I didn't believe in ghosts until...

I didn't believe in ghosts until I moved to York. Many claim it to be the most haunted City in England.

I moved to York a few years ago to work in the District hospital and found a lovely old Victorian terraced house to live in within 5 minutes walk to work and in the historical area of Bootham. The house was number 13, but I am not really superstitious so I ignored that fact.  I just loved all the old features and quirkiness of the place.

My house was also within walking distance of Bootham Park Psychiatric Hospital.  The hospital was built in 1772 as  'County Lunatic Asylum, York.  Some of the nursing staff I worked with at the District Hospital reported many haunted stories from Bootham Park Hospital.  I went once to attend a therapy group with a patient of mine and I must admit to feeling a few shivers run down my spine.

I told my partner who I was living with at the time and we just put it down to it ''being in my head'' from stories I had heard. You see we didn't really believe in ghosts until...

''Why don't we go on a ghost walk, just for a laugh'' he suggested.

''OK i'm up for that, we can call for a drink and a bite to eat afterwards'' I eagerly agreed, thinking it would be great to explore the area a little more.

York has many organised Ghost tours and we found out one was meeting at 6.30 pm the next evening outside The Kings Manor House, another historical building, with remains dating back to the fifteenth century. It was once home to the Abbots of st Mary's Abbey until Henry VIII instructed it to be the Seat of the Council of the North after the Abbey was dissolved. It is reported Henry visited the Manor House with Catherine Howard not long before she was executed.

The tour guide told us of a dark figure dressed in a green robe that can be seen walking around the Manor house on occasion, reported to be Catherine Howard or Anne Boleyn.  During this talk one of the women in the group passed out right in from of me.  I thought it could have been an act.  I didn't believe in ghosts until....

We walked around the quaint area of Bedern where the tour guide told stories that children could be heard giggling and screaming and also it has been reported that people have walked by and taken by the hand of a small child. It has been said that several children died in an orphanage on this site in the early 1800's due to the negligence of an alcoholic headmaster.  I didn't see, feel or hear anything abnormal. I didn't believe in Ghosts until...

We walked the famous cobbled street called ''The shambles''. The tour guide talked of    Saint Margaret Clitherow (1556 – 25 March 1586) who was said to have lived in a house on this same street.  She was a martyr of the Roman Catholic Church and crushed to death for harboring catholic priests and refusing to plead to the cause in order to protect her children.  There is a small shrine in a house on this street and it has been said that immediate peace can be felt when entering the house of the shrine to Saint Margaret Clitherow.  I still didn't believe in ghosts until...

The tour continued up the cobbled street towards the majestic York Minster and a woman with long tresses of blonde hair, dressed in a beautiful black gown walked across our path.

''An actress I see'' said my partner.

''I wonder how much she get's paid for doing that job'' I replied.

I still didn't believe in ghosts until...

We left the tour at this stage and decided a nice pre drink before our evening meal would be good. We had been in the bar about half an hour and the lady in black walked in.  She walked over to our table and asked if we enjoyed the tour.

''Oh my God Helen, how long have you been moonlighting?'' I asked my colleague and staff nurse of the ward I was currently working on.  She told us it was a hobby and she had always wanted to be an actress!

I still didn't believe in ghosts until....

A few weeks later strange things started happening in my house.  Pictures dropping off the wall, clocks stopping and starting and visitors reporting seeing strange figures in the bedroom at night.  My mother refused to stay in the house again after one restless night.  She never believed in ghosts until she came to York!

I no longer live in the house or the City of York and I think there may be such a thing as ghosts!

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For those interested in some more ghostly history of York,  I have added a link http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/yorkshire/Pages/york.php