2. The Ghostly Happenings at Bolling Hall
Listen to the Bolling Hall Episode
Download the Full Transcripton
Show Notes for Episode 2
Overview of Our Visit to Bolling Hall
In Episode 2 of the Scaredy Cat Skeptic podcast, we head to Bolling Hall to see if the rampant rumours of rowdy spirits are true. When some tiny alarms led us on a Stranger Things wild ghost chase to a gated stone stairway, we were slightly perplexed. But the bizarre “coincidence” was the cherry on the cherry-tree-lined cake.
Photos from the Bolling Hall Ghost Hunt
Full Gallery from Temple Newsam
Video of the creepy nursery at Bolling Hall
In this POdcast, we mentioned...
Emily Dewsnap, Scaredy Cat Skeptic Host
Emily Dewsnap is the host of the Scaredy Cat Skeptic podcast. She is a militant sceptic, despite growing up in a haunted house. This fascination with the occult has been a lifelong obsession... but that could just be the goth in her. Emily is also an artist by day, and drew Scaredy Cat mascot, Maud, up into the current form she takes today.
Tom Bramall, Character Artist
Tom Bramall is the character artist behind the Scaredy Cat Skeptic mascot character, Maud. He is also the reason we got in trouble with the ghost of a stern old lady when investigating Temple Newsam. Tom has spent the last six months listening to Scaredy Cat ramble about ghosts, so he deserves a heartfelt thanks.
Sammi McEwan, Spiritual Adviser
Sammi McEwan has been a fantastic help throughout the setting up of this podcast. She is the official spiritual adviser to the podcast and has given valuable insights into hauntings. She's even helped out with protection rituals and other elements of ghost hunting that Scaredy Cat hadn't even considered. You can look forward to hearing directly from Sammi on our blog page and on future episodes.
Ellen McMichael, Spooky Bitch
Thank you to Ellen McMichael for coming around Bolling Hall and bringing the protective crystals. She was very patient while we spent ages taking photos and she also took the snapshot of Scaredy Cat at the top of the stairs in full ghost costume. And the massive chat in the café was also most enjoyable.
Transcript - Episode 2: Bolling Hall
Hello, my spooky bitches. Welcome to episode two of the Scaredy Cat Skeptic podcast. I’m Emily Dewsnap, desperate sceptic and eternal wuss. And this episode, we’ll be talking all things Gray Lady [I meant white lady, peeps].
Before I get into this properly, you’re probably wondering, did Em’s voice get sexier, or am I imagining things? No, I haven’t taken up smoking despite the fact that I sound like Patti and/or Selma from The Simpsons. I have the worst summer cold. I didn’t even know you could get colds in summer. I feel like hot garbage, so I do apologise for the nasally-ness and the gravelly voice. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal strength for the next episode. But I have committed to get this podcast out for the first of the month, so I’m going to continue with my Phoebe from Friends “Sexy, sexy, cold voice.”
So, yeah, fingers crossed. I should be fixed for the next episode. It’s so bad. I’m so sorry guys. I’m so ill.
Anyway, this month’s haunted location is Bolling Hall in Bradford, where myriad ghosts charge about frightening guests and photobombing selfies. My witchy bitch friend Ellen accompanied me on this ghost hunt, and it was just a thoroughly charming afternoon.
A Bit of a Description of Bolling Hall
Hello, my spooky bitches. Welcome to episode two of the Scaredy Cat Skeptic podcast. I’m Emily Dewsnap, desperate sceptic and eternal wuss. And this episode, we’ll be talking all things Gray Lady [I meant white lady, peeps]
Before I get into this properly, you’re probably wondering, did Em’s voice get sexier, or am I imagining things? No, I haven’t taken up smoking despite the fact that I sound like Patti and/or Selma from The Simpsons. I have the worst summer cold. I didn’t even know you could get colds in summer. I feel like hot garbage, so I do apologise for the nasally-ness and the gravelly voice. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal strength for the next episode. But I have committed to get this podcast out for the first of the month, so I’m going to continue with my Phoebe from Friends “Sexy, sexy, cold voice.”
So, yeah, fingers crossed. I should be fixed for the next episode. It’s so bad. I’m so sorry guys. I’m so ill.
Anyway, this month’s haunted location is Bolling Hall in Bradford, where myriad ghosts charge about frightening guests and photobombing selfies. My witchy bitch friend Ellen accompanied me on this ghost hunt, and it was just a thoroughly charming afternoon.
Tasty Morsals at Bolling Hall
Just harking back to the last episode, which was about Temple Newsome, the architecture is very similar. I guess it was the fashion back then. Please don’t bombard me with messages, architects. Or actually, please do, but nicely
To a Muggle, it’s a similarly functional structure with long thin windows, and it’s laid out in a C shape. Although Bolling Hall is about a quarter of the size of Temple Newsome. Personally, I find Bolling Hall a more attractive building from the outside. Although this isn’t a game of comparisons.
On entering the hall, I was immediately like: “Now this is my speed!” Bolling Hall is a home and not a froofy, fancy one. You enter the hall through the back kitchen. It’s dark with blackened beams and low ceilings, a huge arched fireplace (now bricked up) greets you. It takes up nearly the entire wall. All kinds of heavy-duty, functional tools are scattered about the place. Heavy-bottomed, copper pots and pans hang from the mantelpiece. It’s beautiful.
