Are our railways haunted? (ghost stories)

[Jordy]

I've just tidied this thread a little, as some off topic crap was beginning to creep in! No objections to the discussion going on but keep it civil please! Besides, there are some interesting stories coming through, so it'd be nice to keep the thread on topic

 

[Kernowfem]

Theres a story of a lorry driver who was killed at rolleston station level crossing, when a train ploughed into his lorry on the lincoln-nottingham line. Apparently he is seen walking on the crossing and up onto the platfrom allegedly looking for his lorry.

 

[CosherB]

I used to travel from Cheshire to Euston and back a lot a while back, on Virgin trains. If in 1st class (as I often was) 1'd frequently encounter spirits. Gin & Tonic was my favorite!

A few thoughts:

You cannot prove a negative, so it's up to the believers in the supernatural to prove that it exists, not for the rational to prove it doesn't.

There is not one drop of proof, anywhere in the world, that the supernatural exists. If it did, you'd think there would be some proof by now.

When you die, you rot. End of. This might dissapoint you, as humans like to think they are so important they must 'go somewhere' after they leave this earth. It's an understandably self-important notion.

True story: When my dad died, my mum sold the family house and moved into a small terraced cottage in Cheshire. She noiced some nights that the room appeared to shake, and her bed vibrated. Being a tad superstitous she got the parish priest in to 'exorcise' the ghost (of my dad, presumably). Needless to say the mumbo-jumbo had no effect. She mentioned it to the neighbours. "Oh, that's the nightly limestone train from Buxton to Winnington. Makes the whole street shake". Her house was about 100 metres from the Mid Cheshire line.

Moral - look for the obvious cause before jumping to much more interesting but incorrectly superstitious rubbish conclusions.

Having said all that, I did once see a fellow pilot suddenly turn green and completely dissapear. Mind you, we were in the bar and it was his round!

CS

 

[generalvegitable]

You cannot prove a negative, so it's up to the believers in the supernatural to prove that it exists, not for the rational to prove it doesn't.

well can you prove that they don't exist then?

 

[thefab444]

You've just proved you didn't understand the post you quoted. :roll:

 

[Mintona]

I would tend to side with the "they don't exist" side. What I didn't mention with that Harrietsham story is that it is rumoured one of the old hands who still had a key saw the stretcher had been removed and "broke in" twice to trash the room to "confirm" the story. Although it has never been proved either way so who knows.

Ghosts on the Underground is quite a good watch, it is on Youtube in parts, on "GhostWatching"'s channel I believe, along with some other good stories.

 

[Bittern]

You've just proved you didn't understand the post you quoted. :roll:

I lol'd.

 

[91101]

Regardless of the supernatural being "real" or not, surely we can just enjoy this thread for a bit of harmless scary fun.

Legend has it that staff who work at Moorgate for FCC on the GN side still hear screams and wails from platform 9.

 

[37401]

37069 is beleved to be haunted by the driver that was killed in it

 

[Phoenix]

There's a 37 which is supposedly haunted by a driver who was killed when something smashed through the windscreen and hit his head. It's 37069, IIRC.

I think that story goes like this (I could be wrong)

It was 37069 and was doing a run up the East coast and basically the driver swapped places with the second man so he could get some road experience and basically a short while after apprently a deltic hauled train passed and a bolt or something from the deltic smashed through the window and hit the second man straight in the head and ever since 37069 is haunted by the ghost of the secondman.

Thats what I heard anyway.

 

[Old Timer]

Don't you just love the sceptics.

So much proof, yet they don't even bother to research it first before posting :roll:

Couple of true stories if I may.

Story 1
The former Claxby and Usselby signalbox in the Lincolnshire fens was haunted by a former signalman, who every evening at about 2140 would be heard walking up the stairs, and the door would then open and close of its own accord.

Experienced by many people.

Now for a few off the railway

The RAF have an official Policy on haunted RAF stations (airfields) and Disciplinary action is not taken in a number of situations against personnel refusing to go to certain areas at night. They also have a variety of files, some, marked Permanently Restricted on happenings at various airfields.

