The Middleton Rail located in Leeds in the UK is the Worlds oldest operating railway which dates back to 1758. It is now not an active railway line, it is disused and is now owned by a Midland Railway trust LTD, whose mission is to preserve its condition. Located at the start of the track is a museum which then leads onto a heritage trail.
Sadly, with the railway being so old it is the site of one of the first recorded deaths caused by a train and this was in 1813, A 13-year-old boy named Jeff Bruce was killed whilst running alongside the Middleton Railway tracks, this was reported in the local newspaper The Leeds Mercury.
In 1821, a young man by the name of David Brook was struck down by a locomotive and it is the ghost of David that locals have reported seeing over many years.
The site British Paranormal retells the story:
It was the start of December, so night had fallen early and the area was experiencing thick, heavy sleet, obscuring vision and blocking out the moonlight. The wind was up, whistling past David’s ears with a high pitched screech. As the young carpenter continued to plod along the tracks he was totally unaware of an approaching locomotive. Likewise, the train’s driver was unable to see more than a few meters in front of the train as it trundled through the night.
When David became aware of the approaching steam engine it was already too late. The train struck him down, pushing him onto the tracks and dragging him under the moving carriages. When David’s body was discovered it was mangled and broken. Reports stated that one of his arms was cleanly torn from the shoulder and that the victim’s stomach had burst open, exposing his guts and organs. The corpse was a bloody, pulped mess, having been rolled along the track under the train for as much as 100 meters. The young man left behind a wife and two daughters. According to the local legend, David’s wife and children were unable to support themselves following his death and were evicted from their home. They ended up in a near-by Poor House, where they became the de facto slaves of a factory owner. Sadly, the poor house was where the two daughters ended their lives, both succumbing to an outbreak of TB in 1823.
Since the accident all those years ago, reports have been made of a ghostly figure wandering along the stretch of track where the accident took place. Witnesses have described seeing a man, dressed in a thick coat, stumbling along the railway line, often with one hand over the top of his face, as though he was sheltering his eyes from the elements. The ghost has been observed for as much as a minute at a time, before suddenly disappearing in a flash of light. Interestingly, the figure appears to be fading with time. Early sightings described a totally life-like apparition, whose appearance was indistinguishable from a living human being. More recent sightings, dating from the 1980s and 1990s describe a transparent figure. Although the details remain clear, the ghost has become see-through.
Last year I had seen Phil Sinclair and Dave and Natalie from Combined Dimension come to this location, and what interested me the most was that when Phil Sinclair called out, he got the name David through.
We decided to visit this location last week, It isnt clear where exactly David had died but it would seem his ghost may have been sighted at different areas of the track.
I wanted to investigate the opposite end of the track to Phil, Dave and Natalie as it mentioned on the site British Paranormal within the comments from a reader that she had seen him coming from the tunnel,
Heather: ” I saw this ghost in the 1980 s. I was sat on a hill just above a tunnel and Middleton railway when my boyfriend and I saw a tall man, in a thick coat and a top hat walk into the tunnel. He was dressed a bit oddly but appeared a human, I was sure he was just a normal guy. We watched to see him come out of the tunnel he never did. I was having a bet that he had on a top hat and my boyfriend said it was just a hat. We watched both entrances when he did not come out we walked into the tunnel and he was not in their. It was a full moon and you could see everything. It spooked me, I would never go there after dark.”
Our Investigation
We conducted our investigation Live on our Facebook page Paranormal Hauntings
I felt a child/ children to the side of the track and had placed equipment down for it to be triggered. The equipment did not trigger off but every now and again we encountered signal issues even though at this particular time we had full 5g signal. At one particular point viewers who was watching us live stated they had seen a figure come through at the side of the track during the time it begin to blur.
Now it could be just pixelation from the signal dropping in and out, but it does interest me as it appears to me as if there are two children. It does make me wonder if it is something of a paranormal nature and if it’s the boy of 13 years who first lost his life on the tracks.
We did get the name David through also.
We had bursts of Rem activity which seemed to occur just before the live blurred out, which at times I was not close enough to the camera for the Rem to be triggering because of our live.
We decided to have a sit down and call out at one particular spot we had the most rem responses in. We then had what I would say was a very intelligent conversation over the spirit box.
I had asked for a name and ‘Janet’ was said. I asked how old they was and ’11’ was said. I then asked what her surname was and it said what sounded like ‘Salmon’. The session seemed to then take a darker turn with the word ‘RAPE’ was coming through, Aimee’s name was said a lot and it would seem as if a energy of Janet was making herself known, she was quite scared we may be hurt by a male nearby. We headed to the tunnel and at this particular time a lot of swearing was said. I don’t feel the male energy mentioned was any connection to David myself, I think if a male was present with us he was a completely different entity to David and was quite threatening in nature. We asked for a name for this male and ‘Paul’s was said along with either ‘Ripper or ‘Raper’.
After our investigation, Gina had a look to see if a Janet had died on the track. There was no Janet recorded as dying on the track, however a Janet Ellis who was aged 11 had died in the houses at the side of the track in the 1800s, how she died unfortunately is not recorded, If it had been we may have been able to connect the two further. There is not many houses along that road, maybe 20 odd and I had parked on that road so it does make me wonder if it may have been the same Janet.
Take a look at our mini clip from when our session first started.
To watch the full investigation, click the video below:
Charlene Kemp