WITH Halloween quickly approaching, The Northern Echo spoke to ghost hunters in the North-East and North Yorkshire to get their spooky stories from the regions most haunted spots - including Darlington, County Durham and Thirsk.
Darlington Railway Museum, Darlington
Carl Longstaff, from North Yorkshire, has been investigating paranormal activity in various groups for over 20 years. He first became interested when he saw a shadow on his bedroom wall, aged ten.
During a call-out session with team members at Darlington Station, noises were heard.
Mr Longstaff, alongside his wife Sharon, sat together in a station office with fingers on a glass placed on a small white table. The couple were left "shocked" when they felt the glass move after asking if there were any spirits present.
"Strange" flashes of lights were also in the toilets.
Another team member took two photos of the museum's entrance, taken straight after each other. One has a "strange mist" over it.
The Busby Stoop Inn, Thirsk
Mrs Longstaff, 41, has been interested in the paranormal for around 25 years after seeing her grandfather after he passed.
She said: "I was sat at a table in the main bar at Busby stoop with a pendulum asking questions."
A dowsing pendulum is a crystal on the end of chain that can be used to ask spirits yes or no answers.
Mrs Longstaff, 45, added: "I asked Carl if there was someone behind me as I could see a male face reflected in one of the glasses sat on the table. After confirming there was no-one behind me I started trying to determine who it was I was seeing, it was Thomas Busby.
"That was the night that really stands out for me because it was the first time I really got something.
The Busby Stoop was once home to a haunted wood chair, dubbed the Dead Man's Chair, which was addedly cursed by the murderer Thomas Busby before his hanging. The chair was later donated to the Thirsk Museum.
Teessider Danny Scott, 34, called Busby Stoop "a spooky place indeed" after hearing of people dying after sitting on the chair.
The pub and B&B is now closed.
Mainsforth Community Centre, FerryHill, County Durham
Christopher Gillott, 35, lives just outside Durham and is a sceptic - someone who explores rational, scientific explanations before assuming something is paranormal.
Despite this, he believes "something is going on at Mainsforth Community Centre".
He said: " I'm a true sceptic, I believe most things can be rationalised. I've always been intrigued by peoples experiences and wanted to experience them for myself.
"My most prominent experience came from Mainsforth Community Centre, an old miners hall now used to entertain people and host events. The history goes way back over 100 years, it was where the miners would meet up and sign up for the mines.
"On the first occasion there was three of us there doing various experiments and we decided to split up, me and another guy called Mark went off to the gym area of the building.
"It's a fairly big place, we tried calling out. I asked if there were miners here and was startled when I felt my top be tugged from behind.
On reviewing video evidence you could vaguely see it move, but what was more surprising was that at the exact moment a large ball of light dropped from the ceiling onto my back. There were no cars passing at the time to indicate a light coming through the window nor would it show on the ceiling.
"On my second encounter, we had only just gotten started and after calling out again in the gym area, this time calling it out in a threatening tone, I left the room. Another group tried to go to in there only to find the door was shut and had locked us out.
"We had equipment in there and had to leave it overnight, what's more peculiar was that the camera in the room was not triggered by motion like it should have been. The door was not able to swing on its own after testing it and the caretaker insisted it'd had never happened before and should not have latched behind itself.
"From a sceptic, In my honest opinion, there's definitely something going on at Mainsforth."
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