Bamford & Norden Dec-Jan 2020

OWD BETTS GHOST
Not many people can claim that they’ve
filmed a ghost but Amazon TV producer
and ghost hunter Sean Reynolds in 2017
says that, when filming at Owd Betts he
experienced ice-cold air and saw a Bible
and a cushion that had been owned by
the landlady a century before moving on
its own. For his series ‘Ghost Dimension’
he also caught on camera a ghost having
a Christmas drink in the pub. All of these
strange sights were accompanied by
sounds of footsteps and voices all around
the pub believed to be the movements and
chattering of Owd Betty herself who died
in 1893. Many regulars at the Owd Betts
pub claim also to have seen the ghost of
a woman behind the bar, often moving
glasses mysteriously no doubt trying to fill
them with spirits!
There have been many other ghostly sights
in Rochdale, one featuring the public
executioner, Rochdale’s John Ellis who
died in 1932 but, some maintain, still
haunts his father’s barbers’ shop on
Oldham Road. Now a florist, this place is
alleged to be the scene of tricks played
on those alone in the shop, pushing them
about in the room or, for some reason,
slapping their behind! And then there is
the strange story of ‘internal rain’ at a
bungalow on Hill Top Close. The residents
in the 1980’s were puzzled by regular
flooding which occurred in their property
although there was no sign of where it
came from. A phantom coughing and the
smell of smoke in the house continued to
puzzle the occupants. Maybe they should
have checked the lodger or called a plumber!
Clegg Hall of course was the setting for
a well-known Rochdale spook, and you
should see last June’s Streetwise for the
full story of the murder of nephews for
an inheritance leading to ghostly shades
appearing in the Hall’s rooms. Or consider
the tale of Sir Bertine Entwistle who was
killed fighting in the Wars of the Roses
at St Albans but came back to tap on
windows at Foxholes or walk the streets in
clanking armour. Finally, there’s the
Prickshaw spectre of Healey Dell where
the spirits of a dead farmer and children
are said to stand at the windows of what
once were worker’s cottages, pointing at
passers-by. A photograph was taken in
the late 1980’s and certainly, strange
translucent figures – a man wearing a
smock and two children - are plainly
looking out. This might have been a hoax
except that a neighbour who saw the
photograph said that a farmer and his two
children had been killed in a fire at that
same cottage many years before!
There are more stories of Rochdale’s
ghosts and poltergeists and we could
be here all night telling them, but the
candle is burning low and it’s time for
bed. Think about the ghosts of Rochdale
as you turn out the light tonight and
…………. sleep well! Happy Christmas!
If you have any stories, comments or memories of Rochdale ghosts, I’d be delighted
to hear from you and add them to a growing Rochdale archive on the subject.
Please contact Gary Heywood-Everett at garyheywoodeverett@yahoo.co.uk or leave
your comments by text or by recorded message at 07745201263.
Visit our website www.streetwisemag.co.uk for all the info about the Streetwise magazines
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