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

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Sheffield Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana

Mary Queen of Scots

Location: Sheffield - Manor Lodge (aka Manor Castle)
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2015
Further Comments: Folklore says that Mary, wearing a long black dress, appears in the Turret House and glides along corridors and passes through walls. In 2015, a visitor to the site watched a glowing white figure of a woman wearing a long dress run towards and vanish behind a building.

Old Lady

Location: Sheffield - Middlewood Hospital
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This old lady has been seen wandering around the former Ward Eight, where she disappears when she walks through a wall. There are also stories of disembodied footsteps running on the stairs.

Governess

Location: Sheffield - Mosborough Hall
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Now returning to the hall in the form of a white lady, the governess had her throat slit by the hall's Squire after she threatened to tell his wife of their affair. The sounds of their final argument can also be heard drifting around the hall at night. A man staying here also reported a phantom hound which awoke him at night.

Cain

Location: Sheffield - National Emergency Services Museum
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2020s?
Further Comments: A former police and fire station, the building is now a museum and used by ghost hunting groups. The site is home to a former prisoner named Cain,

Devil or Other

Location: Sheffield - Nicker Wood
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Pre-1880s
Further Comments: Sidney Oldall Addy, in a book about the local area, assumed that the woods took the name from a monster, water sprite, a goblin or the Devil.

Matron

Location: Sheffield - Northern General Hospital, Vickers Corridor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2003 ('dream'), October 2012 Victorian man
Further Comments: At least two members of staff have reported the same 'dream' while sleeping in the staff room - they have awoken to see an angry matron-styled nurse with one hand over the witnesses' mouth and the other hand around their neck, trying to strangle them. One witness kicked and screamed before the apparition vanished in the blink of an eye. In 2012 two witnesses spotted a man in Victorian clothing drift past them while on the bell tower staircase.

Tunnel

Location: Sheffield - Norton Church
Type: Other
Date / Time: Treasure unknown, woman in 1840
Further Comments: A secret tunnel containing a box of treasure was said to connect the church to Beauchief Abbey. The box could only be removed by a white horse wearing shoes which faced the wrong way. The horse would have to approach the treasure tail first and could only drag the box out using rope tied around its head. In 1840 a ghostly woman was spotted watching the parish clerk play the organ at dusk - the clerk and his apprentice fled and vowed never to play the organ in the evening again.

Fireman

Location: Sheffield - Old Fire Station
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Perhaps unsurprisingly, the male entity said to haunt this building is named as a former fireman.

Beer Drinker

Location: Sheffield - Old Queen's Head public house
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Seen and felt sitting by the stone fireplace, the phantom of an aging patron firmly holding his jugs of beer still returns to the oldest pub in Sheffield.

Crossing the Road

Location: Sheffield - Packman Lane
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 2000s?
Further Comments: A local story says that a figure or ball of light can be seen crossing the road, although some believe that it is an optical illusion caused by environmental effects.

Smoker

Location: Sheffield - Private house in Swallownest area
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This polt would hide and move objects, blow light bulbs, stack cigarette butts, and create the smell of pipe smoke. A phantom black dog was also seen by a child on the site.

No Head

Location: Sheffield - Private residence along Townhead Road, Dore
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1960s?
Further Comments: A 23 year old woman encountered a phantom woman floating slightly above the floor of her home. The witness said that the entity wore a green Elizabethan style dress, had beautiful hands, and while the base of the neck appeared solid, the top had faded to nothing and the entity had no head. When Dore stood as a village, rather than a Sheffield suburb, the area was believed to be haunted by a young girl upon a white horse.

Man in a Mask

Location: Sheffield - Private residence, Brushes Estate
Type: Post-Mortem Manifestation
Date / Time: 09 December 2011, 20:07h
Further Comments: A child told his father that he had seen a black man in a mask at the door of the living room. A few hours later the child's Jamaica grandfather died in hospital, wearing a face mask.

Sitting Man

Location: Sheffield - Private residence, Crookes Road
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Spring 2006
Further Comments: A resident reported seeing a phantom man sitting in a chair that was not there and a woman would walk up to the attic bedroom. After experiencing poltergeist activity in the bathroom, the witness shouted out in frustration - the haunting ceased after the witness's outburst.

Emily

Location: Sheffield - Private residence, Moor Oaks Road
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: 2006 or 2007
Further Comments: A resident here heard the voice of an older woman close by ask 'Are you there, Emily?'. The resident thought it may have been their landlady, but no one else was around.

To Be Seen Alive

Location: Sheffield - Rawson's Arms, Tenter Street (no longer operating), and River Dun
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: June 1835
Further Comments: This pub featured in local news as it offered a sea serpent 'to be seen alive'. The creature, pulled from the River Dun, weighed around twenty-two kilograms, a head resembling a mastiff, and fine mouse-like hair. Music would calm or anger the creature, depending on the number of instruments played.

Flying Lizard

Location: Sheffield - Rivelin Valley
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: It was said that there were three types of lizard in this area, the Running Asker, the Water Asker, and the Flying Asker, the latter being the smallest of the three.

Scratching Hound

Location: Sheffield - Road outside the Botanical Gardens
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: October 1998
Further Comments: A phantom dog attacked one witness walking along this road - it bit his calf and clawed his back, leaving red weals. The man developed a high fever but later recovered after a spirit exorcism was performed.

Old School Boy

Location: Sheffield - Rowlinson Comprehensive School
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: It is claimed that a boy dressed in old fashioned clothing has been observed by students and teachers, standing on the playing fields.

Floating Feet

Location: Sheffield - Schofield's department store (now Argos Extra), Angel Street
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The boiler room here was haunted by a pair of feet which hovered a half a metre or so from the floor.

Red Cloud

Location: Sheffield - Skies about Woodthorpe area
Type: UFO
Date / Time: Circa February 2017
Further Comments: A red cloud which covered the roof of a house was seen by three people. Different coloured beams of light, mainly green, pink and blue, emerged from the cloud for around fifteen minutes before vanishing.

Dark Red Cloud

Location: Sheffield - Skies over town
Type: UFO
Date / Time: 9 December 1731, 17.00h
Further Comments: This 'cloud' which shot beams of light, heating up the cold winter night, hovered over the town before heading off towards Ireland.

Hell Hole

Location: Sheffield - Somewhere between Neepsend Bicarage and Rutland Road
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Pre-1880s
Further Comments: An entrance to the lower world was said to be located somewhere in Sheffield.

Gabriel's Hounds

Location: Sheffield - Stannington
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: When these wild phantom hounds were heard above the neighbourhood, a death was sure to follow.

Walk along the Boardwalk

Location: Sheffield - The Boardwalk (now Meltdown Bar), and the Point
Type: Poltergeist
Date / Time: 2000s
Further Comments: Phantom footsteps were heard moving along the corridor between the stage and the backstage dressing room of the music venue, and mild poltergeist activity reported.

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