7 Most haunted places in Cheshire and the Wirral

The UK is home to many hotspots of paranormal activity, but few areas have as many haunted sites as the North West. Cheshire and the Wirral are great places to go to, if you have an interest in all things supernatural, so here are seven great haunted spots for you to visit in the North West.

The ancient Roman settlement of Chester has a strong claim to being one of the most haunted places in Britain with more than 80 instances of ghostly activity being reported. The George and Dragon Hotel, near the town centre, is built on the site of a 1600-year-old Roman cemetery. Footsteps have been heard pacing the upper floor in the early morning, passing through solid walls on the way.

Spectres of monks and nuns have, also, been seen throughout the town. One monk makes his way to and from St John’s church, speaking in a guttural Saxon tongue, while a beautiful Nun in a blue habit wafts around the churchyard.

The most famous ghost is Sarah, named by staff at a chocolate shop on Eastgate Street. Jilted on her wedding day, she is particularly active on Valentine’s Day, where she throws boxes of chocolate around the store. The strangest Ghost sightings, though, are those of phantom cattle, which are heard lowing plaintively early in the mornings at the foot of St Mary’s Hill.

Walton Hall, a red-brick Gothic hall in Warrington built in the 1830s, has been the site of many paranormal experiences and hauntings. Once inside, visitors have reported feeling a sensation of being stabbed.

Sightings have included a slim military man with a limp, as well as a woman in white who pushed past visitors. The scariest of these spectral figures, though, is that of a “sinister man”, and the orbs of light that appear in the banqueting room.

The ghost of a woman haunts the upper floors of Quarry Bank Mill, part of an 18th Century industrial heritage site run by the National Trust. The imposing cotton mill looms large on the banks of the River Bollin on the Styal estate. The ghost wears Victorian-style clothing and has been frequently witness watching people from a window. The guides have named her “Annie” but her real identity is in fact a real mystery.

Other haunted sites include Apprentice House, where pauper children were lodged and schooled. Two women continue to haunt the site, with builders spotting a ‘white lady’ there in the 1980s.

A stone in Saltersford, near Rainow, marks the spot of a mysterious and tragic death. On Christmas Eve in 1735, John Turner was returning home in a snowstorm. Anxious to be with his family he continued through the blizzard but sadly froze to death. Beside his body though, was a woman’s footprint and no one came forward to claim the footprint as theirs. To this day, we don’t know who the mystery woman by Turner’s side was.

A phantom funeral procession has been reported in Lyme Park, followed by the spectre of a weeping woman draped in white. The deceased is said to be Sir Piers Legh, who died in 1422 from his wounds at the Battle of Agincourt.

The woman is his sweetheart Blanche, who died from her grief. Blanche may also haunt Lyme Hall as a woman in white is seen there, alongside the sound of bells.

The Lyceum Theatre was built on the site of a Catholic church and graveyard in 1882, making this theatre in Crewe a popular site for people looking to spot ghosts. The first ghost seen was a monk, who was seen in the shadowy recesses below the auditorium, though some say he has since moved to the Three Lamps pub, behind the theatre. Other ghosts include a woman, marked by the scent of lavender, and a ballet dancer who hanged herself in the dressing room.

An exorcism took place in 1969, but the spirits remain, with the ballet dancer allegedly attending a performance in the mid-1970s.

The Old Hall Hotel at Sandbach has had a plethora of ghosts haunting it, ever since opening in 1656. One of the most distinctive is an old lady referred to as the Beekeeper, who walks nonchalantly around the hall, dressed in old-fashioned beekeeping garb. Another spirit, the Grey Lady, was awakened by removal men who moved panelling from Haslington Hall to the Old Hall. The Old Lady seemed to follow the men, when the skeleton of a baby, from years before, was discovered.

The most haunted bedroom though is room 11. Guests have reported that their bed feels as though it is on fire and two ghostly children are said to lurk there.

Banner credit: Misty forest (David De Lossy)