Is Chester the Most Haunted City in the UK?
Love it or hate it, Halloween is a staple on the festive calendar; observed throughout the UK and further afield and steeped in history. With Stately Homes and Castles aplenty, Cheshire is well equipped to put on a show for Halloween, and with over 2,000 years of history, Chester itself boasts more than its fair share of haunted buildings and streets.
From unexplained paranormal activity, to things that go bump in the night, Chester city centre is home to many an eerie tale. The city has often been described as one of the UK’s most haunted, with many of its current shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants said to be plagued by the ghosts of eras gone by, however, you can rest assured that we haven’t had any ghosts reported at Edgar House!
A Well Known Ghost
One of the most well-known Chester ghosts is the spirit of a Roman legionnaire who is said to appear at the City Walls. He is most often seen between the amphitheatre and Newgate. It is said that the legionnaire was in love with a local Celtic girl and he frequently left his post to meet her. However, the girl’s parents ended up taking advantage of this situation, and one night when the legionnaire had left his post to meet their daughter, they killed the sentries that were left on guard and snatched up as much loot as they could carry. When the lovestruck soldier returned he was murdered. Now he remains close to his post doomed to do the duty he neglected in life!
Ghosts and Chocolate?!
When we think about properties that are likely to be haunted, there are certain places that usually spring to mind and a chocolate shop is not usually one of them! Nevertheless, the former Thorton’s Chocolate Shop on Eastgate Street is considered to be one of the most haunted places in Chester. The shop is apparently haunted by three different ghosts. These include a large and jovial man in an apron, a more insubstantial male spirit who is almost invisible, and finally, a mischievous female poltergeist known as Sarah.
There isn’t a lot known about the male spirits, but Sarah is a different matter. Apparently, she is a charming young woman who was sadly jilted on her wedding day. In her distraught state, she came home to Eastgate Street and hung herself. Thornton’s now occupies what was once her home. Although Sarah has never been seen, male customers, in particular, get a very unpleasant feeling of being watched. Sarah is known to move things and even push people. She gets particularly worked up when the Valentine’s Day chocolates are put out on display. She has been known to scatter them all over the floor while the standard boxes are left alone. Sarah has also proven to be very useful to local police! On one occasion, a burglar broke into the shop and tried to break into the safe. However, Sarah gave him a scare and he fled the scene leaving behind his tools and a complete set of fingerprints!
The Spirits of Stanley Palace
Stanley Palace is a Grade II listed townhouse that has previously served a number of different purposes. It has been apartments, a boys’ school, a museum, and is now a multi-purpose venue that is let out for a variety of different uses. It is also alleged to be full of ghosts. One of the most well-known of the spirits is Elizabeth Warburton, one of the former owners of the property. She is spotted with some degree of regularity, usually walking straight through the wall as though it is not there! Some of the other ghosts in residence include a man wearing Tudor style clothing, an army officer in a circa WWII uniform, and a lady with grey hair that sits by the piano. Visitors often report hearing unexplained banging, crying children, and phantom footsteps while in the building.
A Pint with a Difference
To those who aren’t in the know, The Pied Bull looks like a charming little hotel right in the heart of historic Chester. It was built around 1155 and is believed to be the oldest licensed house in the city. It is one of the most haunted places in Chester with ghosts roaming freely through the cellar and the bedrooms.
Given its age and history, it is no surprise that the building has its fair share of ghosts hanging around! The Pied Bull has even featured on a few paranormal TV programmes. One of the main culprits for the paranormal activity is a male that haunts the cellar. The activity is so frequent there that most of the staff refuse to go downstairs alone! The man is thought to be John Davies who died when he fell down the stairs while carrying a knife in 1609! It is also said that two of the bedrooms are haunted as well – these spirits are apparently former chambermaids who loved working at the hotel and simply never bothered to leave, even after their deaths.
Halloween, Souling and links to Cheshire
Popular Halloween customs in past centuries of Britain included ‘souling’, where groups of adults, and later children wearing costumes, visited big houses to sing and collect money and food.
Souling was common in parts of Cheshire, Shropshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire around the time of what we now call Halloween. In parts of northern England, special cakes were baked and left in churchyards as offerings to the dead. A soul cake is a small round cake, although looking more like shortbread, to commemorate the dead in many Christian traditions. In Sheffield and Cheshire, the custom has continued, on a very small scale, into modern times.
FIVE OF THE BEST HALLOWEEN ACTIVITIES IN CHESHIRE
Sick to Death
Location: St Michael’s Church, Chester
Scare Factor: 4
Open all year round
Price: £6.50-13
Book Tickets – or just buy when you get there!
A brand new attraction in Chester, focusing on the history of medicine; a playground of plague with a smatter of splatter, and a chance to poke into our medical past!
Meet the Grim Reaper and Asclepius, the ancient Greek God of medicine as they guide you through the weird and wonderful history of medicine – experience the past in a way that has never been done before!
Luna’s Lost Spell
Location: Chester Zoo, Upton-by-Chester
Scare Factor: 2
Open throughout October
Price: Free with Zoo entry
Experience a brand new interactive Halloween trail at Chester Zoo.
Luna the Witch needs your help on a quest to find her lost spell, carefully crafted with the most powerful poisons and venoms from the world of nature. You’ll spend one to two hours discovering six amazing animals and use the magic of augmented reality on your phone to reveal their secrets!
Pumpkin Picking Patch and Halloween Maze
Location: Bolesworth Castle, Tattenhall
Scare Factor: 1
Open 8th – 30th November
Bolesworth’s pick your own pumpkin patch features acres of pumpkins of all shapes, sizes and colours to choose from, as well as the chance to get lost in our spooky Halloween maize maze.
The autumn-fun also features plenty of scarily good things to see and do, including crafts and activities, trails, wild flowers, places to take photos and make unforgettable memories!
Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience
Location: Arley Hall & Gardens, Northwich
Scare Factor: 1
Open until December
Price: £34-46 per person
This is a night time woodland trail experience filled with magical creatures and wizarding wonders from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films. Explore the after dark sounds, lights, and special effects that bring the magic of the Wizarding World to life. Guests will also be able to enjoy a wide range of delicious food and drinks at the village.
Set in a beautiful woodland, this trail experience has been created by award-winning theatrical designers and experiential creators. It’s an evening for the whole family.
Chester Ghost Tours
Location: Town Hall Square, Chester
Scare Factor: 5
Running every Saturday evening all year round, with additional days and times added over the Halloween period
Price: £9-£10 per person
Chester Ghost Tours take you on even the darkest and coldest nights along cobbled streets, through ancient thoroughfares and the ‘wicked old Rows’ to locations -sometimes off the beaten track with eerie backdrops and tell you scary stories about ‘ghosties and ghoulies, and things that go bump in the night’.
The team of experienced Ghost Tour guides have their own set of spooky tales and preferred routes around the 2000 year old city so every tour is different. They don’t indulge in gimmicks on the tours so if you experience something strange along the way, there might just be something out there!
Hopefully you might be feeling a little bit spirited for Halloween now, but, whatever festivities you have planned, Edgar House provides the ultimate home-from-home destination to enjoy celebrating with a large group of friends or family, across the generations.