ghostsuk

HAUNTED DERBY
With over 1,000 paranormal sightings and spooky goings on, Derby certainly deserves its title 'ghost capital of the UK'.

A terrace house complete with spirit lodger, floating trousers and the notorious Derby Jail, which has housed much more than your average prisoner, it’s no wonder Derby has been named the ghost capital of England.

With over 1,000 paranormal sightings, is this simply just a case of over active imaginations, or do things really go bump in the night in the city of Derby?

Bump in the night

Stories of ghostly activities span generations. In fact it’s difficult to turn a corner in the city without hearing a nerve jangling tale of things going bump in the night. And you don’t have to go too far to find one such tale.

Built over 500 years ago, the Dolphin pub, claims to have more spirits than the ones found behind the bar. This Tudor building from 1532 is home to Landlord Terry, and boasts no less than four resident ghosts as its regulars.

Possessed trousers

Terry’s wife has felt an unnerving presence in the bedroom which appeared to be pressing down on her. On a separate occasion she claims her trousers were levitated off the bathroom floor.

Inside Out called in a psychic investigator to find out more. The investigator felt the spirits in the Dolphin pub were particularly drawn to the lady of the house.

"She’s a very spiritual person...a very kind lady and that’s what the spirits are attracted to."

So Terry’s wife can rest easy knowing that her floating trousers are simply acts of affection from her ghostly fans. Shame they can’t manage to levitate them down the stairs and into the washing machine!

Not all of Derby’s hauntings however are confined to historical residences. Jenny Richard’s terrace house on the outskirts of Derby may by lacking the typical attributes of your average haunted dwelling, no gnarled tree in the garden and not a creepy butler in sight, but don’t let this fool you.

Psychic energy

On the night Jenny moved in, she was prodded in the back by what she later believed to be the ghost of an old man. Jenny’s son has seen him too down the alley at the back of the house. On closer inspection the figure vanished.

Over two thirds of Derby's sightings are in buildings situated alongside the old A6. Some believe that this is due to lay lines, which are thought to convey psychic energy. Leading ghost researcher Richard Felix has his own theory for Derby’s high spirit population.

"So many things have happened, so many people have passed though, so much energy has been expelled here… We have the last hanging, drawing and quartering in England and the only Peer to be hanged for murder," explains Richard.

Haunted hot spot

Derby has been quick to respond to the flocking tourists and would be ghost busters, providing spooky city walks galore. Inside Out’s Russell Grant though was yet to be convinced. That was until he visited the remains of Derby Jail.

The Condemned cell - the most haunted hot spot in Derby jail
Derby jail is said to be one of the most haunted in the country, with the condemned cell, the most haunted hot spot there. It is here that Russell had an excruciating headache although he claims not to be a headache sufferer.

According to the Derwent Paranormal Society, who hold regular vigils in the jail, this is a common complaint. The society also claims to have the culprit of the supernatural ailments captured on camera.

Whether your a supernatural sceptic or a supernatural seeker, it can’t be denied that there is definitely something out of the ordinary about Derby.

Although Russell failed to commune with the other side, his unnerving visit to jail found him reaching for the painkillers and heading swiftly home.

It seems the spirit’s in this instance have done Derby proud. "Derby people are very proud to be the ghost capital of the UK. They can see that Derby is special. We are quite proud of our ghosts."
Richard Felix.

Executions in Derbyshire

1556 August 1

Joan Waste was burnt as a heretic in Windmill Pit, on the Burton Road, at Derby. (She was a blind woman, who, during the reign of Edward VI, had attended the services of the Church. After Queen Mary came to the throne she was accused before the Bishop of the Diocese of maintaining that the Sacrament was only a memorial or representation of the body of Christ, and the elements were mere bread and wine.
This opinion she was required to renounce; but, persisting in it, she received sentence of condemnation. After a sermon in the church she was led to the stake on the Burton Road, and there burned, holding Roger Waste, her brother, by the hand, praying and desiring those around her to pray.

1683 July 25

Three Roman Catholic priests, Nicholas Garlick, Robert Ludlam, and Richard Sympson, suffered martyrdom at Derby, being hanged drawn and quartered.

1608

Five men and a woman executed at Tapton Bridge, Chesterfield, the Assizes having been held at Chesterfield owing to the prevalence of the plague at Derby.

1665 March 14

Woman pressed to death in the County of Derby, as a mute.
(This awful punishment was pronounced on those who refused to plead and remained mute.
Before the inflection of the sentence the accused was warned three times of the penalty which would attend obstinate silence, and allowed a short time for consideration.
If the prisoner still persisted in silence, the Judgement of Penance, as it was termed, was thus pronounced: "That you be taken back to the prison whence you came to a low dungeon into which no light can enter; that you be laid on your back on the bare floor, with a cloth round your loins, but elsewhere naked; that there be set on your body a weight of iron, as great as you can bear - and greater; that you have no sustenance save, on the first day three morsels of the coarsest bread, on the second day three draughts of stagnant water from the pool nearest the prison door, on the third day again three morsels of bread as before, and such bread and such water alternately from day to day until you die".
This is the last known instance of this awful penalty being carried into effect).

1693

Girl in farm service at Swanwick burnt for murdering her master.
This was the last case in Derbyshire of death by burning at the stake.

1732 March 23

John Hewitt and Rosamund Clerenshaw executed for poisoning Hannah Hewitt at Derby.
(They were executed in their shrouds).

1738 March 2

Richard Woodward hanged at Derby for highway robbery.