Story 2- Montrose
Following a fatal crash at the airfield, a the airman killed was seen to about the airfield

The controversy surrounding the official findings of the crash, initially put down to a shoddy repair then overturned and stating ’stunt flying’ as the cause, was thought to be the reason behind the visitations.

There are several accounts from a Major Foggin, a rational type of man, giving detailed accounts on numerous occasions.

Shortly after a report published just before Christmas of 1916 exonerating Lt Arthur, another appearance was recorded and then everything seemed to go quiet until the onset of the Second World War.

During the Second World War there were many reported sightings of an old bi-plane flying around the airfield at night, although no such type was operated anywhere near.

There were also numerous accounts of ghostly aircrew figures.

Story 3 - Distress Signal from WW2
Some years back, a light aircraft was flying near to the Channel, when the pilot picked up a morse transmission on his radio. The pilot was actually familiar with morse and realised it was an SOS. He reported the matter to Air Traffic Controil, who in turn also picked up and confirmed the message.

It was realised quickly that it was coming from a Military plane and the RAF was alerted along with Air/Sea Rescue.

No trace of any plane was found neither was any airplane reported missing. The RAF conducted an Inquiry and discovered that the transmission gave the the same details, aircraft ID and location as a bomber lost in the early stages of the WW2.

The details of the message and the nature of the transmission were imposssible for anyone to have faked. There was a very long and searching Inquiry. The papers are marked Permanently Restricted.

Story 4 - Flight 401
This involves a commecrial flight operated by Eastern Airlines lost over the Florida Everglades.

Components from the a/c were recovered and used in other Eastern aircraft.

On many documented occasions, the Flight Engineer was seen on board a/c that had been fitted with such components, warning of potential incidents. On one occasion he spoke with a Captain who had known him.

All components were removed from other aircraft and the sighting stopped. There was also an exorcism carried out

Story 5 - Ghostly Meeting
A pilot spotted an old colleague and the two of them spent a short period talking before the pilot had to leave for his plane.

He learnt when he got back to base that the colleague who he had spoken to had been killed in an accident the previous day.


Bruce Barrymore Halpenny is a former RAF Military Policeman. He has written a whole series of well researched books dealing with hauntings on RAF property. I would commend them to the sceptics.

 

[CosherB]

Don't you just love the sceptics.

So much proof, yet they don't even bother to research it first before posting :roll:

Couple of true stories if I may.

Story 1
The former Claxby and Usselby signalbox in the Lincolnshire fens was haunted by a former signalman, who every evening at about 2140 would be heard walking up the stairs, and the door would then open and close of its own accord.

Experienced by many people.

Now for a few off the railway

The RAF have an official Policy on haunted RAF stations (airfields) and Disciplinary action is not taken in a number of situations against personnel refusing to go to certain areas at night. They also have a variety of files, some, marked Permanently Restricted on happenings at various airfields.

Story 2- Montrose
Following a fatal crash at the airfield, a the airman killed was seen to about the airfield

The controversy surrounding the official findings of the crash, initially put down to a shoddy repair then overturned and stating ’stunt flying’ as the cause, was thought to be the reason behind the visitations.

There are several accounts from a Major Foggin, a rational type of man, giving detailed accounts on numerous occasions.

Shortly after a report published just before Christmas of 1916 exonerating Lt Arthur, another appearance was recorded and then everything seemed to go quiet until the onset of the Second World War.

During the Second World War there were many reported sightings of an old bi-plane flying around the airfield at night, although no such type was operated anywhere near.

There were also numerous accounts of ghostly aircrew figures.

Story 3 - Distress Signal from WW2
Some years back, a light aircraft was flying near to the Channel, when the pilot picked up a morse transmission on his radio. The pilot was actually familiar with morse and realised it was an SOS. He reported the matter to Air Traffic Controil, who in turn also picked up and confirmed the message.