A rough wooden table stands to the left as you enter. There’s a display of the type of food that would have been eaten in mediaeval times. Hearty pies, hunks of bread, massive cheeses and thick slices of game meat. Oh, my mouth just did that squirty thing. It’s my kind of food. I like simple food cooked well, not small fancy food with foam, please and thank you.
In other news, I’m still a bit podgy. No idea why. I might just eat this pie…
#LifeGoals at Temple Newsam
For the fellow Game of Thrones nerds out there, Bolling Hall is to last month’s location Temple Newsam What Winterfell is to Casterly Rock. Sturdy and handsome in its own way. Utterly unpretentious. A hunter’s home. A place where knights would return, exhausted after fighting, and women worked until their forearms rippled.
I loved it, loved it.
And we’re still only in the first room when I reach this conclusion. The back kitchen of Bolling Hall, where you enter, has a distinctly old school apothecary feel to it. It’s the sort of kitchen I dream of skulking around in an old age, like a crazed old crone, cackling over a cauldron and scaring local children #LifeGoals
We did eventually make it out of the kitchen. After I’d finished waxing lyrical about it, I noticed that most of the flooring on the ground floor, throughout, was made of stone slabs. I should imagine that Bolling Hall was absolutely freezing in winter, which is one of the reasons I kind of compared it to Winterfell.
We felt the temperature drop as soon as we walked inside. Although that could have just been the ghosts, of course. The north of England is cold enough with central heating, but in mediaeval Britain, it would have been unbearable. Which leads me to believe that the residents of Bolling Hall were tough. And by necessity, keen hunters. It’s easy to see that from the décor. Spoils of hunts gone by stare glassily down from the walls. Wild boar, venison, rabbits, pheasants… ah, there goes my mouth again, gleeking away. Sadly, there was no bad taxidermy at Bolling Hall. I do love a boggle-eyed tiger, or a fox that looks like it’s seen things. But all the taxidermy at Bolling Hall was very well done.
There’s a drawing room in the centre that ties the wHall house together with a mezzanine above. Two staircases lead up to the mezzanine from either side of that room. It’s a great vantage point. I could have stayed there for hours, honestly. For a relatively small, stately home. It’s jam packed with artefacts and antiques. And it feels, I don’t know, a bit magical. There’s an atmosphere that makes you feel as if you’ve left reality for a moment. Something timeless, like an airport or service station, but stunning and peaceful. And with no fruit machines.
The History SUrrounding Bolling Hall [00:06:45:02 - 00:06:52:16]
So I’m just going to give you a bit of history of Bolling Hall. Bolling hall is the oldest building in Bradford and supposedly the most haunted. It’s located about a mile from East Bolling, which is an area in East Bradford. Appearing in the Domesday Book in 1086, the House has been passed from pillar to post. Because of this, the structure is a mixture of styles as it’s been added to over the years.
The oldest parts of the house are very mediaeval looking. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Bradford was a hard city to defend. It was small and it’s located in a basin, which gave anyone attempting to invade a distinct advantage. Bolling hall, though, is on top of a hill overlooking the city.
Because of this imposing position, historians have reason to believe that it was built originally as a peel tower. Peel towers are small fortified keeps built along the English and Scottish borders, in the Scottish marshes and in the north of England. They were free standing defensive buildings that were also used as watchtowers. Fires could be lit from the high position to signal impending danger. Particularly important for Bradford in its cosy valley. All in all, Bolling Hall played an important part in Bradford’s safety for many years.
Asian Settlers in Bradford for Years
Originally, Bolling Hall was owned by a man named Sindi. That’s S.I.N.D.I. and not Cindy, as in the doll.. Not much is known about the original family and I can’t see anything online. However, what is interesting is that the name Sindi is most commonly found in Saudi Arabia and its roots are firmly Arabic.
Bradford is now a very multicultural place with several well-established Asian communities. While the majority of these Asian communities seem to have sprung up in the 50s and 60s, when we invited people to come here, I’d be really interested to know how far back Asian settlers go in the history of Bradford. Or whether I’m barking up the wrong tree entirely. We did see some little artefacts at the Hall that mentioned that Sindi was Asian, which makes me think that I’m on the right track, at least. I’m aware that in the sixties and seventies, workers from Pakistan were invited by the UK to come to this country and work in the mills in Bradford.
If anybody knows anything about the history of Asian settlers in Bradford before the 60s and 70s. Or is a Sindi and knows the history of the name, please do give us a shout. Because I’m finding this really interesting and I’m frustrated that I can’t find any more information about it.
A Massive Lord of Ponte Owns Bolling Hall
Back in those early days, the hall was known as Bollinc with C, rather than Bolling. And was, at the time, worth five shillings annually. Or the equivalent of 25p now, in UK cash monies.
After Sindi, the manor passed to Ilbert De Lacy, who was Lord of Pontefract. Which in this day and age sounds like an insult, honestly. You massive Lord of Ponte! [lads lads lads]. Definitely an alternative to calling someone a dirty alcoholic. I’ll try it out. Ilbert was originally from Lassy in Calvados, where the lovely apple brandy comes from. And that is the extent of my knowledge on Calvados, which probably makes me a massive Lord of Ponte.
I can see this catching on.
