Tragedy Strikes The Hostel at 39 De Grey Street Hull
TRIGGER WARNING: Child Abuse
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Is De Grey Street in Hull The Most Haunted ROad in England?
De Grey Street in Hull, is a… well, rather grey-looking, nondescript street in the north east of England. It certainly doesn’t look particularly spooky. Not from the outside, at least. Nevertheless, it’s reputed to be one of the most haunted streets in the UK. Number 39, in particular, has gained attention due to its long history of reported supernatural occurrences.
The house itself is an unassuming, run-down Victorian terrace that dates back to the 19th century. Because of its reputation for paranormal happenings and its brutal history, 39 De grey Street Hull has been nicknamed The Hostel. There are many claims of murders and suicides, and some even say that The Hostel was once a funeral parlour.
Over the years, multiple tenants and visitors have allegedly experienced various unsettling phenomena within its walls. Reports include poltergeist activity, strange apparitions, disembodied voices, and feelings of being watched or touched by unseen entities.
Who Owns 39 De Grey Street Hull Now?
The owner of The Hostel is a man called Andy Yates. A former binman, he is now in his fifties and rents out the seven bedroomed house to ghost hunters. He swears that, after living in the house for eight years, he was forced to move out due to the frightening paranormal activity he witnessed while living there.
Andy says that, when he moved into the house, twenty years ago, he didn’t believe in the supernatural one bit. Not even slightly daunted by the spooky stories he had heard about the place, he bought it. However, having experienced some truly terrifying events during those few years, he had to concede that the house was unquestionably haunted.
Strange Things Were Happening at 39 De Grey Street
It started with fairly small occurrences. Items were moved around the house. Doors were open when they’d been closed. Andy rationalised that it had to be his own forgetfulness that was causing it. On several occasions, he would get up from watching TV and the remote would be in a different place when he came back to his seat. He told himself he must have put it there himself. But somewhere deep down, he knew he hadn’t.
When pictures on the wall were off-kilter, Andy would straighten them. He has OCD, so things like that bother him greatly. But the next time he looked, they would be skew-whiff again. Out of nowhere, his cat would suddenly spring into protection mode – hackles raised, tail bushy; yowling at empty space.
One morning, Andy came downstairs to see that all of his steak knives had been balanced across the top of plates that were on the draining board. He knew for a fact he hadn’t done that!
A Shocking Ghostly Apparition Appeared One Night
Things escalated and Andy recalls waking up one night in a cold sweat to see the figure of a young girl at the foot of his bed. Pinching his nose and rubbing his eyes, Andy tried to wake himself up, but was horrified to realise that he was fully awake. The girl was still there. She was clearly a ghost. Crying and wringing her hands, she hovered around Andy’s bed for nearly half an hour. Until, finally, he pulled out his cricket bat from under the bed and waved it at her. She vanished into the fireplace.
It was only when his partner moved in and fell pregnant that Andy realised he was going to have to move out. Both of them were scared all the time. There was the sense of a heavy presence all around them. Andy would get horrible headaches and they both experienced overwhelming feelings of sadness.
Pregnancy seemed to upset the ghosts greatly. Spooky experiences became more commonplace with furniture moving right in front of their eyes. They could hardly go a night without the bedsheets being ripped off them. These things were so frequent that they became the norm for the couple.
Finally, they had had enough. Both worried about their unborn child, they decided that it was time to move out.
Nobody Else Wanted the Live in The Doomed Hostel Either
Andy tried to put the house on the market, either to buy or rent, he didn’t care. Except that he found that tenants would stay one night before moving swiftly out. Several families were awoken on their one night’s stay by their children screaming blue murder. They reported unexplained banging and chaos all night. Despite moving in all their belongings and measuring the house for furniture, each tenant left as soon as they moved in. So Andy would refund the deposits and put 39 De Grey Street back on the market. Only for it to happen all over again.
Andy Yates, Owner of 39 De GreyStreet Hull
"Every time I come back to the house, I remember the place being my home, and I get uncomfortable thinking back to what happened to me in here."
An Unexpected Phone Call From The Former Owner of 39 De Grey Street
In fact, a former owner of the property even contacted him when she saw that 39 De Grey Street had been put on the market. She said that she had lived at the property for 24 years, during which time she was hounded by frightening apparitions. Phantoms stalked the hallways, she claimed, tormenting her. One night, she was pulled from the bed by her ankles and when she tried to get away, she was thrown against the bedroom wall.