It was realised quickly that it was coming from a Military plane and the RAF was alerted along with Air/Sea Rescue.

No trace of any plane was found neither was any airplane reported missing. The RAF conducted an Inquiry and discovered that the transmission gave the the same details, aircraft ID and location as a bomber lost in the early stages of the WW2.

The details of the message and the nature of the transmission were imposssible for anyone to have faked. There was a very long and searching Inquiry. The papers are marked Permanently Restricted.

Story 4 - Flight 401
This involves a commecrial flight operated by Eastern Airlines lost over the Florida Everglades.

Components from the a/c were recovered and used in other Eastern aircraft.

On many documented occasions, the Flight Engineer was seen on board a/c that had been fitted with such components, warning of potential incidents. On one occasion he spoke with a Captain who had known him.

All components were removed from other aircraft and the sighting stopped. There was also an exorcism carried out

Story 5 - Ghostly Meeting
A pilot spotted an old colleague and the two of them spent a short period talking before the pilot had to leave for his plane.

He learnt when he got back to base that the colleague who he had spoken to had been killed in an accident the previous day.


Bruce Barrymore Halpenny is a former RAF Military Policeman. He has written a whole series of well researched books dealing with hauntings on RAF property. I would commend them to the sceptics.

Lovely stories of personal experiences. But sorry. Old timer, proof means that there is evidence that it's real. I could construct any number of scenarios that would account for for the examples you quote, none of them supernatural. So why would you assume a supernatural cause when a more natural one would explain it?

Someone saying 'they saw or experienced something' is allegation, not proof. I could say I saw a giant purple giraffe in my garden, but if I wanted anyone to beleive it I'd have to produce provable proof. Where is the proof that any of the events you post is real?

Proof means that there is evidence available beyond reasonable doubt and subject to scientific investigation which shows that the event is real. None of your 'events' does this.

There is no provable evidence of the supernatural - anywhere in the world - as I said in my previous post. Why can't you just accept reality?

 

[Old Timer]

There are available archive records about the Montrose Ghost.

Bruce Barrymore Halpenny's books were researched with access to RAF records.

People seeing airmen at places like Hemswell over the years since the War continue to surface, most now from people who have no idea about the history remarking about RAF personnel in flying gear walking around. They simply mention it in passing when say buying petrol at the Texaco garage or when in the restaurant.

However there needs to be a willingness to open one's mind up first, which I suspect from your posts is closed anyway.

Simply saying that you do not believe is fine but flies in the face of evidence. Do you REALLY believe that the RAF would actually ADMIT their acceptance of the existence of ghosts unless they were pretty sure of themselves ?

You talk about proof, in each of those cases I gave you definitive proof and only gave you stories which were verified by several witnesses.

Do you REALLY believe that ATC would call out an ASR if they had not heard the morse ?

Why did Eastern very secretly remove the components from the Flight 401 a/c ?

 

[Kernowfem]

You cannot prove a negative, so it's up to the believers in the supernatural to prove that it exists, not for the rational to prove it doesn't.
CS

Sir, while the supernatural is not something i know much about, i daresay those who believe in the paranormal would not take kindly to being thought of as irrational. There's no shred of proof that god exists and look at the following he has.....
This thread was supposed to be light hearted, and in no way meant to start a war of words, or be an open debate as to whether ghosts exist or not. Quite frankly everyone has their own opinion on that and of course, are entitled to have. However this is a railway forum, and not being a paranormal one, i think to keep the mods happy we should keep firmly on topic.
I have fond memories of my grandfather's strange stories of his time on the railway, and whether true or not i still enjoyed them very much, and i simply wondered if any other people had stories of a similar nature. I love the railways, and spooky stories (fiction or supposed fact) and thought id combine the two..in this there is no harm...light hearted fun...simple.
For those of you who do have any more stories, please post them, im enjoying them very much, but please, lets not blow this thread into something it was not meant to be. Im sorry for any offence caused to those who dont appreciate the content, however i did state at the beginning it may not be to everyones taste

 

[Adamtorbyaexpres]

Don't you just love the sceptics.