Bolling Hall, and other estates in West Yorkshire, were granted to Ilbert de Lacy by William the Conqueror for fighting in the Battle of Hastings. Ilbert went on to do some impressive war-related things, including being a major participant in the Harrying of the North.
Bolling Hall was passed down through three generations of male De Lacies. And then continued down the female line until at least 1348. Which is the last record we have of the De Lacies at Bolling Hall.
The War of the Roses and Bolling Hall
Bolling Hall also served as a seat for two powerful families in Bradford, the Bolling’s and The Tempest, which makes it sound like the setting of a Shakespearean play. From 1316, it was in the possession of William Bolling. But was then lost again when his descendant, Robert Bolling, fought on the Lancastrian side of the War of the Roses, making him a red rose. He was destitute, until he eventually persuaded Yorkist King Edward I that he had been made to fight for Lancashire under duress, and that he was really a Yorkshireman at heart.
In my experience, Yorkshiremen take their ancestry very seriously. I once had an argument with a very laid back friend because I said I didn’t like gravy. It ended when he shouted I’M A YORKSHIREMAN! at me. Which was honestly hilarious and has now made me very careful in expressing a distaste for gravy. You never know who’s listening. I don’t hate it, by the way. It’s just not my favourite thing. It’s just, like, slightly salty, beefy… meh. I’d rather have curry sauce.
Anyway, I’ve got to do a segment on the War of the Roses at some point. It’s so close to my heart. I’ve lived in Yorkshire longer than anywhere else, but I’m from t’other side o’ Pennines. I’m both a white and a red rose. A pink rose, if you will. It’s very conflicting.
I don’t want to dilute the ghost stories with too much history, though. Let me know what you think, dear listeners. Are you interested in knowing more about the conflict between Yorkshire and Lancashire? And in the meantime, I’ll dig around for War of the Roses ghosts. There must be hundreds. So many people died.
Bolling Hall and Temple Newsam Are Connected
For now, though – Bolling hall. The Tempests took control of Bolling Hall in 1497, when Richard Tempest married Rosamond Bolling because heaven forfend, a woman would take the mantle of the estate on her own and then went back to the Pilgrimage of Grace again. I spoke about this last episode when we went to Temple Newsam.
I feel like these two homesteads are intrinsically linked. Which would make sense, given the time frame and proximity of when they were built and what was going on at the time. If you haven’t listened to the previous episode, check it out. We saw an actual flipping ghost, maybe two. And I speak briefly about the pilgrimage of Grace in that episode.
The episodes are standalone episodes, so you don’t have to listen to them in order. Or you don’t have to start at the beginning to understand where I am with the things. But in this instance, it probably would be worth listening to that one.
Richard Tempest suffered the same fate as Thomas Lord D’Arcy for his participation in the Pilgrimage of Grace and was executed. The house then actually did fall to a woman (shock, horror) and Rosamond successfully, single-handedly, with the help of only 10 to 20 servants, ran the estate until her death in 1553.
The Tempests continued to hold the house, turning Bolling Hall into a royalist base in 1643, during the second siege of Bradford. The Royalists won, and were planning to put the parliamentarian sympathisers to death when the first recorded ghostly sightings ensued.
The Ghost Stories of Bolling Hall
So I’m going to tell you about three ghost sightings at Bolling Hall, including the most famous one. And then I’ll move on to our recordings and our findings.
Pity Poor Bradford - The OG Bolling Hall Haunting
TIMESTAMP: 00:13:24:19 – 00:13:27:21
The Royal Commander and Earl of Newcastle reported that on the night of the victory of the second siege of Bradford, the ghost of a woman appeared in the room he was staying in a Bolling Hall. The ghost woke him up by tugging on his bedsheets before telling him to “Pity poor Bradford!” while wringing her hands.
He had been planning to absolutely decimate the city. But after this visitation, he gave mercy, and only killed those that offered resistance. As a result of this ghostly vision, only ten people died.
Many, many ghost sightings have been reported at Bolling Hall. Well over 20 apparitions are said to reside there. The woman who appeared to the Earl of Newcastle is said to be the white lady who is still seen to this day. Who the spirit was in life though, is up for debate.
There have been. Many ghost sightings since. They happen all the time at Bolling Hall. It is said to be one of the most haunted houses in the north of the UK.
So I’m just going to tell you a couple of more and one is from an actual paranormal investigator who went to Bolling Hall, specifically to do Ghost Hunting.
There's a Very SMelly Ghost at Bolling Hall
TIMESTAMP: 00:14:27:08 – 00:14:31:21
So on the 22nd of January 2022, so fairly recently, paranormal investigator, Dean Buckley, settled in for the night at Bolling hall. He had with him a small team of supernatural enthusiasts and mediums. Dean has been a paranormal investigator for 20 years. And maintains that Bolling Hall is one of his all time favourite places to hunt because it’s so active.
From the very minute Dean and his team passed through the doors of Bolling Hall on that evening, they were hit with strange happenings. The Blue Room, in particular at Bolling Hall, has a reputation for making people feel uneasy. People report sensing a malevolent presence there. As well as feeling that they are being watched. So it made sense to Dean to begin the night in the Blue Room.
Almost straight away, he saw the figure of a woman on the other side of the bed. Later on that evening, he returned to the Blue Room to see if the ghostly figure of the woman was still there. But instead saw the face of a man at the end of the bed.