Scared out of her wits, the previous owner had called the police, but they were very scathing towards her. Until, when they finally came out to see what was going on at The Hostel, they were proven wrong when a heavy bookcase came crashing to the ground all on its own.
Horrible History of Abuse & Sorrow at The Hostel
documented over the years. What we do know has all come from mediums who have visited the property. Remarkably, they all pick up on exactly the same thing.
39 De Grey Street Hull was, according to the mediums, a former foster care house. There are a reported 15-20 child spirits in the building and they are held captive there by their guardians. It’s a grim history of child abuse. According to the mediums, the children are in a permanent state of fear of their captors and each other. They all blame each other for what happened. The oppressive sadness in the house is palpable.
Child abuse, especially on this scale, is such a disgusting thing to make a claim about that I can only hope they genuinely think that’s what they’re seeing or sensing. Because saying such a thing for some attention and money would be just utterly deplorable.
Sours the Ghost Hunting Experience Somewhat
While all haunting cases seem to inevitably come back to brutal murder, abuse, or general unhappiness, this particular case leaves me feeling dejected. I find the concept of ghost hunting odd in itself, and I include what we’re doing with the podcast in that. While I don’t believe that strange experiences are caused by the souls of dead people, there’s an element of consumerism to it. For me, it’s some spooky fun. But if I believed that actual dead humans roamed a building, it would feel very much like we were treating them like zoo animals. No wonder they’re angry with the living.
Belief in an afterlife would be lovely. As it stands, I think we switch off when we die, like the core of a computer taken apart. However, believing that the tormented souls of the abused are trapped in a strange limbo unable to contact us other than through small acts of mischief is harrowing. Isn’t it? A conscious mind lost in the aether, neither here nor there [shudders].
In this instance, 39 De Grey Street is said to be full of the spirits of children who were horrifically abused. The thought of standing in a crowd of poor souls who can’t communicate while their misery continues around me is… upsetting. Incredibly distressing. Heartbreaking.
I will be doing a blog post on why I believe what I believe and what I think strange occurrences boil down to, so I don’t want to bang on too much here. However, the very spiritual and lovely Sammi McEwan will be doing her own blog posts as a nice contrast too. These are merely my opinions – I have no problem admitting I’m wrong in the face of alternative evidence.
Scaredy Cat Skeptic Take
I genuinely believe that some awful stuff happened in 39 De Grey Street. If you dig deep enough, every place has tragedy. And I think there are rumours about that in the community, which is what the mediums are picking up on.
Do I think that dead people are abusing each other there? Of course not. But I do think strange things are happening.
Strange things happen to me all the time. They started when I was young and they continue to happen to me now. I can walk into a place and instantly know that something bad happened. It’s energy. Something imprinted. A space-time mystery. There is so much we don’t understand about time and the way we experience it. Our ancestors had a hive-mind and we don’t know how (or even if) that truly fizzled out. I believe that horrific occurrences create some sort of imprint of misery. Or maybe it’s just what your mind does when it’s made aware of something awful. At the end of the day, we don’t fully know what our brains are capable of… but we can have stab in the dark.
The Hostel Most Likely Has a Very Real Tragic History
It would make sense if there was gossip in Hull about 39 De Grey Street that tainted people’s experience of the house before they even arrived. I think the building is prone to movement that causes bangs, maybe. I’ve lived in such places. Strange adjoining walls that carry sound, perhaps. Oddly shaped rooms that create a sense of unease. And it’s Hull… that’s scary enough*.
I also know for a fact that Andy is making money off this place being haunted, which instantly debunks a lot of the stories for me. He has decked it out in creepy, decrepit furniture with sinister dolls all over the place. It’s provocative. Understandably. He’s running a business. It behoves him to perpetuate the myths. You can’t really begrudge him that. Don’t we all want a golden goose that ticks over and makes us a bit of much needed cash?
Even so, I would hate to think that child abuse was being used for profit in such a gratuitous way, so I have to assume that it’s not all completely made up. Because if people are making up stories about that, my faith in humanity comes to an abrupt end. It’s wearing thin as it is.
Your Take
Have you visited 39 De Grey Street? Tell us about it!
Do you have your own opinion on the strange happenings at The Hostel? Let us know. Comment below or send us a message.
FOOTNOTES
* Jokes**
** Not really
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