Haunted caves in Yorkshire? On the trail of the Stump Cross ghosts
Spooky season is here – but how about ghosts in Stump Cross Caverns? Explore some local legends with us today.
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.
One night, for instance, he was at home on Duck Street in Greenhow when he heard those phantom clogs:
"They sounded on the gravel of the road, then on the cobblestones by its side, and finally on the gritstone slab at the door. There was no one to be seen, either by himself or his wife."
Then there's the spooky story told by Fred Walker, a man descended from the lead miners of Greenhow.
One night, he heard the sound of clogs in the village. They were walking on a patch of grass that had once been the site of a bloody fight between a lead miner and a caravan dweller known as "Gipsy Jack".
They were fighting over a horse deal so fiercely that the nearby inn was spattered with blood. Could it have been Joss's feet that Fred heard many years later?
Other ghostly tales from the Yorkshire Dales
It's not just the area around Stump Cross Caverns that's home to apparitions. The Yorkshire Dales, in general, are a hotbed of Halloween stories.
We looked at some of the most chilling in our blog post, "Spooky stories from the Yorkshire Dales". These include Tom Taylor the Highwayman and a recurring ghostly light at Coverdale.
But perhaps the tale closest to our hearts is the Barguest of Troller's Gill. This is a monstrous black dog said to live in the gorge of Troller's Gill – a beast that may have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Today, Troller's Gill is a peaceful place to visit. But in a certain light, there's still something a little otherworldly about it.
Interested in paying it a visit? Then why not take this five-mile circular walk from Stump Cross Caverns to Troller's Gill? We wish you a peaceful ramble free from black dogs, trolls or other Yorkshire ghouls…
Want more creepy fun? This October half term, we're holding a Halloween spooktacular here at Stump Cross Caverns. There'll be riddles to solve and secrets to discover underground – plus a host of family activities and a fun Halloween costume competition. Learn more and book your tickets today.
