It’s that time of year when pumpkins start appearing in living room windows, you go clothes shopping in town and come out dressed as a blood-sucking vampire, and you go to the supermarket for cakes and walk away with Fiendish Fancies or Chocolate and Slime Slices. Yes, there’s no escaping it; Halloween is just around the corner.
In the spirit of sitting around the fire and telling ghost stories, we thought we’d delve into the spookier nooks of our local area to see what tales we could find. So let’s dim the lights, play Bach’s Fugue in D minor, and explore haunted Lincolnshire.
‘The Ruskington Horror’
If we were giving out Os-scares for Most Prolific Haunting then it seems the A15 between Sleaford and Lincoln would take that honour. Even someone in the YLL team once experienced this ghost as they drove home one night. Many witnesses have reported phantom hitch-hikers, apparitions in the middle of the road, strange glows, even faces manifesting on their dashboard. Locals’ accounts of this haunting once propelled it into the national limelight, the tabloids dubbing it the Ruskington Horror. It is something that has received in-depth research from Sleaford’s very own paranormal expert, Tom Warrington, who considers it his favourite local ghost story. He speculates the area may be a hotspot due to its close proximity to the Preceptory Tower of Temple Bruer, an ancient site that belonged to the Knights Templar who had spiritual interests and dabbled in the occult. More to come on Tom…
The Burton Pedwardine Horror
I call it this, only because it is very similar to the Ruskington Horror, in that local man Chris Tinsley was driving home towards Helpringham late one night when he saw a figure in the middle of the road. Chris slammed on his brakes and got out his car, yet there was no-one to be found on the deserted moonlit road.
Red Frighting Hood of Algarkirk
Chris told me another story from his youth when he lived in the village of Algarkirk. Hanging out with a friend near the church, both boys noticed a sudden change in the atmosphere, everything going dark and quiet, as though they were in a dome. They both peered towards the nearby church and standing in the bell tower was a figure dressed in a red hood, gazing on at them. Now, granted Chris is a horror writer, but he assures me these ghostly experiences are not fiction!
Rauceby Asylum
Ghosts or not, there’s no getting away from the creepy vibe of the derelict wards of Rauceby Asylum. Frequently visited by ghost hunters, there are numerous videos on YouTube. Many people have reported ghostly voices on their visits to these ruins, along with a groaning ghost with no facial features that vanishes into the darkness.
Haverholme Priory
This is another favourite hotspot of ghost hunter Tom Warrington. He speculates on there being a curse on the existing ruins after much of the building was dismantled, but he says there are also numerous reports of ghosts on the nearby bridge with a horse and cart often witnessed.
Book Review
With the spooky season coming up, I thought what better time to pick up Tom Warrington’s book on his paranormal experiences, Looking for Ghosts – Seeker of Truth. Tom regularly gives talks on the subject and even hosts his own award-winning radio show. Although he is based here in Sleaford, he has travelled the length of Britain researching and investigating, from haunted inns to abandoned churches. But what particularly took my interest were the local places he’s visited: the abandoned airfield tower at Coleby Grange where entities don’t like you to enter, the Boston Gliderdome where the dancefloor is reputed to be built over an ancient burial ground. His strangest incident occurred in the village of Aby in Lincolnshire where a family were experiencing haunted happenings in their home. While he was there investigating, Tom recorded a strange ghostly humming on his sound recorder, something he was unable to rationally explain. He freely admitted to me he was rather disturbed by it!
In his book, he explores what initially drew him to the world of the paranormal, and gives fascinating speculation on why some of these hauntings may be occurring, along with reflections on other phenomena that may be related, such as UFOs. The frustrating thing for ghost hunters, he told me, is that spirits only appear when we’re not looking for them. Will we ever work out the truth? Perhaps it is beyond us (no pun intended). Judging by some of the incidents he recounts in his book, perhaps we’re best off not knowing!
Looking for Ghosts is available on Amazon, so if you’re looking for a spooky read to get you in the mood for Halloween, I heartily recommend it.