The Smell Was Overpowering
But by far the most noteworthy apparition of the evening was the tall figure of a very smelly man, which was seen by everyone on the team. Dean’s wife, Veronica, who was one of the mediums in the group, spotted the ghost moving up the stairs and followed him.
“There was an awful smell about him,” said Veronica. “Like body odour. Like someone who hasn’t washed for days.”
Everybody in the group said that they were hit by the smell of the total amount of debris scrambled at the stairs in a bid to get a proper snapshot. And none of them could explain where the smell was coming from. Creepy.
I really hope my inflection’s coming through. I’m finding it quite difficult to speak.
And then I’ve just got one more and this one’s quite a cute one.
A Spirit May Follow You Home From Bolling Hall
Bolling Hall is Extremely Active
TIMESTAMP: 00:16:04:13 – 00:16:08:10
So another person who had gone to Bolling Hall on a supernatural investigation evening.
Joanna Hague is a fiction writer who has always had a fascination with the supernatural. She often attends ghost hunts, but Bolling Hall holds a special place in her heart. So when she was given the opportunity to go ghost hunting there, you can imagine that she was more than a little enthusiastic
On settling in for the night at Bolling Hall, Joanna became very excited when the lights on the EMF Reader started flashing frantically. She asked some questions and asked any entities present to make themselves known by knocking their responses. She was not disappointed. After several knocking exchanges, Joanna was sure that the ghost hunters were not alone. The ghostly happenings continued until 2am, when Joanna realised that she was just too exhausted to carry on.
That night, Joanna was plagued with strange dreams in which she lived at Bolling Hall back in the day. Over the next few days she was unable to get the Hall out of her mind. She would get random flashbacks while she was watching television. Looking back over the footage she’d recorded, Joanna noticed a small and beautiful orb floating across the screen. And she had a strange feeling that something had followed her home from the Hall.
Joanna set up her communication devices, a pendulum, talking board, and EMF Reader. And she was not disappointed, again. A spirit called Sarah answered her. Sarah had lived at Bolling Hall in the 16th century and had been very lonely. Taking a shine to Joanna, Sarah had followed her home.
A New Family Member
Joanna claims that the ghost of Sarah still communicates with her often. Both she and her daughter hear the voice of a little girl calling their names, and things often move. Joanna is pleased that Sarah has found herself a happy home.
So just bear in mind, a visit to Bolling Hall may just catch you a new family member. I don’t think I brought anyone home, though.
And you really don’t want that smelly guy coming home with you. How would you explain that to your mates in the pub? “It wasn’t me. It was the ghost!”
This account was put together with the help of an article from the Spooky Isles. So I’ll put a link in the show notes so that you can read the full article.
For a house as haunted as Bolling Hall claims to be, there seem to be very few actual ghost stories online. Lots of people have reported flashes or fleeting encounters. Many people have captured glowing orbs or misty shapes on camera. But that’s kind of where the stories end. There’s no big tales like there were from Temple Newsome with Phoebe Gray and Lady Ingram.
And unlike Temple Newsome, there seems to be no firm knowledge of who the spirits would have been in life. So, anyway, rather than dilly-dally, let’s take it to the hall itself and see what happens.
Scaredy Cat skeptic Gets First Hand Bolling Hall Ghost Stories
They weren't Wrong When They Said Weird Things Happen Here
You’re not going to believe this, guys. It happened again. I’m at Bolling Hall with the lovely Ellen McMichael today. We’ve got a plethora of tales for you and we’ve only been here half an hour.
So, in the first instance, we’ve spoken to a gentleman on reception who has several fascinating ghost stories. And he did tell us three tales and I forgot to record. I did it again, folks. I forgot to hit record. But the lovely gentleman on reception regaled us with three solid tales of first-hand ghostly experiences he’s had at Bolling Hall.
A Very Mediaeval Timeslip
TIMESTAMP: 00:18:42:04 – 00:18:44:19
The first of these was that early one winter morning at about 7 a.m., he arrived at Bolling Hall in torrential rain. When it rains, the rain can sneak in under the front door, so it can be quite cold and unpleasant first thing. Like I said, it’s a cold space and the floors are slabs of stone. So the damp and frigid air must seep up through your feet.
It was pitch black and he was the only person there. He started setting up for the day ahead. He went into the kitchen and then realised that in the doorway to the back kitchen, there was a figure. Taken aback, he looked directly at what was clearly a man in the doorway. The man was as solid as anything. Just standing there in old-fashioned fancy dress. They looked each other right in the eyes and just stood there staring.
I’m paraphrasing a bit here, but Paul said something along the lines of: “My mouth just dropped open and then his mouth dropped open. And the strangest thing about it was that he could see me too.”
And then as I looked, he started to waver in and out, sort of wobbling like a bad signal. He got fainter and fainter until he vanished. It had to be a time slip.
And now you’ve got Paul in his own words. Apologies – the recording is quite echoey and a family comes in while he was telling us his stories. So that’s child’s laughter. It’s not a ghost. Don’t @ me.
Mysterious Girl
TIMESTAMP: 00:20:37:05 – 00:20:46:20
Well, the… the next thing I saw, it were about a year after I’d seen the man. And that was one afternoon, we’d closed for the public at four, and this was probably about ten past/quarter past four in the afternoon. So the front door was locked. I’m round the corner from the reception area outside the staffroom. And the only other person in the building was a male member of staff. He’s in the staffroom and I’m looking into the staffroom talking to him. And I kind of saw something out of the corner of my eye to the right-hand side.
