Local Ghost Stories: Part 2

Following on from the Spectre Hound story we have another two stories which abound from the very same area in Hyde, a few miles from me. The first is that of the old woman who haunts an old farmhouse, near to where there have been sightings of the spectre hound. In the same book, 'History of Hyde' it says:

Tradition says that the farm is haunted. In former times it was occupied by a family, the last survivor of which was an old dame, who is said to have been the very picture of a witch. After her death, her spirit, unable to rest in the grave, commenced to wander through the farm at night. Various persons who have at different times resided in the farm, have related strange stories of their experiences of the ghostly visitant. In the dead of night, the doors - even those that were locked - have suddenly opened, footsteps have been heard as though some unseen being walked through the rooms and up the stairs, and then the doors have closed and locked themselves as mysteriously as they opened. Sleepers have been awakened by the beds on which they lay suddenly commencing to rock violently; and at times the bedclothes have been snatched away, and deposited in a heap upon the floor. The ghostly figure of an old woman has been seen moving about from room to room, and then has vanished. Fire-irons have been moved, and have tumbled and danced about mysteriously; pots and pans have rattled, and tumbled to the floor; and there has been heard a strange noise as though someone invisible was sweeping the floor.

(In) 1890 the occupants were startled by hearing a loud noise in the upper rooms. When they entered the room from which the noise came they beheld the curious sight of an old rocking chair, violently rocking itself as though some person might have been seated in it, and the rocking continued unabated for a considerable time. It is said that the old dame, whose ghost haunts the place, died in her rocking chair in that very room; and the belief was that it was her spirit, invisible to the inhabitants of the farm, which set the chair rocking so mysteriously.

To add to the mystery and the uncanny character of the place, there is a certain part of the garden of the farm on which nothing will grow. Some time ago human bones were dug up, and it is said a murdered man was once buried there, and that the place is accursed. Several tenants of the farm have assured the writer that they have again and again tried to bring that spot to the same state of fruitfulness as the rest of the garden, but all to no purpose!!!

Spooky! This tale reminds me somewhat of the film, Paranormal Activity... scary scary! The other ghost story from this area is even weirder and is that of a phantom lorry! This is the story written by a Jeffrey Stafford: