Zowie Swan

A fascinating history of international trade, shifty smugglers and witches resides on the silty banks of Skippool Creek. We find out more on the 26th day of Halloween Tales. Today Skippool Creek is favoured by dog-walkers and families wishing to stroll beside the Wyre Estuary and enjoy the peace and quiet. However, clues to its intriguing history lie all around it, in the mud-choked graveyard of rotting ships and rickety wooden jetties. Some of these decayed vessels date as far back as 1835, recalling a once illustrious life on the open sea. Believed to be blending of the Old Norse…

On the 25th day of our Halloween Tales inspired by local folklore we learn about Singleton Thorpe, Wadham Thorpe and Kilgrimol and what remains of them today – including their ghosts. On the shores of Norbreck, half a mile or so out from the mainland, sits a strange barnacle covered monolith. Easily visible from the promenade, this forbidding obelisk squats in defiance of sea and time. It is a brazen snaggle-tooth jutting up from the otherwise smooth, flat expanse of beach, often surrounded by a channel of sea water forming a frustratingly impassable moat. I have heard tales that this…

They're usually only found in elite centres of ecclesiastical wealth and power, why then was a Zodiac Portal uncovered at All Hallows church in Bispham. On day 24 of our Halloween Tales we find out more about the church named for Halloween itself. Yesterday, we heard a little about the history and hauntings of Bispham. Today, we learn more about its parish church. Whilst admittedly not very spooky, its story is still quite mysterious. All Hallows Church, situated unsurprisingly on All Hallows Road, is known as the Mother Church of Blackpool. The current late Victorian building is the third to…

One of the oldest parts of the Fylde Coast, it's no surprise that Bispham is haunted. On day 23 of our 31 days of Halloween Tales we hear about a ship's bell, a lucky dog, a restless wpointsman and a ghostly tram. The history of Bispham is particularly interesting. Much older than its sprawling sibling, Blackpool, Bispham can trace its history back to the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is listed as Biscopham, meaning Bishop's estate or Bishop's house. One reason Bispham is so interesting is the fact that it was known as Bispham-with-Norbreck, which is evidence of a…

On the 22nd day of our Halloween Tales, we visit Wycoller, a village stuck in the past with plenty of spirits who seem to be too. The rural Lancashire hamlet of Wycoller in the Borough of Pendle has remained more or less unchanged since late medieval and renaissance times. Visitors are not permitted to drive into the village. Instead, you must park on the outskirts and walk in. The quiet, leafy walk into Wycoller makes it all the more magical. Once in the tiny village centre, one will feel as though they have journeyed back through the centuries, seeing a…

The third most haunted property in the UK is right here in Lancashire and this Halloween it opens its doors to the public. We find out more about Hoghton Tower on day 21 of 31 Halloween Tales inspired by local folklore. Built on a prominent hill on the southwestern tip of the Pendle range, Hoghton Tower makes for an imposing sight for anyone travelling through de Hoghton owned lands. It has been in possession of the same family since the 12th century and has welcomed kings, queens, Shakespeare and Dickens into its halls. In his 1878 tale, The Demon of…

In recent times Clegg Hall was saved by the community but during the Commonwealth era locals may have been too frightened to approach for fear of crossing the path of the many ghosts who reside there. We find out more on day 20 of 31 Hallowe’en Tales. Today's tale concerns Clegg Hall in Littleborough near Rochdale and was suggested by one of my oldest and dearest friends, whose mother recalls the sinister atmosphere of the place from her youth. The Clegg Hall we see today was built in 1610, but there have been several dwellings on this site during its…

On the 19th day of our 31 days of Halloween Tales, inspired by Lancashire folklore, we hear of a house shrouded in mystery and with conflicting explanations for a human skull that rests there. Today's tale concerns the eponymously named Skull House. A place that Terence W Whitaker, in his Lancashire's Ghosts and Legends, sets the scene for beautifully. "At Appley Bridge, near Wigan, there stands a rather strange house, known as 'Skull House', riddled with mysterious cupboards, leaded windows decorated with skulls, very low ceilings with thick, skull-cracking beams, boarded-up cellars and various old nooks and crannies, including a priests'…

The Hall in The wood in Bolton has a long history and, unsurprisingly, at least two ghosts. On day 18 of out Hallowe'en Tales we find out about a Cavalier and a mother scorned. Once situated in it's own woodland and village of Tonge, Hall i’ th'Wood, has been slowly but surely eaten up by the metropolitan sprawl of what is now England's biggest town – Bolton. Literally taking it's name from the Hall in the Wood, it now sits adjacent to a housing estate. Gifted to the people of Bolton at the turn of the last century, it is…

Day 17 of our Hallowe'en Tales is inspired by the village of Pilling and history of boggarts. Pilling is usually known for its windmills, new potatoes and the Pilling Pig locomotive, however, it has a very strange history of boggart hauntings which take on bizarre and surprising forms. Firstly, what is a boggart? Boggarts are ancient folkloric spirits of Britain, they can be either benign, mischievous or downright evil. They are known to help around the house when they're being nice and curdle the milk and abduct children when they're not. Lancashire especially has a strong history and tradition of…