Saddleworth’s spooky past…

BY PHOEBE PRICE

ARE OUR villages more sinister than we think? With Halloween approaching, a glimpse into Saddleworth’s archives reveals eerie tales of times past and present.

Waterhead’s Cairo Mill is the first place which may prove more mysterious than first appears.  In the time since it has been built, several sightings of unidentified flying objects have been reported by multiple different sources, including the site’s security guard.

Not only do the reports agree on a bright flash of coloured light illuminating the sky and that a large, circular object dithered for at least thirty seconds, but on the same night as the first report was received by police, the factory cat vanished without a trace.  Both sightings remain unexplained.

If that’s not enough to creep you, perhaps the legends of St Chad’s Church in Uppermill will.  The building is reportedly haunted from its creation, with builders unable to construct the church on the original site as every night the stones would appear back at the current location.

Perhaps this was the work of a certain Grey Lady, who is said to haunt the premises, walking through gravestones, sitting in pews and resting on the ancient stocks which lay outside the church’s front door.

Could she also be the cause of the mysterious bell ringing heard from the church at obscure times in the dead of darkness?

Inside the church graveyard is a memorial stone of a father and son from the nineteenth century.  The pair, who owned the Moorcock Inn, were murdered in what is said to be the “bloodiest murders of the time” as they were “hacked and bludgeoned” with a shovel. The case was never solved.

With such horrific and unexplained events in the foundations of Saddleworth’s past, I’d be careful where you tread on Halloween night. And, whatever you do, don’t leave the house alone…

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