Nottingham is my home town so over the years I have heard numerous ghost tales from friends and family members on numerous sites across the city.
I wanted to cover some of these stories and document them somewhere so that if anyone in the future looks up these specific locations… There will be something documented on them, I’ve also decided to add a few other True Encounters that I’ve seen in numberous forums that I think correspond to tales I have heard.
GEORGE’S HILL | NOTTINGHAM
When I was 17 years old I attended college and became friends with quite a few people who lived in Calverton.
I remember them recalling numerous ghost stories of a specific hill in Calverton and reporting what they had experienced there on numerous occasions when they had been.
Upon looking up this haunting, there is numerous reports of people experiencing very similar things….
Posted by Pixie
” Do we all know about the ghost of the hitchhiker whos meant to haunt Georges hill on the way to calverton? He’s meant to appear in the back of your car. Iv been told by people that they have experienced it and never believed it myself, until me and a friend was driving back from somewhere around 11:30pm one night, it was just me and them in the front.. I pulled the passenger side mirror/sunscreen down to touch up make up or whatever I was doing to see what looked just like someone was sat in the back on the drivers side! At First, I thought it was a tan coloured headrest that some cars have on the top of the rear seats, I had forgot all about what road we was on etc and then I noticed the seats were black and there were no head rests! How very strange….
A friend of mine also crashed on that road a couple of years back, the car ended up just off the road onto a field. My Friend wasnt hurt thankfully but he couldnt get a signal and it was late around 2am. He made his way to the main road on the top of St georges hill to hopefully flag someone down for help. He saw a man stood on the side of the road but said he looked old fashioned but assumed maybe it was just an old man walking his dog, so he walked upto him.. kept checking his phone for signal also – as he reached the man was stood, no one was there. There was no where he could have gone and my friend looked round and there were nobody around. Luckily he got signal and managed to call someone. Hes never driven down there since though!!
and another…
COLWICK PARK | NOTTINGHAM
Over the years I had heard various stories that Colwick Hall was haunted and when attending weddings there, always felt a eerily presence, but it wasn’t until we investigated the ruined church there and woodland area that I dived into the haunted history. We have investigated this area twice now, both times Live on facebook. On one of our nvestigations, people reported picking up on a lady in the lake, it seemed at the time we was receiving very relevant and intelligent replies from the ITC devices we was using. So I went home, looked up the lake and indeed in numerous forums it is posted by a few that a lady is believed to haunt the hall and locals have famously given the name ‘Lady of the Lake’.
Posted by Pixie:
Another famous one is the Lady of the lake in colwick park. I used to work at Colwick hall and my normal shift started at 5am and ended at 6pm, so was pretty dark when I started.
Someone told me the lady of the lake used to walk across a certain corridor. I was quite sceptical about it and just went ahead doing my house keeping duties. One Night, I saw a women looking at me out the corner of my eye through one of the windows, from what I saw she looked very pale! I went to the staff room to inform the person who was on at the time there was a women on the grounds peeking through windows. We checked all the cameras and saw nothing. I used to see shadows under doors, things out the corner of my eye, heard footsteps when only I was around……it was a Spooky place!
NOTTINGHAM HOSPTIALS | CITY HOSPTIAL | QMC
Working professionally in the public health sector, I have worked aside by nurses over the years who have worked in both of the Nottingham’s hospitals- City Hospital and QMC.
A good friend and colleague, who knows of my interests in the paranormal, told me a account from when she first started in nursing and which changed her views on life after death.
She started her career in The city hospital doing general nursing duties and hadn’t been there that long when she experienced something she said she couldn’t explain even to this day.
She had been working on a ward and happened to venture down on of the unused wards one night, which at the time she didn’t realise, she was still getting her bearings on where things were. She seen a nurse heading into one of the isolated rooms wearing a 1940s style nursing uniform, she called out to her to see if she could direct her back in the way she needed to be but she didn’t get a reply. She headed to the room and looked inside and nobody was there. When she finally found her way back to the ward, she informed the ward sister where she had been and what she had saw, which the sister replied that is a unused ward and you have just seen the ghost of the nurse that used to work here but died, a lot of us have seen her going room to room as if she is still conducting her nurse duties.
