Here at Stump Cross Caverns, we're custodians of the caves all year round. And as the seasons go by, we notice a paradox at play.
On the one hand, the caves never change. From January to December, they're filled with the same gorgeous rock formations – and the caves are at the same stable temperature, too.
On the other hand, there's an intangible atmosphere in the caves that seems to reflect the changing of the seasons above ground.
In summer, the caves are a pleasing place to cool off. At Christmas, the stalactites and stalagmites look like naturally occurring festive decorations. And at Halloween, there's the faintest shiver in the air – at least for those who believe in the supernatural.
Of course, if we believed the caves were bursting with ghouls, we wouldn't let visitors in – at least not without some thorough ghost-busting first.
But we'd be lying if we didn't tell you that several tales of the supernatural cling to Stump Cross Caverns and other parts of the Yorkshire Dales.
So, what are we waiting for? Let's take a Halloween trip to the caves – if you dare…
The ghost of Christopher Long
Christopher Francis Drake Long (1902-1924) is a crucial figure in the history of Stump Cross Caverns. As part of the Troglodytes – now the Cambridge University Caving Club – he took part in a 168-hour-long dig that uncovered several speleothem-filled caves.
More mysteriously, Long claimed to have discovered a deep underground lake at Stump Cross Caverns. Long wanted money – and he used the lake's location as a bargaining tool with the then-owner. When the owner refused to play ball, Long blocked the entrance.
People have been looking for
Long's lost lake ever since. In 1959, a team of four made an especially spooky attempt. The story is told in The Daily Herald (26 October 1959).
Elizabeth Ashman, John Ross, Mavis Davidson and Roger D'Albertanson went down to Clay Level on a mission. Their plan: to hold a seance and ask Christopher Long's ghost for the location of the lake.
They created a kind of Ouija board from a map of the caves and a penny. They all put a finger on the penny and attempted to summon the ghost.
Sadly, the newspaper reports, they failed. But the thought of the four of them huddled in the caves with a Ouija board can still send a shiver down the spine.
Other people claim to have seen Christopher Long's ghost – but not Geoff Workman, another Stump Cross legend who broke the world record for time spent underground in 1963. He says he "never saw nor heard anything of him" in his
105 days in the caves .
The ghost of lead miners
The area surrounding Stump Cross Caverns used to be lead-mining country, and the history of the caves is inseparable from the history of this industry. After all, it was two lead miners who stumbled on the caves in 1860.
Even today, the lead-mining past lingers in pieces of rusting machinery dotted around the Dales.
Over the years, there have been a number of
ghostly sightings in the old lead-mining country. They all share one spooky local detail: the clatter of clogs.
Back then, miners in the North of England often wore wooden-soled clogs. These would protect their feet against sharp stones and other debris.
So, it makes sense that the ghost of a lead miner would be recognised by its wooden shoes clattering on the roads near Stump Cross and the village of Greenhow.
One story describes a member of the Cave Survey Group camping near Stump Cross Caverns – on a moonlit night, naturally. Around midnight, he heard a pair of clogs passing him along the road and walking to the village of Greenhow. George Gill, the former owner of Stump Cross Caverns, also had a tale or two to tell.
