul's Eve came about.

Lying in the shadow of the church graveyard is Canky's Ginnel, a dark and sinister passageway that runs from Church Brow to Lodge Street. In it once stood the home of 'Old Canky' the Resurrection Man of Middleton, who had a ghoulish trade.

It was on moonless nights that Canky and his gang silently mounted the hill with spades and sheets to raid the new made graves. First of all they took away anything of value and then wrapped up the body in a sheet.

The bodies were taken to a flat-bottomed boat, which was steered down the River Irk to the centre of Manchester where they were sold to medical students and doctors for dissection and research work. It is said Canky still haunts the area - try walking down Canky's Ginnel after dark.

Another Tudor hall - Tonge Hall - still has its resident ghosts. An American film crew, with a team of paranormal experts, visited the hall last year to try to find a ghost and left claiming they had found two. The hall's owner, Captain Norman Wolstencroft says: "You just get used to them, but they can be noisy little beggars at time."

But there are also modern day ghosts haunting council houses in Langley and one young mother in Alkrington is at her wits end about the nocturnal visitations by an old man. Her young son always greets the spectre with a cheery "hello", but mum is not so happy. Neighbours say it is probably the ghost of an old man who died in the house but whose body wasn't found for some time.