So I turned to look and I looked through the house body in the main hall into the doorway of the drawing room and, at the far end there. And there’s a woman stood in the doorway, right. And she had a big old fashioned, flowing dress on.
So I wasn’t thinking: “Oh, it’s a ghost!” I was thinking “Why’s there a woman stood there in an old-fashioned dress?”
Now, she was only there a matter of seconds and she seemed to just walk off to where the staircase is. And so I went running through the house body, through the door into the drawing room and turned up left into the bottom, the staircase.
And I’m looking around and thinking, well, where’s she gone? She can’t have just disappeared. So I’m going up the steps and I turns a corner on the steps, because it goes round, and there’s a big portrait on the staircase there. And it’s Caroline Wood. Now she lived here in the late 18th/early 19th century. And as soon as I clapped my eyes on the portrait of Caroline Wood, I realised who I’d just seen. Because exactly what you see in the portrait is what I saw in that room that afternoon. Yeah, it was very, very creepy.
Right, we’ve seen enough… let’s go!
If You Want Something Done Properly... Pay a Visit From Beyond the Grave
…. And a family walked through the main doors. And they stood by reception and they turned round to me and they went: “Oh, we called Monday. You were closed Monday, but this guy said you were closed. I went: “Right. Well, on a Monday, the front door’s completely locked. There’s nobody here Mondays at all. Or a Tuesday, for that matter. Who did you speak to?”
And they described this man who was older than me. He had glasses. He had a nice tie. Nice suit and, like, a caretaker’s overall. I went: “Well, nobody that looks like that works here. It doesn’t even slightly resemble anybody that works here. I can’t explain, you know, what you’ve experienced.”
So off they wander, into, kind of, the front kitchen area. And I’m looking at these people I’m thinking: “Why do I know this man?”
Now, in the corner of the reception area, there’s a display cabinet. And it’s a display cabinet about the museum as a museum, essentially, right. And it’s got signing-in books and stuff. It’s got a really good record of people who’ve worked here, hundred years… hundred and eight years on the night years we’ve being open. They took one look in the cabinet and there’s a picture in the middle of a man demonstrating in a vacuum cleaner. Took one look at that picture and went: “That’s the guy who opened the door to us on Monday. He’s even got the same tie on!!” I went: “That’s completely impossible and a little bit creepy, because that man was called George Collins and he died in 1967.”
It’s free to go around. All right. Good.
Thank you.
The Visitor Assistants Are Happy to Tell Us Their Tales
More than Just Coincidence
Have you seen anything spooky?
Not seen, but we do have strange happenings. In fact, we even had one yesterday things like mentioning…. It all started years ago. And I just happened to be in the shop part and I mentioned something that we’d had in the shop for ages and nobody had bought any. And I just said: “I can’t understand why these aren’t selling.” And that morning, a lady came in a bought a load of them. And it sort of happens that you mention somebody you haven’t seen for ages, and they’ll walk through the door or ring you up.
And back end of last year, about October, I mentioned a couple that we used to have volunteering. And I go to the same places that they go to and I’ve not once bumped into them, because they’ve not done it since before lockdown. And I’ve not bumped into them once and I just happened to be saying this. And the next day, I bumped into him walking around town. And I bumped into her at Guiseley Morrisons.
And I was only telling this tale to some visitors about three weeks ago, and I said that the strange thing is I’ve not seen them since. Even though I go regularly to both those places.
Sunday, next day, he walked up the steps.
[It’s so weird!]
And then it followed me. It even followed me, because a few weeks ago this was closed for a week having repairs done. And four of the days, I was over at the Industry Museum and the others, I was at Cartwright Hall. And I’d just got to Cartwright and I was talking to another staff member. And just in mid conversation, she spotted my jacket and she says: “Oh you’ve got the new uniform with the new logo on.”
I said: “Oh yes, we’ve had it a few weeks.”
She says: “We haven’t had any of it yet.”
Literally, minutes later, the supervisor walks in with a handful.
But yesterday, I was talking to a visitor. She comes in all the time. And I was talking to her… a lot of it seems to happen at the other end [gestures to older end of building]. You know, which is the oldest end. But I was talking to her just over there. And we were on about the museums and that, and she was on about podcasts and that.
And I said: “Well, you need to spend two or three hours there, really. Because it’s got a real mix of stuff.” And I said to her: “We even have visitors here that spend two or three hours here.
[Oh, I could quite happily spend all day here]
And she says: “Really?”
And I says: “Oh yeah.”
That afternoon, yesterday afternoon, we had this couple in. They came in at one o’clock and were here until four o’clock.
That’s spooky.
That is spooky, though.
Yeah, that’s, you know… more than coincidence, really.
Yeah. Once or twice maybe, but over and over again.
Yeah.
Bolling Hall Stranger Thinged Us
Upstairs at Bolling Hall is very peaceful. If there are ghosts here, they seem quite content. Many strange things happen here, and everyone seems to have a tale to tell. But nobody has reported being scared or terrorised.
We seem to have garnered the interest of something here too. So you probably can’t hear it because it’s quite quiet. But these little alarms keep going off.
