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This page is broken down into sections also, giving a bit of information on each sections findings.
Bleklow
Bleklow is reportedly haunted by Roman Soldiers
Coombes Rocks
This area is supposed to have phantom soldiers also, even though, it mentions nothing here about them being Roman or not.
Glossop
All Saints Church (Ghostly gray lady is said to haunt this church.)
Co - op Supermarket (Unexplained occurrences reported by staff.)
Melandra Castle (Reportedly haunted by Roman Soldiers)
Norfolk Arms Pub (sightings of the ghost of a tall man and a little girl.)
Partington Theater (haunted by a spirit of one of the founding members.)
Tesco Supermarket (on the site of an reported apparition)
Woolley Bridge Pub ( reports a ghostly man and a girl)
Hadfield
The Lamb Pub is said to be haunted.
Longdendale Valley
Moorland and surrounding area reports a phantom helicopter
Longdendale Valley and Moorland report ghost planes.
Woodhead Tunnel is said to be haunted by ghosts of navies.
Mott ram
The Roe Cross Inn had a previous manager report seeing an apparition.
A57 Road is the phantom lorry
Longdendale Lights
When you click on this one on the start page, you are sent to a page that attempts to explain a bit about these mysterious lights. This page also gives you a couple of links, one of which is a possible explanations link.
Legends of Longdendale
This page contains links to several other pages such as The Devil In Longdendale, The Longdendale Lights, The Curse of Little Manny, The Mermaid and Kinder Scout, Hayfields Raising of the Dead, A Slip In Time, Longdendales Mysterious Beast.
Overview
If one is interested in reading a bit of folklore, true or not, then I say this site could offer you a bit of enjoyment as you browse the site and read of all these strange things.
If you decide that you would like to learn more on a subject, the site has a nice link for tourist information listed on the side bar of every page I visited.
Longdendale - The haunted Valley.
Longdendale “the long valley” stretches for ten miles, through some of the regions most remote and ruggedly beautiful countryside. Towering above it are two mountains whose very names conjure up mystical images “Bleaklow” and “Shining Clough”. It is untamed country. One road circles its outer reaches, but the only way to get into its remote hinterland, is on foot. It is bleak but beautiful, haunted and mysterious. Or, as Daniel Defoe put it, “the most desolate, wild and abandoned country in England”. Scattered across the high moor are the rusting wrecks of dozens of World War Two aircraft that crashed into these unforgiving peaks almost sixty years ago. The fact that there are more ghostly encounters, unexplained happenings and UFO sightings here, than anywhere else in the Peak District, has led to it being dubbed in recent years “The Haunted Valley”. But perhaps its oldest, most abiding an inexplicable mystery concerns the fabled:
The Phantom
Bomber of Longdendale.
There have been hundreds of reports in the last fifty years of ghostly planes flying over the valley. They have been seen by hikers plodding their weary way home in the fading light of early evening. By farmers tending their cattle. Policemen, fire crews, and other emergency workers.
On Thursday July 22nd 1954 two Sabre 4’s of 66 Squadron disappeared over the peaks. The crashed fighters were discovered the following Sunday by two ramblers who alerted the emergency services. Eventually the bodies of the pilots were recovered and carried off the high moor, although the wreckage was left strewn where it had fallen. The two pilots were experienced fliers, both planes were brand new and the cause of the accident remains, officially, unknown to this day. The radio transmissions between the two pilots, shortly before they disappeared, however, provide a tantalising hint of a cause. It is evident that the two were flying in low cloud and were lost. “Where are we?” asked one “I’m not sure” came the reply. But then the second pilot apparently spotted a third plane and issued the fatal order “just follow the other jet through the cloud”. Those were the last words he spoke and, since no other planes were known to be flying in the area at that time, rumours abound that the two pilots were lured to their deaths by the appearance of the phantom bomber.
The most recent sighting of the spectral plane took place in March 1997, when Maria France and a companion had headed onto the high moor at around 10pm one night in the hope of enjoying a view of the Hale Bop comet.
As they gazed into the clear night sky, a low flying plane suddenly appeared above them. They watched as it passed overhead and rounded the peak, where it disappeared from view. It was then they realised that, despite the fact they could clearly see its huge propellers whirling round, there was no sound emanating from the mysterious aircraft. There were, however, other startled witnesses to the phantom flight that night. These included a farmer who saw it round the peak and come diving toward him. So convinced was he that it was a real plane, that he instinctively dived to the ground and prepared himself for the inevitable impact. A short time later several witnesses heard the sound of a plane crashing and saw an orange glow light up the sky. Within moments the emergency services were inundated with phone calls from concerned locals reporting a plane crash on the high moors. But despite the fact that hundreds of emergency workers scoured the area for more than fifteen hours, no fresh wreckage was discovered and no plane was ever reported missing.
