Halloween is here and these are the most haunted places in Merseyside.
From shadowy figures, poltergeists to UFOs, there are reportedly many spooky happenings in the region. One of the most well known places which is supposedly haunted is Newsham Park Hospital.
It is used regularly for ghost hunts and spooky events. However, people have also reported strange events at one of the city's most popular theatres. Merseyside has a well deserved reputation for having more than its fair share of ghosts, spooks and spectres.
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To get readers ready for Halloween night we have rounded up some of Merseyside's most haunted places and the story behind these super-scary, real-life haunted sites. Take a look below.
Penny Lane
It may be famous because of its links to the Beatles but apparently, there are more than just tourists lingering around. The street is named after a Liverpool slave ship owner but most people will associate the street name with the song by The Beatles from 1967.
And those who don't associate the street name with the Beatles, associate it with the 'Penny Lane Poltergeist'. Apparently, number 44 has been home to the very durable poltergeist that first became active in Victorian times.
A young girl combing her long blonde hair also appears at the window of the house, but her identity remains a mystery.
Croxteth Hall
The heritage site is rumoured to be haunted by its former residents. Croxteth Hall was the home of the Molyneux family, the Earls of Sefton, from the 16th century until 1972 when the last Earl died.
Visitors to the building claim to have heard the sounds of servants in the kitchen, while others claim to have seen the ghost of a housemaid and many claim to smell tobacco when nobody is around. The motion detectors have also been claimed to go off for no obvious reason.
Bidston Hill
Bidston Hill is one of the highest points in Wirral and stretches out over 100 acres of land containing historic buildings and ancient rock carvings. The famous windmill was built in 1800 and people are known to travel from all over to visit the spot.
However, some of those who made the trip got more than they bargained for. Visitors have reported seeing a ghost walking around the mill. The spooky figure is said to be a former miller who was murdered in the early 19th century.
Bidston Hill is also a prime location for UFO sightings.
Newsham Park Hospital
Originally built as an orphanage for seamen's children in 1879, the site was later converted into a hospital in 1954 and received an influx of patients with severe mental health problems. It stayed this way until 1988 when the hospital stopped taking new patients and in 1992 all remaining patients and staff were relocated.
In 1997 the building was finally vacated of patients and staff and closed its doors, falling into a state of disrepair. And since then, the hospital has become a hotspot for explorers, photographers and paranormal investigators who regularly visit the building and wander in and out of its endless rooms.
The building is believed to be one of the most haunted in Liverpool, with recent visitors reporting hearing distant voices and seeing shadowy figures on the walls. Ghost hunters even claim to have heard banging coming from the cupboards that were rumoured to have been where badly behaved children were sent as punishment during Victorian times.
A man who used to work at Newsham Park Hospital said the old asylum is so haunted it is ‘pure evil’ and ‘should have been demolished’. John Gray worked on the hospital switchboard and reception from 1973 to 1986 and said he couldn’t have got out of there quick enough following the paranormal activity that left him so traumatised he still has nightmares.
Speaking to the ECHO in 2017, Mr Gray said: “You could feel the evil when you walked in, it was in the atmosphere. When I was made redundant I could not have got out of there quick enough.”
Southbrook Road
Lorna McDonald called in clergy to her Belle Vale home after demons forced her daughter to leave and left her living in fear. The 46-year-old claimed to have seen demonic shapes and witnessed mirrors flying off the wall.
But while the story published in the ECHO in August 2014 may have had its sceptics, paranormal expert Tom Slemen is not so sure.
Tom said: “The whole area around Southbrook Road where Mrs McDonald lived has quite a dark Satanic history. Southbrook Road derives its name from Childwall Brook, which once ran through the road on which 34 houses are now built, and the house which is purported to be the lair of the demon is situated on land which once belonged to the Ivy Farm –just one of the infamous spots where a sinister and ancient band of occultists known as the Lily-White Boys used to hold their bonfire rituals.”
According to Tom the land bounded by Belle Vale, Childwall Golf Course, Huyton, Court Hey and Page Moss has some sacred relevance to the Lily-White Boys and several devil-worshipping cultists, as well as “Bloody Acre,” a mysterious tract of forbidden land that lies next to All Saints Church in Childwall.
The latter has been the scene of some strange rituals, including one in 1554, when Anne Whitfield – aged just nine – was married to 10-year-old Thomas Fletcher.