At first, we thought it was something to do with the thermostats, but we watched one and realised that the noise was moving around. At one point, it was coming from directly behind me, but there was nothing there. So I just checked my backpack in case we’re carrying something that’s trying to tell me it’s run out of battery or something. I couldn’t think what it might be, but I have things like portable chargers and my Kindle and I have all sorts of bits of, like, electronics that I carry around. So it could potentially be one of those.
I couldn’t really think what it might be that was making that kind of noise, but the noises keep moving from room to room and they’re distinctly electrical. So I’m not suggesting that they’re cries of ghosts. They sound like old digital alarm clocks, really tiny digital alarm clocks.
A Mysterious Gateway to Nowhere
We’ve been following the noises and at one point ended up in a strange gated stairwell. We shone our torches up there and tried to take photos, but we couldn’t see properly. It’s a very narrow and uneven staircase that seems to lead up into a tower, but there’s no access to the public and you’ll see why if you check out the photograph that we took. There was a lot of straining through the bars of that gate to get a shot. It was the best we could do,
I can’t see anything obviously strange in the photo. I would have thought the alarms would have been going crazy at this point, because I don’t think you’re supposed to lean through those bars. But they were silent while we took the pictures. I guess they’re not delicate artefacts, though. So maybe that’s why.
A Strange Little Library
Then the alarms started up again and we followed them and ended up in a little library. And the librarian was such a sweet woman who said that she had also seen some ghostly things and was hoping to bring her granddaughter to the ghost hunts, although her daughter wasn’t keen, apparently. She handed me a children’s book which mentioned the ghosts of Bolling Hall and other ghostly surrounding areas that we need to visit.
And we stayed and chatted with her about haunted places to visit in Bradford. So I have even more locations to add to the list, which has been brilliant. But then we asked her about the alarms and she seemed confused. She said that there are alarms, but they only go off when you touch the antiques and she hasn’t heard any today. And we hadn’t touched anything.
But also the alarms going off all around us in different places. In the rooms were in, and then heading off into different empty rooms where there was nobody there. There’s no way we were setting them off. It very much felt like something was playing with us. Other than Ellen and me, there’s just one family here today and we can hear where they are. Because there’s this very adorable little child that keeps delightedly exclaiming about things. And she waved at me earlier – it genuinely made my day.
The family’s downstairs, we’re upstairs, and these little alarms are definitely going off up here so the kid isn’t setting them off. They seem to want us to follow them. Whatever is setting these alarms off seems to be basically Stranger Thinging us. It could be a fault with the wiring, I guess. But nobody else seems to have noticed. It’s really strange.
So yeah. Despite strange alarms, the hall itself just has this feeling of absolute peace to it. It’s almost like time has stopped here. It feels like a complete respite from the breakneck speed of modern life. The rooms are gently lit, so you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. I could quite happily curl up in one of those rooms on a rainy day and read my book.
The Ghost Room at Bolling Hall is Remarkably Spooky...
The only place I felt ill at ease was the ghost room. It was cold in there and my hackles instantly rose the minute we stepped foot in it. I even asked Ellen if it was colder in there, or was it just me? And she said it was definitely colder, but that it was probably because it’s an old part of the house. Bear in mind, Ellen is our believer today, and I’m the sceptic and she’s been the voice of reason.
Two creepy-looking, old paintings are carved into the fireplace and their eyes watching every move. It could be psychosomatic, of course. Because the room is called The Ghost Room. But it definitely feels like you’re not alone in here. This is the room where the ghost of the woman supposedly appeared to the Earl of Newcastle on that fateful stay on the night of the second siege of Bradford. Pity poor Bradford. No wonder he was spooked.
I wouldn’t have been able to sleep in here.
Coincidence in the Picturesque Gardens at Bolling Hall
We’ve come outside for a wander around the gardens. They’re absolutely beautiful. They’re obviously very well cared for and they are manicured. But there’s also a wonderful fecund wildness to them, which I much prefer over preened places. They’re small, the grounds here. And it’s odd to look up and see the suburbs of Bradford beyond.
But the cherry trees are blossoming and everything has a very idyllic feel to it. It’s also very still out here.
But the strangest thing so far has happened to us. I listened to the visitor assistant stories of coincidences. The second one, the lady. And I thought it was spooky, but probably just that – just spooky coincidence. But a few minutes ago, we were walking the grounds and I looked up and I saw someone I haven’t seen for years. And she said my name and came towards me saying: “That’s so weird. I was just talking about you.”
And now I don’t know how to feel about it. I dunno, Bolling Hall feels like like a place of good fortune. Where strange things can happen. But with the best of intentions. Starting with the ghost who saved the majority of the population of Bradford back in 1643. I like it. I’ll be back.
Scaredy Cat skeptic Ratings for Temple Newsam House
So I’m just going to give you…. I’m going to give you my ratings
Potential ghosts seen by Scaredy Cat
We had the interaction with the alarms and then experienced a coincidence after the lovely lady told us that we would have a strange encounter. She was so convinced that it was going to happen as well. And then it did. Very odd
Total
2
Scare Factor
I would have said zero, but the ghost room got under my skin quite a bit.
Rating
Value for Money
You cannot beat free. Although I did stick a fiver in the donations box, because it can’t be easy getting funding these days. Although there are ghost hunts that you can go on to that are paid events which I’m hoping go towards the upkeep of the Hall.