The Haunted Valley exerts a powerful grip on the imagination. It is a wilderness for wanderers without watches. It captivates and terrifies in equal doses. So absorb its atmosphere. Walk its twisted trails across the rugged terrain, and listen as the wind whistles its mournful tunes through the gaps in the grit stone rocks. And, as the night falls across Bleaklow and Shining Clough, plunging the landscape into darkness, you may spy a flicker of light on the lonely moor and know that, even in this enlightened age, there are still things that remain mysterious and unexplained. For, when the shadows of the night close in, the Haunted Valley’s other residents stir once more into ghostly life.
Longdendale Lights.
To traverse the desolate Bleaklow mountainside as the last rays of daylight cast the eerie glow of twilight across its brooding shadows is to feel truly alone and vulnerable. For travellers who passed this way a hundred and more years ago, when the terrain was much wilder, and superstition had a tighter grip on the popular imagination, the experience must have been terrifying. But the hardships of those long ago times, meant that many had cause to venture onto the wild moors at night, and the ordeal must have been made all the worse for those who chanced upon the Longdendale Lights.
These strange, flickering lights or balls of blue flame, were known locally as “devils bonfires” and were attributed to the fairy folk, wil o’ the wisps or boggarts. Some believed that they were the work of witches, whose evil intent was to lure the unwary to become sacrificial victims. There are records of them as long ago as the 16th century though they were, no doubt, a firm night time fixture long before. They are still a baffling feature of this lonely wilderness, although these days they are often attributed to UFO’s. People have spoken of rounding the hairpin bend on the B6105 known as “Devil’s Elbow” to find themselves suddenly dazzled by a powerful blue light that shines from a nearby field, but which suddenly disappears should they approach it. The local mountain rescue team have been called out on many occasions to search for what were presumed to be the torches, or even flares, of lost ramblers. They have got used to the flickering lights fading slowly away as they get closer to them.
On a warm summers night in July 1998, the residents at the nearby Youth Hostel were amazed when the entire district was suddenly lit up by a brilliant blue light that shone from somewhere on Bleaklow. It was visible for over three minutes and was seen by so many people that a full scale search was undertaken by the emergency services . But, as on previous occasions, its source was never found.
The Longdendale lights have never been satisfactorily explained. It has, however, been suggested that they may be responsible for the high number of planes that have crashed onto the moors. Some wonder if the crews perhaps mistook them for direction beacons and followed them into the hillsides. Whatever the cause, the wreckage that litters the landscape is now a permanent feature of the terrain and the most recent and publicised of all the valleys hauntings concerns the
Dancing by night over bogs, brakes and water meadows, the flamelight luminance called ingis fatuus, or "foolish fire," once was common throughout northern Europe. Although the learned would claim that the flames were caused by marsh gases, country folk knew better, and tales of mishaps made them wary.
The strange light was given myriad names-"Will-O'-The-Wisp," "Jack-o'-lantern," "fox fire," "elf light." In Whales, the flames were called "corspe candles" and appeared just at the level of a raised human hand when a ghost walked invisible, they were thought to presage the death of those who saw them. Germans said the lights where of those who had stolen land. For Finns, such a light was a liekkio, or "flaming one," and was believed to be the ghost of a child who had been buried in the forest.
Derbyshire
Covering 1010 square miles, Derbyshire is covered in ruins, stone circles, remnants of roman settlements, and former mines. The northern region is covered in high peaks, and the Peak District was England’s first national park. The county is landlocked, though many rivers cover the land. The county town of Derby lays the claim to be one of the most haunted cities in the UK, while the Longdendale Valley has had more than its fair share of strange occurrences, both ghostly and cryptozoological.
B29 Bomber
Location: Longdendale Valley - Entire area
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: March 1997
Further Comments: A dozen witnesses in different areas of the valley called emergency services after they watch an aircraft crash in the valley one spring night in 1997. A search of the area revealed no evidence of an accident, and locals blamed the ghost of a B29 that crashed just after World War 2. The captain of that aircraft is also said to walk the area in which he died. Other sources say the plane is a Skytrain transport or a F13 which crashed in 1946.
Roman Legion
Location: Longdendale Valley - Bleaklow Mountain
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: First full moon of spring
Further Comments: This long dead legion is said to march across the moor, carrying glowing torches; they set off from Melandra, old roman fortification near Glossop. Another report states that the area is haunted by a giant grey man, standing at least 10 meters tall.
Big Slug
Location: Longdendale Valley - Road from Glossop
Type: Cryptozoology
Date / Time: 1950
Further Comments: Mr John Davies reported having to stop his motorbike to let a giant slug like creature cross the road - he compared the monster to a whale.
In Woodhead valley woods people have been going there for many years on the odd walks and have been lead astray by spirits and ghosts.
Some people have witnessed and realised strange objects and lights hovering into the dark.
The Longdendale Valley is supposed to be one of the most haunted areas of Britain, and I'm not going to be put off.
Only 15 miles from Manchester, the valley stretches from Glossop to Woodhead.