Speke Hall
Speke Hall was built 400 years ago by the devout Catholic Norris family. Over the years, visitors have claimed to see ghosts roaming Speke Hall including a white lady, a Victorian gardener, a ghostly priest and a werewolf-like beast.
Footsteps are often heard in the upper corridors and the sound of children crying. There have also been reports of visitors feeling a sudden nauseousness while walking round the premises.
A former warden at the site told the ECHO in 2018: "I always had an open mind but was quite ambivalent about ghosts, because I had never come across anything before.
"But that all changed when I started to work at Speke Hall."
Jean Tinsley added: "You could always hear girls chattering in the servants quarters, to the point where we would always say good morning as we walked through. The servants bells would ring, but they weren't attached to anything.
"My job was to admit people into the house and to get to the door people had to walk along the stone bridge and ring the bell, but many times I would hear footsteps coming down the bridge and I'd open the door and there wouldn't be anyone there."
The Slaughterhouse
Said to be one of the city’s oldest pubs, The Slaughterhouse, on Fenwick Street, in Liverpool earned its name from dark stories surrounding its former landlord, a butcher and it’s a gruesome Sweeney Todd tale.
The pub, that is said to date back to the 17th century, has even been visited by Yvette Fielding and the Most Haunted ghost hunters.
Empire Theatre
The theatre dates way back to 1866 but was demolished, re-built and re-opened in 1925. In typical theatrical style, one of the ghosts is known as the 'Black Phantom' and is said to roam the dressing rooms.
Actors and actresses using the dressing rooms have previously reported seeing a dark shape reflected in the mirror. The theatre has many other ghostly residents, though, including a schoolboy, a little girl and a smart-looking tall dark man.
St James' Cemetery
Located behind the Anglican Cathedral, the site has been designated a Grade I Historic Park by Historic England. It was established in 1829 but in recent years, it has become known for its ghost sightings.
Visitors claim to have seen silvery white figures running along the path in the gardens, while others claim to have seen the ghost of MP William Huskisson, who was run over by a train when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened in 1830.
Pickwick Street
One house in this Toxteth street is reportedly haunted by a poltergeist that has ‘lifted a woman out of her bed’. The Pickwick Street property has seen ‘significant paranormal activity’ reported by previous inhabitants - with one expert saying it is haunted by a poltergeist from the 1800s.
Local paranormal expert Tom Slemen says that the ghost, known as the Pickwick Poltergeist, was first reported over 130 years ago.
He said: “There have been stories about a very unusual poltergeist on Pickwick Street that date back to the 1880s at least’ unusual in the fact that it seems to get around - most ghosts stick to haunting one property, but there are a rare few who flit from house to house, often in the same street, and the Pickwick Street Poltergeist is one of those."
Philharmonic Dining Rooms
Paddy Smith, from Prescot, a man who works as a travel agent by day and a seeker of pub spirits by night, told the ECHO in 2006 about the spooky nature of the pub.
He said: "The Philharmonic Pub on Hope Street is well haunted, as you know, by a banshee, and several unknown ghosts.
"But of course, the most spectacular haunting to take place there occurred in 1971, when Walter Slim – a man who had been dead for 83 years – walked into the pub and bellowed to the barman: “In the name of human charity, I’ll have your gin sir!” – and he was dressed in the top hat and cape, and was actually served the gin, which he drank, before leaving."
Epstein Theatre
The old Neptune, now known as the Epstein Theatre, is still reportedly haunted by ghosts. The Hanover Street venue is supposedly haunted by a thin silhouette of a woman from the 1930s and a man in black who has his head flopped sideways.
He is thought to be a former stage manager who hanged himself in the building in the 1920s.
Queensway Tunnel
Spooky things go on in the Queensway Tunnel and we're not just talking about the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 was filmed in the tunnel.
It was constructed between 1925 and 1934. A ghost of a woman has been seen by many motorists, and it's said to be the ghost of a woman who died after falling from a motorbike decades ago.
An old fashioned 1960's police car has also been seen driving in the tunnel.
Knowsley Hall
The hall was once the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. It has since been restored and converted for functions.
The hall is surrounded by 2,500 acres of parkland, which contains Knowsley Safari Park. It's known the building has been on the site since the 12th century. In 2009 a paranormal activity group apparently captured a blurred picture of a ghost which had appeared to them as an orb.
Several roads near the estate are also said to be haunted by ghostly vintage cars with no drivers, including a limousine.
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