Rating
Family Friendliness
Again, it’s that stately home situation. There’s not much you can do with the Grade 1 listed building, which sucks for disabled people wanting to learn about a place’s heritage. There are a lot of stairs, the floors are uneven and there are small narrow rooms, so wheelchairs could be problematic.
The guides are so eager to help though, and I believe that they are all fully trained in disability awareness. The entrance and ground floors are fully accessible and there is disabled parking available
Time spent 2 hours for house and garden. And then another four nattering in the cafe. The carrot cake was… Oh, it’s making my mouth squirt again just thinking about it.
Rating
Accessibility
Again, it’s that stately home situation. There’s not much you can do with the Grade 1 listed building, which sucks for disabled people wanting to learn about a place’s heritage. There are a lot of stairs, the floors are uneven and there are small narrow rooms, so wheelchairs could be problematic.
The guides are so eager to help though, and I believe that they are all fully trained in disability awareness. The entrance and ground floors are fully accessible and there is disabled parking available
Time spent 2 hours for house and garden. And then another four nattering in the cafe. The carrot cake was… Oh, it’s making my mouth squirt again just thinking about it.
Rating
Time Spent
Two hours.
For house and garden. And then another four nattering in the cafe. The carrot cake was… Oh, it’s making my mouth squirt again just thinking about it.
Total
2
Beauty Spot
The gardens to me were so beautiful, though modest. The house is very pretty from the outside and fascinating on the inside. The location threw me, though. The sight of 60s newbuilds when you’re immersed in mediaeval culture is just a little bit jarring. Nothing anyone can do about that, I suppose. It all just got built up around the hall.
If you did want a walk, there’s a nice park next to the hall with guided walks printed on the path, so you can choose how many miles you want to walk before stuffing your face with cake.
Rating
Customer Service
Awesome staff. Really helpful and willing to let us record them, which was amazing.
We’d love to hear from people who have been and had spooky experiences at Bolling hall as well.
Rating
Listener Stories
TIMESTAMP: 00:35:27:21 – 00:35:30:24
I’ve got some listener stories for you [well, one, because it was long].
The Haunted iPhone
A Night Out That Didn't Go to Plan
This one is from Dan in Newcastle and it’s about a haunted iPhone.
Dan says, I was on a night out in London and I dropped my phone. I don’t remember doing it, but when I woke up, it was completely smashed
to the point where you could see all the way through it. It still just about worked. As in, it was on. But my screen was destroyed and I needed my screen for my train ticket. It was just decimated.
So I went to CeX, like you do. I just picked the cheapest iPhone I could find. It was a bit tatty, but better than mine. It was about £60 and a bit smelly, but I’m not fancy.
I managed to get my train ticket sorted, and dragged my hungover arse to the train station to meet the other lads. I must have fallen asleep as soon as I sat down and then I was shook [SIC] awake by one of the lads shaking my arm. He said my phone was going mental.
I looked at the new old phone and there was just message after message from someone called Katie, asking where I was.
I don’t know a Katie.
Who Is Katie?
I opened the text messages and realised that the phone hadn’t been properly reset. A load of messages from the previous owner was still on. Though I didn’t really get how it could be happening because the factory reset is supposed to completely wipe everything when the phones are refurbed.
I read quickly through the messages. There were loads of unanswered ones from this Katie asking why the owner of the phone was and saying she was worried. So I assumed that whoever she was messaging had ghosted her.
But then I found some texts sent TO Katie FROM my phone. The last one from my new phone was a single line that said: “Something’s wrong!” And then nothing.
How could I resist? So I did. I read it. I read them all in reverse. And the phone is long gone now. I have the screenshots still. I’ll put them in the right order, hope they come through in the right order. They didn’t. But I pieced them together.
A Bizarre Interaction
So, there’s a lot of timestamps on this.
So, the phone we’re calling, just PHONE. This is the phone that Dan has bought from CeX.
8th November 2018
PHONE 10:53 – Wish u were here i don’t like it. Its really cold lol. Wanna come keep me warm??
KATIE 10:54 – I would if I could. It’s only temporary right?
PHONE 10:57 – Yeh i guess its fine for now
KATIE 10:58 – You could get one of those heated blankets
PHONE 11:02 – ur my heated blanket tho lol
KATIE 11:04 – I will be when we get a place together
PHONE 11:04 – [heart emoji]
KATIE 11:05 – Night wierdo
KATIE 11:06 – Love you
9th November 2018
PHONE 3:33 – im scared
PHONE 3:36 – pls pick up
PHONE 3:40 – sumones here
PHONE 3:42 – fuk there really is sumone here
PHONE 3:44 – call the police
PHONE 3:46 – cakk the police [c.a.k.k. Just a misspelling]
PHONE 3:47 – call fukken pollen
PHONE 3:48 – not joken
PHONE 3:50 – im under bed sumone came in the room
PHONE 3:51 – im scared
PHONE 3:53 – i can hear them breathing heavy
PHONE 3:55 – no chance
PHONE 3:59 – no c
Phone 4:01 – bad fyxj [Don’t know what that means. Think it’s just typos]
PHONE 4:01 – sumthings wrong.
Dan Tries to Explain that He Isn't Who Katie Thinks He Is
And then the messages from my phone stopped altogether. It all sounded a bit dramatic for my liking and I would have just deleted them. But right then, another new message came through from Katie. I couldn’t understand it. Those texts were from 2018 and it was 2019 when I got this phone. So why would she still be texting? Surely she would know what happened by now.
