Hidden in full view

I suspect many locals would struggle to recall seeing this ginnel. It can be found on Coney Street, arguably York's busiest thoroughfare and is called Judges Court. It also has it's own ghost which announces it's presence by the sound of a broken spur jangling along the  ground. I do not know of anyone who has heard the sound and stopped long enough to see what the wearer of the spur looks like!

Museum Garden Ghosts

Despite living in Europe's most haunted city I haven't mentioned ghosts in a while, these two transparent figures floated by me as I walked through the Museum gardens recently....

Cock and Bottle Story

This rather modern looking pub is reputedly haunted by the ghost of George Villiers, the first or second Duke of Buckingham depending on which version of the story you read. He is said to have forced his affections on unwilling ladies but then to have vanished very quickly if their husbands and brothers came after him. There is even a suggestion that he was the Georgie Porgie from the nursery rhyme.

Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.

The ghost in the Cock and Bottle is seen mostly by women and described as a shadowy figure with long hair and embroidered clothing. I remember reading a report by a 'ghost hunter' which noted
"The Duke of Buckingham II haunts the Cock and Bottle Inn. While alive he had quite an eye for the ladies and in death he often appears in the toilets".
Quite.

A Ghost Story for Halloween

This is the entrance to The Treasurer's House adjacent to York Minster, it dates mainly to the 16th & 17th century although parts of it are much earlier. A major Roman road runs underneath the house around 3 metres below street level. It has the reputation of being one of the most haunted buildings in Europe and the cellar of this house is the scene of York's best known ghost story. 

In 1953 a young plumber called Harry Martindale was working in the cellar when he heard the sound of a trumpet. The next thing he knew the figure of a horse riden by a man in a plumed helmet came through the wall next to him. Harry stumbled back off his ladder and scrambled into a corner of the cellar where he watched terrified and amazed as a shuffling band of around 20 soldiers wearing tunics and carrying swords & shields came marching through the cellar wall, passed in front of him, and disappeared through the opposite wall. Later Harry was to describe the soldiers, their weapons, and their dress in some detail. He also noted the soldiers were visible from the knees upwards only......... which would be the case if they were marching on the old Roman road beneath the cellar.

Once the ghostly soldiers had vanished Harry couldn't get out of the cellar quick enough and as he shot up the stairs he ran straight into the curator of the house who took one look at his face and said  "You've seen the Roman's haven't you?" Clearly Harry was not the first to report ghostly goings on in this haunted house.

Ghostly Goings On, No 1

Some years ago in one of the old houses in Stonegate, not far from Ye Olde Starre Inne, a female human skull was found beneath the stairs. It was estimated to be at least 100 years old. The family who lived in this house had a cat who welcomed all visitors to the house by circling around them, keeping about 2 foot away, whilst looking them over. After the skull was found the family noticed the cat had started to circle around on the landing whilst looking up at someone not visible to the human eye. In addition the circle was around 6 foot wide as if the person concerned were perhaps wearing a wide old fashioned skirt. This continued on and off for several years.