Your Ghost

A few readers have e-mailed me their own ghost stories:

"Longton Castle is very haunted I know the castle I used to squat there and shoot up and have seen and heard things that I can't explain although I was on smack at the time" - Terry Chang, Longton

Burslem Town Hall, yesterday

"Boslem Town Hall is said to be bothered by a lady in a white shell suit" - Jackie Clack, Burslem

Stokeley Rocks

We’ve had a few e-mails from the Staffordshire Moorlands, where headless horsemen have been spotted by several eyewitnesses near to an accident black-spot in Wetley Rocks. Some of the people claim to have photographs and physical evidence.

Look at the title of the blog. This is the Stoke Paranormal Society, not the Staffordshire Moorlands Paranormal Society. If it's not about Stoke, I don't want to know. Go bother someone else, I'm a busy man.

Sneyd Green Steve

The Beast of Sneyd Green is a legend about an enormous swamp monster, nicknamed Steve, who first terrorized the citizens of Sneyd Green in 1949. Despite a month–long hunt that briefly gained international attention, the Beast was not captured.

Steve is described as a lizard man, who stands between 8 and 10 feet tall, with skanky green skin and either yellow or red glowing eyes, depending on the account. It is believed by some that the monster could be a mutated lizard.

Steve caught on film in 1988

Another theory is that a local scientist may have gotten mutated by exposure to chemicals and/or the swamp. However, the bodies of all of the 173 scientists from Stoke who disappeared during that period have since been found. None of them appeared mutated. A final theory is that the DNA of a human was somehow merged with that of a lizard. Whichever of the theories is true, it appears that the city's scientists have got a lot to answer for!

In 1949, a farmer, Paul Potts, noticed that some of his foxes had gone missing. Believing the disappearances to be caused by local yokels, he paid little attention to it other than to make sure his fences were secure. After a few months, larger and larger livestock were disappearing, even a hippo in one instance; all the disappearances occurred near Sneyd Green Swamp, which neighboured his property.

One day, he saw a colossal swamp monster, estimated at 10 feet in height, sunbathing on the swamp-side beach. Terrified, he called the police. When they arrived - two days later - the giant monster remained there, still topping up its tan. A plan was devised to capture the beast with chains pulled by local rag-and-bone men; when initiated, beast and man were evenly matched, but the chains broke and ‘Steve’ escaped.

The monster wasn’t seen again until 1963. Local paedophile Nigel Hicks was using his telescope to look at the playground near the western side of the swamp when he claims he saw two swamp monsters. “They were either fighting or making love,” said Hicks, 50. “Either way, it weren’t pretty.” The monsters were then shot six times by a passing angry loner who happened to be carrying a gun; the wounded monsters hastily retreated back into the swamp. Meanwhile, the angry loner (Timmy Spooner) was hailed as a local hero for saving the children! That was until the following year, when he went on a killing spree at a Mothercare store in Hanley.

Another notable incident happened in 1986. A Spastics Society coach party was returning to Milton from a trip to the cinema in Hanley to see ‘The Care Bears Movie’. The bus driver stopped at the southern edge of the swamp to allow the passengers to take a toilet break. As they urinated into the swamp, a monster rose up and pulled them in! “The spastics didn’t stand a chance,” said bus driver Barry Walker. “It was never a fair contest.” No trace of the monster or spastics has been found.

The Beast has also had an influence on wider popular culture. The song ‘Lizard Man Steve Ate My Monkey’ from the 1985 Status Quo album “Oops-a-Doodle-Dandy” is about the monster.

The monster's memory lives on in the Sneyd Green Steve Day festival held each June.

A reveller at Sneyd Green Steve Day

It includes a parade, carnival and tug-of-war free-for-alls. A bronze statue of the Beast was erected in 1999 in the town's trendy uptown area.

Devil Dog

A large black dog has been spotted on Stafford Avenue in Trent Vale by reader Sharon Clockers.

The face of evil?

The dog’s eyes glowed in the dark, and Sharon thinks the dog may have been supernatural in origin. (Actual dog not pictured.)

I checked the history of the area and found that a man on Stafford Avenue recently killed himself. Is this a frightening precursor of deaths to come?

Chops Manor

During a séance at Chops Manor in Werrington in 1993, held by local medium and psychic Crystal O’Future (real name: Bev Scaggs) and her husband, Keith, they would uncover what they felt to be a strong presence of spirits at Chops Manor. Enough of a presence to make this a classic ghost story. I hope you're reading this Brian Cox! (Or should that be Brian COCKS?!)