I sent her a reply that said: “I’ve literally just got this phone and I don’t know you. Sorry.”
She texted straight back: “Jason!!!”
So I told her again I wasn’t who she was looking for and to stop texting. And the messages stopped.
It all left me feeling really weird. I didn’t know if it was some sort of scam. It didn’t add up. I rang CeX and told them what had happened, but they just seemed really confused and said that’s not possible and to just block the number and do another factory reset.
I couldn’t take it all the way back to London, so I was stuck with it. So I did a reset, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was obsessed with knowing what had happened to Jason. So I kept googling the name “Jason” and “Kidnapping London” and “Break in.” But it was so vague, I got tons of results about other things. Nothing seemed connected to these messages.
Just When He Thought he was Safe...
About two or three days later, I was coming home from work. I’m a pharmacist and the chemist I work at stays open really late. So it was really dark. Some of the street lights were out on my street. It’s a bit rough where I live and the kids on my street like to vandalise the lights.
So I got my phone out to use the torch to find my keys and… yep, you guessed it, I had another Katie message.
KATIE: I’m coming to get you
I was irritated. I thought I’d fixed that. I was just messaging back to tell her to stop harassing me. When the phone rang, I answered really grumpy and was just like: “This needs to stop!” or something.
I can’t remember what I said. There was just static on the other end, so I hung up. It immediately rings again. So I answer and shout, Stop calling me. Then this girl speaks and says: “I’m going to come and get you! Where are you?!!”
Then the static starts again. I was about to hang up when a different voice, like a horrible, distorted says: “I told you, I was coming to get you.” and then the phone got so hot, it burned and I yanked it away from my ear. My ear felt like it had been burnt with a soldering iron or something.
A Very Spooked Skeptic
When I looked at the phone again, the call had ended, but I was so spooked out. It sounds so ridiculous now I’m writing it down. It’s clearly a prank.
But, I have a burn mark on my ear from where the phone got hot. That could be a coincidence, I guess. But now when I hear static or white noise or anything, my ear gets all hot and starts hurting again.
My girlfriend now is really annoyed about it, because she likes white noise to help her get to sleep and she has to wear headphones because I can’t listen to it.
They really did a number on me, whoever it was. I was so shook up, I left my phone in the shed overnight. And then the day after, I went to the CeX in Gateshead and exchanged it for another one, which is what I should have done in the first place. Cost me an arm and a leg. And I didn’t leave the shop until I’d gone through everything on the new phone to make sure there were no surprises.
The guys kept laughing and saying there was no way for old messages to still be on a refurb after what they do to them. But I have the proof of what happened. Whatever that was.
Was it a Prank that Went too Far?
I guess it’s not a ghost story, but it’s weird. If anyone thinks they know Jason or Katie from London though, can you let me know? I’d like to publicly congratulate them on scaring the shit out of me. I didn’t think it was possible to make me sleep with the light on, but I did for ages [Winky face]. Thanks for reading this. I know it’s long and keep up the good work with the podcast. I’ve been enjoying it so far.
Cheers, Dan.
Thanks, Dan. Now I’m going to be sleeping with the light on.
SO Many Thanks!
So I was really chuffed to get a notification, so let me know that we’d made it into the Apple Podcast charts a couple of days after the podcast was first released with those initial couple of episodes. I don’t actually know whereabouts on the Apple charts, but I’m still pretty chuffed that we made it, like, off the bat.
If you get a minute, give us a five star rating on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And more importantly, do you have any ghost stories you want to share with us? Visit the website for more information. ScaredyCatSkeptic.co.uk. And that’s Skeptic with a K. There’s a contact page for you to submit your stories.
If you have a location you think we should visit (UK only for now), drop us a line. You can find us at ScaredyCatSkeptic.co.uk. And don’t forget the skeptic is spelt with a K for the international bods.
We’re also on all the socials:
Twitter @ScaredySkeptic
Insta, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn @ScaredyCatSkeptic.
I’m struggling to get a lot of content onto all of the platforms at the minute, and it’s mainly down to other commitments. I have a big commission with the art business at the minute and also I’ve had a few health issues and this cold is not helping. I promise you I’m going to try and be a bit more consistent with that.
Don’t forget to like subscribe and all the good stuff, and I look forward to sharing more spooky tales with you all.
Special thanks, as always, to Tom Bramall for the concept art for our Scaredy Cat Mascot, Muad.
Thank you to Sammi McEwen for her insights and spiritual guidance.
Thank you to Ellen McMichael for coming around Bolling Hall with me and being the voice of reason. She also gave me some crystals for protection while we were at the house, which was very kind of her.
Our music is by Diamond Tunes.
See you next time. Happy Hauntings.
Share Your Stories
Contact the Scaredy Cat Skeptic Podcast to be featured in an episode. We’d love to hear from you.
Share your tales of ghostly encounters and spooky adventures by sending us an email or filling in the Contact form below.
We want to know:-
What you saw
Where you saw it
What you think it was
Whether you believe in the supernatural
Why you do / don’t believe
Make sure to include as much information as possible and let us know whether you would be happy for us to use your name or not. We look forward to hearing your ghost stories!
Your Thoughts
Have you ever visited Temple Newsam? Did you see anything spooky?