So much proof, yet they don't even bother to research it first before posting :roll:

Couple of true stories if I may.

Story 1
The former Claxby and Usselby signalbox in the Lincolnshire fens was haunted by a former signalman, who every evening at about 2140 would be heard walking up the stairs, and the door would then open and close of its own accord.

Experienced by many people.

Now for a few off the railway

The RAF have an official Policy on haunted RAF stations (airfields) and Disciplinary action is not taken in a number of situations against personnel refusing to go to certain areas at night. They also have a variety of files, some, marked Permanently Restricted on happenings at various airfields.

Story 2- Montrose
Following a fatal crash at the airfield, a the airman killed was seen to about the airfield

The controversy surrounding the official findings of the crash, initially put down to a shoddy repair then overturned and stating ’stunt flying’ as the cause, was thought to be the reason behind the visitations.

There are several accounts from a Major Foggin, a rational type of man, giving detailed accounts on numerous occasions.

Shortly after a report published just before Christmas of 1916 exonerating Lt Arthur, another appearance was recorded and then everything seemed to go quiet until the onset of the Second World War.

During the Second World War there were many reported sightings of an old bi-plane flying around the airfield at night, although no such type was operated anywhere near.

There were also numerous accounts of ghostly aircrew figures.

Story 3 - Distress Signal from WW2
Some years back, a light aircraft was flying near to the Channel, when the pilot picked up a morse transmission on his radio. The pilot was actually familiar with morse and realised it was an SOS. He reported the matter to Air Traffic Controil, who in turn also picked up and confirmed the message.

It was realised quickly that it was coming from a Military plane and the RAF was alerted along with Air/Sea Rescue.

No trace of any plane was found neither was any airplane reported missing. The RAF conducted an Inquiry and discovered that the transmission gave the the same details, aircraft ID and location as a bomber lost in the early stages of the WW2.

The details of the message and the nature of the transmission were imposssible for anyone to have faked. There was a very long and searching Inquiry. The papers are marked Permanently Restricted.

Story 4 - Flight 401
This involves a commecrial flight operated by Eastern Airlines lost over the Florida Everglades.

Components from the a/c were recovered and used in other Eastern aircraft.

On many documented occasions, the Flight Engineer was seen on board a/c that had been fitted with such components, warning of potential incidents. On one occasion he spoke with a Captain who had known him.

All components were removed from other aircraft and the sighting stopped. There was also an exorcism carried out

Story 5 - Ghostly Meeting
A pilot spotted an old colleague and the two of them spent a short period talking before the pilot had to leave for his plane.

He learnt when he got back to base that the colleague who he had spoken to had been killed in an accident the previous day.


Bruce Barrymore Halpenny is a former RAF Military Policeman. He has written a whole series of well researched books dealing with hauntings on RAF property. I would commend them to the sceptics.

I thought this was about Haunted Railways

 

[Old Timer]

I thought this was about Haunted Railways

It is however, I do not have documented records known to me that prove the existence of the paranormal in the RAILWAY environment sufficient to address the sceptics, other than the case at Claxby Which of course was immediately dismissed.

They suggested that there was no proof of the existence of ghosts, I demonstrated that there is plenty of documented evidence.

Unfortunately I could not do this with railways ghosts, unless of course you have more access to more information than I do, or have to time to do the research which I don't. Had I known of other railway cases then I would have used these instead.

EDIT

Synchronicity or what !

I have just switched through the Satellite TV channels and come across an hour-long programe which is just finishing on Bio called Ghosts of the London Underground. Two people talking about different encounters on different lines. Neither seem the type given to flights of fantasy or hysteria.

 

[generalvegitable]

if you don't believe in ghosts can you explain these incedents on the london underground:

1. A station employee working alone heard the door to his office rattle several times. Unnerved, the man began to climb upstairs to find a colleague but felt he was being watched. Turning around, he saw a woman standing there with long blond hair but no face - her features were completely smooth. Talking to his colleague a short time later, the employee discovered that he was not the only person to have seen her.

