The city of York has more to offer than just our mouth-watering chocolate, it’s also known for its art galleries, architecture, museums, shopping, theatre productions, flawless food and drink venues and ghosts. That’s right, you read correctly, ghosts!
With it being Halloween the ghosts have been told to be on their best behaviour around visitors, so hopefully you won’t get too much of a scare in York this October. But we will warn you, if you’re walking down the Shambles in the dark and mist starts to appear, you should be fine, as long as you don’t hear the Ghost Busters theme tune in the distance. if you do, you’d best skedaddle sharpish!
Hopefully your visit to York will be pleasant and poltergeist free, but if you do fancy running around the streets of York with your Proton Pack, then please do! But if reenacting Ghost Busters isn’t your thing then why not get the socks spooked off you by one of our famous York Ghost walks, they’re great for kids and adults alike!
York, the most haunted city in England
We have a reputation of being the “Most Haunted City in England” and for good reason! People all over the world have come to York and thousands of sightings of ghosts and other unexplainable events have been reported. The reports come with some terrifyingly accurate descriptions, the goriest of details and the creepiest of tales! So we thought we’d take you on a mini ghost walk and show you a few of our favourite ghostly resident’s in York’s city centre.
Choc affair’s Scary-licious Ghost Tour!
The first stop on our ghost tour is the York Castle Museum. And it’s no surprise, as it’s a place where the old gallows and criminals used to be kept, a lot of ghostly goings on have been caught here! Voices echoing down the corridors, ghosts walking around the building, followed screams only to find there’s no one there…
Our next stop is Clifford’s Tower. We know, we know; it doesn’t look particularly creepy in the day, but at night there’s something eerie about this place and if you’re lucky you might catch a glimpse of Roger de Clifford. What happened to this person I hear you ask, well poor Roger was hanged in 1322 on this very spot and was given an unconventional burial – caged up, outside, and left there rotting for a year and a day. We can only assume it got too smelly and they had to remove him.
Here we take a walk down Micklegate to the Church of the Holy Trinity. There is said to be not one, not two, but three haunting manifestations which live here. Three ghosts are said to have been seen at this exact location; a mother, a child and their nanny. This ghostly legend is quite a sweet one, it is said that the mother and child were buried in different graveyards, and the nanny is simply reuniting the mother and child together every evening. Isn’t she lovely!
We also have a large collection of haunted pubs in York as well, so if you’re after a refreshing beverage with a phantom for extra company, then York is the best place to be.
We find ourselves at The Golden Fleece, “York’s Most Haunted pub”, and it’s no wonder. People have reported sightings of ghosts, strange noises and the ghosts have even been accused of being interior designers due to the amount of time the furniture has been moved around in the rooms of the Inn. The most famous ghost at the Golden Fleece is Geoff Monroe, who was a Canadian airman staying at the pub. He died in Room Four by falling out or throwing himself out of one of the windows. People who have stayed in Room Four have been haunted by him in full uniform, standing over them, and have even been woken from their slumbers by his cold touch!
Here we are, the last stop of our ghostly tour, it’s the Roman Bath at St. Sampson’s Square. This is where people have reported noises of mysterious splashing, which comes as no surprise as the Roman bath has old baths located below the pub, at least the ghosts here are having a fun time!
We’d like to thank our tour guide for very kindly showing you a few of the spookiest places in York, and if you wish to take him home, he is available in our Halloween Seasonal range!