Mark Riley - Haunted Hull

I would like to dedicate this book to my mum, Eileen,
who sadly departed during the writing of this book.
A wonderful wife, mum and nanna.

I would like to thank the following people for their support and encouragement throughout the writing of Haunted Hull , especially my lovely wife Angela and our children, for without their support this project would not have been possible. Also to all my friends, for their continuing support and help gathering the stories. I would also like to thank Hull Library; the Hull Daily Mail ; Mark Lindsey; Keith Daddy; Richard Hayton; Reverend Tom Willis, and my good friend Chris Bell, who shared their experiences and supplied some of the stories. A final thank you to The History Press, and in particular Beth Amphlett, who gave me this opportunity.

T HE city of Hull is steeped in a colourful history. As well as once being home to William Wilberforce, who played a key role in the abolition of slavery, it also became one of the countrys major shipping ports; its main trade being the export of wool. The city was involved in the civil wars, and was heavily damaged in the Second World War during the Blitz Hull was in fact the most bombed city after London. The city is also known for its distinctive white telephone boxes, unlike the red majority across the rest of the country. The city also has another side to it, a history of ghosts and spectres, with spine-chilling tales from haunted pubs and a haunted shopping centre, and featuring the Floating Vicar, Lady in the church, and old mother Riley. These stories are sure to make your blood run cold.

A FTER hearing that Ye Olde White Harte pub on Silver Street in the old town of Hull was haunted, I contacted the present owners to arrange to meet them and hear their stories. The owners were happy for me to call into the pub, and arranged for me to meet up with a chap called Patrick OMalley, who has lived at the pub for several years and has experienced more than anyone else at the property. Patrick and I agreed to meet in August 2010, on the appropriate Friday the 13th. Would this date prove unlucky or lucky for us to be discussing ghost stories? Would they even show up to add a little spice to the discussion that was about to take place? Patrick has also written a small book called A History of Ye Olde White Harte, and things that go bump in the night!! from which he has given me permission to use some of the information contained within I thank him very kindly for both.

We met in the main bar area and sat near the big inglenook fireplace that once housed a secret passage (now bricked up but with a small window inside showing where the passage once was). Patrick told me of the first night he stayed in the pub. He slept in a room on the top floor, which he describes as Victorian in style with wood panelling. He told me the room was once used as a meeting room for the freemasons and would once have been filled with fine leather chairs. It was easy to picture a scene in which the rich men of Hull sat in discussions, smoking their large cigars and having a drink of whisky, pushing the bell for service there are still bell pushes around the room on the walls. Early the next morning Patrick was laying in his bed asleep when, suddenly, he was woken by the sound of footsteps coming from the staircase and hallway. He sat up waiting for someone to enter the room, believing it may have been the landlady, landlord or another member of staff. After several minutes and no one knocking on the bedroom door, he got out of bed and made his way to the staircase outside his room. It was dark and no one could be seen, so he made his way down the stairs, checking each and every door as he went, finding them all locked. He eventually arrived in the bar, thinking that someone must be there, but he was surprised to find the place in complete darkness and the doors locked tight. He decided that it must have been his imagination his tired mind playing tricks on him however, his thoughts soon changed as several minutes later he was still awake, fully compos mentis, and he could still hear the footsteps.

The sign above the doorway leading to Ye Olde White Harte.

Patricks second unusual experience came on a summers day in July 2005. It was roughly midday and he was in the garden reading the newspaper, when the landlady came out. Putting the newspaper down, he engaged in conversation with her. Noticing that he had ink on his hands from the print of the paper, and that he was wearing white jeans, he excused himself to go and wash his hands in order to acoid getting ink on his trousers. After he had washed and dried his hands he turned and was surprised to see a dark shrouded figure standing in the doorway. As he hadnt heard anyone coming down the hallway to the toilets he was a little surprised to see anyone there at all, and as he jumped back and blinked, the figure disappeared. I was shown the area where this took place and can testify that in the toilets you can clearly hear someone approaching.

A few weeks later Bernard, the then manager, was in his sitting room in the building next door, which was annexed to the pub in 1881, when he caught a glimpse of someone dressed in black standing beside him. As the landlady, Fiona, always wore black he, at first, thought it was her, but looking up he realised it was the same black shrouded figure Patrick had seen in the toilets. However, Bernard has since claimed it was not a ghost as he was tired and that Patrick had put the thought into his mind.

Patrick and Bernard were not the only ones to see the figure. Only a couple of weeks later, a TV repair man was returning a fixed television to the pub, and, as he made his way up the stairs to the landlords flat, he thanked the person who was standing at the top when they moved out of his way. As he put the TV down he realised that no one was there, which made him wonder who it could have been, so, when he went downstairs, he asked Bernard who it could have been, but Bernard assured the repair man that no one was in or near the flat. When he asked the repair man what exactly he had seen, the repair man answered, All I saw was a dark figure!

A full year passed before the figure was encountered again; this time by a cleaner. Both the lady in question and her husband helped out around the pub, cleaning and getting it ready for opening time. She was trying to light the fire in the bar, when she became aware of someone standing behind her. Thinking it must have been her husband (as they were the only two in the pub at the time) she started to talk to him, but getting no response she turned to see what he was doing, and much to her surprise, she was shocked to find that it was not her husband at all, but the dark figure.

Entrance to Ye Olde White Harte, via Bowl Alley Lane.

Patrick was eager to learn more about the shrouded figure and began to ask some of the older regulars if any of them had encountered it, but sadly none of them had. That was until a visitor from South Africa called into the pub one evening, he spoke to Patrick and revealed that he originally came from Hull and used to be a regular at Ye Olde White Harte. He said that about fifteen years ago, he had been part of a quiz team belonging to the pub and they regularly met in the room upstairs, which is now the restaurant. One night, two of the team arrived late and as they entered the room they were joined by a third figure, which every member of the quiz team took to have been a monk!