I have heard brief ghostly stories of QMC as well but this one I found on a forum goes into a bit more detail :
Posted by Dark
I know somebody who works in the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham. The person knows that I am interested in paranormal happenings and I’ve been told of many strange things that happen. Here are a few that stick in my head.
During the night shift, the nurses work a long shift with a couple of hours to rest in the middle. They have a room where they can get some sleep if they need to. In one section of the Hospital the nurses won’t sleep in that room, instead they sleep in the staff room. This reason for this is that apparently whenever a nurse goes to sleep in there they are waken up shorty after by a female nurse who shakes them awake and says “com’on dear, time to get back to work” then leaves the room.
I’ve been told that nobody suiting that description of a nurse works at the QMC. Also, I have been told that one time, a female nurse went to sleep in the designated room (in a different section of the hospital), she was woken up by the voice of somebody screaming. She leapt out of bed and ran to the where the patients where but they where all asleep. She thought nothing more of it, thinking it was a bad dream and went back to the room to get some sleep. Again she was awaken by screaming and somebody shouting “Please help me, for the love of god please help me!” She again got up and went to the area were the patients where being kept but found nothing out of place, after speaking to the nurses, nobody else had heard anything.
Another experience my friend witness, was one night when just themselves and another nurse were working, they saw a person walk past the staff window with a dark grey “hoodie” on. Both of them got up to see who it was. When they got out the staff room, they couldn’t see any sign of this hooded figure.
NEWSTEAD ABBEY | NOTTINGHAM
As a teenager, growing up and having a fascination with the paranormal at that point anyway, it was a trend to drive up to Newstead abbey in the hours of dark and tell each other ghost stories and have a general walk round to see what you experience. Unfortunately, because so many teenagers did this and not everyone respected the land, it is now closed off at night.
Newstead abbey is probably one of the most famous places in Nottingham that is rumoured to be haunted, the list of sightings here is endless….
I had never personally experienced anything here on my nightly ventures but know of many who claim to have, so its hardly surprising that so many have took to forums to document their experiences…..
Posted by Rebecca Parmenter
I’m afraid that I do not have a picture but after reading about the Ghostly goings on at Newstead Abbey I feel compelled to tell you my little story. I’m going back about ten years or so.
Some friends and I had been out clubbing in Mansfield town centre and being as I had been given my brothers car for the evening we decided to go for a drive around in the early hours. Newstead Abbey had been our destination as we thought it a suitable place to lark about.
It was lightly snowing this night and as I pulled into the Abbey gates off Nottingham Road at around 3.30 am we were faced with a bit of a shock. I caught the smiling face of an elderly lady in my headlights causing my passengers to scream. I had intended to do a U turn and drive off as quickly as the snow would permit me to but one of our group of friends told me stop. He opened the passenger door and shouted over to the old lady who was still smiling at us. He asked her if she was aright but she said nothing and pointed in to the Abbey grounds. He sat back in the car and feeling a little spooked I drove away.
The lady had been surrounded by suitcases, which had seemed a little odd but these cases were very old fashioned looking, more like woven baskets. After we had driven a short way back towards Mansfield we decided to go back feeling a little guilty about her being alone in the cold. When we reached the gates again she had disappeared. It had only been a matter of minutes since we had left her. We parked up and had a quick walk around, bearing in mind that it had been snowing the only tyre tracks on the ground were mine and there had been no trace of her where she had stood in the snow or her luggage. The next day I relayed the story to my Mother and we tried to look for some logical explanation.
My Mother called the National Express bus service to see if there had been any late buses that night that may have dropped someone off so late ,but there had not. Not long after this event there had been a story in the Mansfield Chad about a Taxi driver who had picked up a lady at Newstead Abbey gates and after he had driven a little while, he turned round to find that she had disappeared. Very coincidental, I’m wondering if this could have been The White Lady but I realise she died fairly young.
HAUNTED HOUSES | NOTTINGHAM
I cant say that I have ever lived in a haunted house growing up or to this day, I have had experiences at home but I wouldn’t necessary say it was something haunting the house.