Chops Manor

Located near the Staffordshire Moorlands border on Stoke's east side, Chops Manor was originally built as a Benedictine monastery in the 13th century. Legend has it that a monk and his lover, a priest from a nearby church, were captured by highwaymen while trying to elope and start a new life together. As the monastery refused to negotiate with highwaymen or robbers, the monk was hung while his friend the priest was walled up, alive, in the cellar of a manor outbuilding. Was this the priest who had been seen floating through the gardens, crying horrible tears? Was he the priest who roamed the property searching for his lost love behind bushes, trees and gazebos?

The manor was sold off as a residence in 1882 to Reverend Paul Perez and his family. Reverend Perez had become self-appointed pastor of Chops Manor as he owned the land, and despite warnings from local peasants and rag-and-bone men, built a rectory on a site they believed to be haunted. Over the years, Perez’s servants and his daughters were repeatedly unnerved by phantom noises, unexplained footsteps and ethnic dancing. Reverend Perez found these happenings to be wildly entertaining and he and his son, Terry, built a viewing balcony on the property where they could enjoy after-dinner opium and snuff and wait for an appearance of the phantom priest who roamed the property. After Reverend Perez died from choking on a badger bone, his son Terry inherited the establishment and position until he himself passed on in 1947, dying from infected rickets.

The house was then bought by Reverend Nigel Pike and his wife, Tracy. The ghostly happenings in the manor increased in intensity and frequency. Without any explanation, they found themselves locked out of rooms, windows would suddenly smash and personal items would vanish under their noses. As time went on, these cheeky antics became aggressive and Tracy was actually bitch-slapped by a spirit one evening. The final straw was when she was nearly made unconscious by a pistol-whipping from an angry apparition.

Available now!


Someone (or something) obviously didn’t like Tracy! Perhaps it was jealousy from a ghost that caused these physical transgressions?

The involvement of Crystal O’Future came about when Signal Radio Gold asked her to investigate following the popularity of the story after it was told on air instead of the news one day. It was during this investigation that writing started to appear on the wall, usually when Tracy was present. The ghost(s) scrawled phrases such as “TRACY POO OFF” and “TRACY LIGHT YOURSELF ON FIRE YOU SLAG”.

The Pikes moved out in 1993 and leased the house to Crystal and Keith for a full year for deeper investigation, although the tax breaks weren't unwelcomed. Now that Crystal had the house to herself for an extended period, she excavated the gardens, checked the property for hidden rooms and passageways, built a bowling alley and contacted other paranormal investigators to help her monitor and document the ghostly activities and to uncover some of the fascinating history of Chops Manor.

During one séance, a spirit named Father Alan Pegg claimed that he had been murdered by carnival folk ("carnies") in a dispute over root vegetables. To Crystal, he seemed to fit the profile of the ghost that haunted Chops Manor, even if the cause of death differed from the legend. The spirit also said the house would soon burn down, thus revealing the location of his bones, and just 11 years later a fire was started by the new owner, Captain Ken Major, as he fell asleep while cooking scampi. The fire spread fast through the manor and the rectory was destroyed. (The bowling alley survived the fire.)

Since previously inaccessible areas were now open to them, Crystal and Keith decided to excavate the cellar where they found bones and a priest's collar. Was this the proof needed to validate the story of the betrayed priest? Regardless of who the man was, the bones were thrown into a junkyard in Kidsgrove and his spirit no longer haunts Chops Manor.

Nobbers

I see that TV science boffin Professor Brian Cox says that people who believe in ghosts are "nobbers"...

Brian Cox, yesterday

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/07/10/professor-brian-cox-slates-believers-in-ghosts-online-91466-29025694/

Oh yeah, you try telling that to the many hundreds of people I’ve met down the years who’ve had ghostly encounters! People such as brave pensioner Doris Ahmed from Chell who was molested as she slept! People such as Keith Beggs from Chell Heath whose house was burned down by a truculent poltergeist! People such as Terry Jackson from Chell who felt a cold chill every time he went into his cellar! People such as… well, I could go on, but you get the point.

Welcome

Hello readers, this the start of a new dawn for online paranormal investigations in Stoke-on-Trent, known as the "Paris of Staffordshire" by locals.

"I will find the truth!" - A young Monty Deschanel

On this blog, I will share with you the results of my extensive research, and the research of those brave ones who went before me. God rest their souls. Wherever they are. It's not always obvious.