2. All passengers disembark at Kennington and the carriages are checked just prior to trains turning in the loop. However, as the train drivers sit waiting in the dark loop tunnel, at least two have reported hearing the connecting carriage doors open and close as if someone is moving from the rear of the train towards the driving compartment.

3. Since the construction of the Jubilee Line, reports of phantom monks walking the tracks have begun to emerge. The sightings may be connected to the large number of graves which were disturbed while work was commencing.

4. A trainee manager sent to walk the line by himself as part of his training encountered an old man with a tilly lamp working at South Island Place. They exchanged a couple of words in passing. When the trainee reached Stockwell Station and commented that he had seen someone else along the line, a search party was dispatched to find the worker as no maintenance work was scheduled. No one could be found, and the trainee later discovered that the old man had been seen dozens of times over the years, and was believed to be the ghost of a worker killed on the spot during the 1950s.

5. an underground track walker, sat down for a break while patrolling the line between Baker street and st John's Wood in the northbound tunnel. He reported disembodied footprints which crunched down in the ballast and appeared before him. The footsteps went straight past him and stopped ten metres from his position. When he finished his rounds, one of his colleagues said that other people had also encountered the footsteps, and they belonged to a workman killed in the area.

can anyone who doesn't believe in ghosts explain them?

@Old Timer I think I saw that on youtube, it was very good, and I think that the above stories were on it

 

[moonrakerz]

Theres a story of a lorry driver who was killed at rolleston station level crossing, when a train ploughed into his lorry on the lincoln-nottingham line. Apparently he is seen walking on the crossing and up onto the platfrom allegedly looking for his lorry.

Which would seem to suggest that there might be human ghosts but not ghosts of machines - such as a lorry. Yet we have a report of a spectral Deltic !!

I need to think about this one

 

[Adamtorbyaexpres]

I found one! In illinois, USA there has been sightings of a ghost train..... This train carried the body of Abraham Linchon from illinois to Washington DC for his funeral.... Last year this train was spotted on a long strech of track..... It has been spotted many times in this area before.... It's a Black steam loco with black flags on the train a coaches and makes no noise.....

 

[Old Timer]

Which would seem to suggest that there might be human ghosts but not ghosts of machines - such as a lorry. Yet we have a report of a spectral Deltic !!

I need to think about this one

At RAF Montrose an old bi-plane was seen flying around the airfield at night during the Second World War.

Somewhere in my archives I have a book with a picture taken at an RAF airfield. The photograph shows an a/c that had been lost over Germany several nights previously.

Former RAF Hemswell has continuing recurrent stories about a/c flying over/landing and taking off. I have actually seen an aircraft there at night myself.

If you go to former RAF East Kirkby, which is now an aviation museum, locals will tell you that a/c engines have been heard revving up at night out on the former main runway.

On a different tack, a friend of mine (who is also a Medium) once told me that a section of track had a serious defect, indeed she was so concerned she made efforts to contact me at home late one evening.

She was so obviously worried that I called my TCM and the following morning we went to the area where she had described the defect as being.

We found.........a broken rail on the point of a section breaking off.

There are many tales of the paranormal on the Railways some obviously harder to disprove than to prove.

Over my long years I have learnt to take such things as being a part of life because they are obviously happening but just not proven.

If you recall "Black Holes", "anti-matter" and "Black Noise" were sneered at by the sceptics who wanted absolute proof that such things existed

 

[CosherB]

All this is great fun, but unsurprisingly there's still no proof, so please don't take any of it remotely seriously (there may be young or overly-impressionable or plain naive folk reading this forum who might take this stuff for real).

Ghost stories are good fun, as long as we realise they just that - stories.

 

[90019]

All this is great fun, but unsurprisingly there's still no proof, so please don't take any of it remotely seriously

I presume you say this about everything else that we don't have conclusive proof about then?

People can believe what they like, regardless of whether you do or not.