I remember in primary school, a friend use to come in regularly and claim her house was haunted by something not nice. She used to tell us that her mum had numerous people in to try to make it stop but it had always made it worse.
I went to Bonington Junior school, which is situated in Bulwell in Nottingham and my friend lived across the road. You could see her house from the school field on the left hand side of the road and as she would come in and retell her stories, I remember endlessly looking at the house thinking I wonder what tales you hold. Nobody was ever allow to visit her house, let alone stay and its been a few years since I’ve seen this friend, but if I see her in the future, I most definitely will have questions for her, which I didn’t have at the time being so young.
Its obvious that Nottingham will have its haunted houses like any other place, but I sometimes hear stories of certain places across the city and its so vast in history it most certainly does not surprise me that certain houses could indeed be haunted.
I have heard many stories over the years from working in the community and one area that particular interests me is Beechdale Road. I have been to visit at least 3 houses on that road and people have spoken to me about experiences they have had which has been from something that has not been of this world! Remember on entering these households, these people have had no idea of my interest in the paranormal or what I do, so the fact that they have approached me about it and informed me of it makes the stories even more creditable in my opinion.
My mum always says that when she was growing up, it was local knowledge that a little hall located on Strelley road, only a few steps away from Beechdale road was haunted. Kids from the estate would flock to the little hall for a regular disco there on a Friday and experience and see strange things.
Another areas where a lot has been reported in forums is Hyson Green and Sherwood, again another areas of Nottingham that is extremely old and hold much history.
Posted by Ron Haines
From 1937 to 1955 I lived at 177 Birkin Avenue, Hyson Green. In the September of 1954 my bedroom was a large room on the top floor. On this particular night I was awakened by a scratching in the corner of the room. Thinking it was a mouse I got out of bed to take a look but the noise stopped immediately. On getting back into bed the scratching started on the headboard and persisted until I had fallen asleep. Not thinking very much about it, on the following night after a hectic few hours at the Astoria, I got into bed to be greeted by a very disturbing shaking of the headboard.
This caused me considerable alarm, the noise also awakening my parents in the room down below. Then night after night as soon as I retired, the violent shaking would begin. By now I was quite used to this phenomena and used to say “Ok Good night then, let me get to sleep” Funnily enough this worked and there’d be no more disturbance until the following night. This strange haunting continued until I left the house in 1966. The new residents were named Cairns (I think). I don’t know if they had any trouble.
Posted by Jo
My parents bought a house on Perry Rd, on the same side as the graveyard, but further up when I was 4 yrs old. On the day of our second viewing we the old lady that lived there allowed me and my older sister to look around. My sister went outside and I went upstairs. On coming down the stairs i met a man, standing in the hallway doing his ironing. He had the iron plugged into the light. We stood there talking for about 5 mins. My mum shouted me. I went into the living room where they all were, and told my mum of the conversation I’d just had with the man in the hallway. The old lady selling the house looked shocked. She said that her husband had died and that’s why she was selling. They’d owned this house from new, and she was sad to go. Her husband always did his ironing in the hallway years ago. It must have been him I was talking to!
My parents did buy the house and they are still there. When I was growing up I could hear footsteps walking along the carpet upstairs, but my parents always said I was silly, imagining things! I know I wasn’t. I used to have recurring dreams about the man with his iron in his hand (sounds funny now but wasn’t at the time) My dad used to get angry cos I’d always want to sleep in my mums bed. I was scared, this went on until I was about 16! Now when they go away, I sometimes go and house-sit as they have a dog. I always have recurring dreams about that man when I’m in the house, and last time I stayed I saw a face of an old man on the tv, I shouted at my husband to turn it off, but it wasn’t even on! The house has always had a creepy feel to it, though if the spirit is still there, he doesn’t bother anyone. And it’s only me who has the spooky things happen. But I know that the man is still there on Perry Road.
Hope you enjoyed these true encounters, if you have one from where you live please post it in the comments, we would love to hear them.
Stay Safe
Charlene Lowe Kemp
Forum used to source some stories:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/have_your_say/ghost_stories.shtml