1757

Thomas Hulley hanged for returning from transportation.

1785 April 1

William and George Grooby and James Peat, for burglary at Derby.
("It is now more than sixty years," says the Mercury, "since there were so many executed at one time upon our gallows; the persons who suffered then were named Rock, Lyon, and Shaw, and we believe their crime was counterfeiting the current coin of the realm. Peat wrote on the prison doors with chalk:
'Calm and Composed,
my soul a journey takes;
No guilt that troubles,
nor a heart that akes.)

1788 March 29

Thomas Grundy hanged for murdering his brother.
(After execution his body was publicly dissected in the presence of a great number of spectators).

1795 April 10

Thomas Neville, for burglary.
(He was carried to execution in a Mourning coach, attended by a hearse; where he assisted his executioner to fasten the rope to the tree, after which he drew his cap over his face and leapt from the cart into eternity)

1803 March 19

William Wells, for murder at Barlborough.
(About a minute after he had been hanged the rope slipped and he fell to the ground; the executioner was therefore under the necessity of tying him up a second time. His body was given to the surgeons for dissection).

1813 April 9

Paul Mason, Richard Hibbert and Peter Henshaw, for burglary.
(They were executed on the new drop, in front of the County Gaol, before an immense crowd of spectators).

1815 March 8

Anthony Lingard, for murder. The last case of gibbetting in the County of Derby.
(The body was afterwards removed to Wardlow Miers, and hung in chains near to the house where the crime was perpetrated.
This was the last case of gibbetting in the County of Derby. Lingard's brother William was 11 years later sentenced at Derby Assizes for highway robbery and assault, and was reprieved. William Lingard committed the robbery within view of the gibbett on which the bleaching bones of his brother were hanging)

1817 August 15

John Brown, Thomas Jackson, George Booth and John King, for arson at North Wingfield.
(In describing the execution the "Derby Mercury" of that date says: "As every fact which may tend to illustrate the principles of human action deserves notice, it is worth observing that a heavy shower happening whilst the doomed men were singing the hymn, two of them deliberately retreated to the shelter of an umbrella which was expanded on the drop, and a third placed himself under cover of the doorway.
The inconvenience of being wet was felt and avoided by men who knew they had not five minutes longer to live !!").

1817 November 7

Brandreth, Ludlam, and Turner, the "Pentrich Plotters", executed at Derby.
The last instance of the old penalty of high treason, hanging, drawing and quartering.
(Cavalry stood on guard during the execution. The prisoners were first dragged round the prison yard on hurdles, were then hanged for half an hour, and their bodies afterwards cut down.
The executioner then struck the heads off the bodies and seizing the head of Brandreth by the hair, showed the ghastly countenance to the multitude, exclaiming: "Behold the head of the traitor, Jeremiah Brandreth.
The crowd, "as if under the impulse of a sudden frenzy," separated in all directions, but equanimity was restored, "and the separation and exhibition of the remaining heads was witnessed with the greatest order and decorum".
The executioners were masked and their names were kept a profound secret. The poet Shelley witnessed the scene.
The block is still to be seen in Derby Prison, where its wood hangs damp always damp - so it has been averred - it has given rise to the tradition that the block of the unhappy men has not dried and never will).

1819 March 22

Hannah Docking (aged 16), for poisoning another little girl.

1847 April 1

John Platts, for murder at Chesterfield.
(This was a public execution in front of the County Gaol, and was witnessed by 20,000 people).

1862 April 11

Richard Thorley, for the murder of Eliza Morrow.
(The last public execution in Derby).

1881 November 21

Alfred Gough, for the murder of Eleanor Windley aged six, at Brimington.

1888 August 10

Arthur Thomas Delaney, for the murder of his wife at Chesterfield.

1902 July 30

John Bedford, for the murder of Nacy Price at Duckmanton.

1905 December 29

John Silk, for the murder of his mother at Chesterfield.

The Bell Hotel - is one of the old coaching inns in Derby, and has managed to retain much of its original appearance, although its apparent Tudor timbering was not added until after World War One. It was built around 1680, for the Meynell family and is reputed to have various ghosts within.
A Victorian lady in blue stands in one of the downstairs bars and vaporises in front of staff and customers alike. A poltergeist in another downstairs room has been known to throw items around, one barmaid being hit on the back of her head by a wooden coat hanger, but close inspection of the room revealed no one else present.
Upstairs in the Bell, one of the rooms is haunted by the ghost of a serving girl who has been seen on frequent occasions, dressed in 18th century clothing with a white mob cap. The original story, that she was murdered by the Jacobites in 1745, has nothing to substantiate it, but she has been seen on two occasions in connection with children. In the 1930s, the landlord had an asthmatic son. One afternoon he heard him coughing and choking in his bedroom. The boy's father ran upstairs and burst into the bedroom, to find a lady dressed in 18th century costume bending his son over and patting him on the back. As the boy's father took over, the mysterious figure simply vanished before his eyes.
In the 1950s this same room was used as a nursery. One day the baby was being changed by the landlady and mother of the child. The mother moved away to get some nappy pins and cotton wool, and as she turned back, standing over the baby, stooping as if to pick the child up, was the same figure in the 18th century costume, complete with mob cap. The mother rushed to pick her child up and as she did, the ghostly figure completely faded away.
Perhaps the reason that this ghost lingers here is that she died trying to protect her child, or maybe even in childbirth. Perhaps she was not a servant at all, but a dedicated nursery maid.

Piczo