 

[Old Timer]

I think most people on here are perfectly capable of making their own minds up, once they have weighed up all the facts, rather than being told what they should think.

 

[CosherB]

I presume you say this about everything else that we don't have conclusive proof about then?

Of course. How else does one make the distinction between what is real and what is tosh? If manufacturer 'A' tells me that his widget is better than manufacturer 'B's widget, I want proof. I don't just take his word for it.

People can believe what they like, regardless of whether you do or not.

Of course they can, and they do. There are people about who think the earth is 6,000 years old despite positive scientific proof that it is actually about 4.5 billion years old. It makes me want to teach them some basic physics! But really, what they believe is their business. Doesn't stop me from pointing out that that is illogical if they express those views on a public forum, though.

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Bromley North line is supposedly haunted by a woman killed there in the late 1980s when she was hit by a 2-EPB without the driver noticing (I have no idea how) and was discovered by a driver in the early morning (not a nice suprise) apparantly she walks along the vegetation and under-growth on the line.

But the bad thing is the is no evidence suggesting this has been proved (pictures),only drivers tales are suggesting it is true.

 

[boing_uk]

Its a sorry state of affairs when a fun thread like this is taken over by miscreants just causing trouble.

Not exactly a haunting, but wasnt there a Class 47 that drove in to a passenger train at Barnetby renumbered prior to the incident by British Rail who had been contacted by a medium to say that there would be an accident involving a locomotive with its previous number?

Now, I am a firm believer that we are born, we live, we die and that there is none of this "afterlife" of which many people speak/believe. Nor do I particularly subscribe to the belief in mediums or other paranormal idiosyncrasies. That being said, I too have experienced things that are, for want of a better term, unexplainable, which leads me to keep a reasonably open mind on the matter.

For instance, I used to work at Lincolnshire County Council at Manby depot, which is a former RAF base, in one of the former RAF buildings and I used to work alot of Sundays, because traffic is lighter and I could get more done.

A number of times in the office there, I was in the building alone - my office overlooked the car park and the main gate (which I always locked after me) - and I would, usually every other Sunday evening, hear office doors opening or footsteps in the hall. The first time I heard it, it scared the bejeezers out of me, but after a while you got used to it.

Also on the A16 at Utterby, driving home one evening, a "person" appeared in front of me in the middle of my lane causing me to slam on the brakes, but they disappeared just as I expected a collision.

Or, when I was driving down one of the many straight and wonderfully uneven roads to the north of Boston (somewhere around Frithville I think)... tootling along at speed when I got the incredible.... feeling?... that I needed to stop. Fortunately the feeling proved to be correct as literally just in front of my vehicle an artic lorry failed to stop at a Give Way and ploughed straight over the junction without stopping... right where my car would have been at the time.

Coincidence? Perhaps the subconscious seeing detail that my conscious mind had not picked up (i.e. the truck approaching from the corner of my vision)? Chance noises in an old and draughty office building? Tricks of the light? I am not naiive enough to disgard all of those as being possibilities, but neither closed of of mind to the point of discounting the other possibilities too.

If I told you I took a shower this morning, there is no way I could prove it to you... but I would KNOW that I took the shower, in the same way that I KNOW what happened in the experiences I've written about above.

Anyway, lighten up folks... its a fun thread!

Carry on.

 

[poshbakerloo]

I guess the railways are pretty old now. Anything can happen...

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

I do believe Stockton Station is haunted, a girl got killed there in 1937 - and has been seen atleast once a year on the Southbound line. I think I saw her once, I had only turned round for a matter of seconds, turned round towards the line and she was just stood there waiting, looking up the tracks.

Really freaky.

 

[Class377]

Guys, I'm not trying to cause trouble or anything but this is a thread to share our experiences, not to argue about how to prove existence of ghosts.

 

[SouthEastern-465]

Guys, I'm not trying to cause trouble or anything but this is a thread to share our experiences, not to argue about how to prove existence of ghosts.

Sorry