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Ghostly goings on

The Trent & Mersey Canal is certainly no exception. This rural waterway meanders through perfect ghost-country on its journey through the North Midlands. The open Cheshire Plain, derelict warehouses and, of course, the infamous Harecastle Tunnel are all favoured haunting grounds for watery spectres and unearthly visitors. Read on, if you dare!

Kit Crewbucket, a shrieking female boggart, is said to haunt Harecastle Tunnel, Kidsgrove, on the Trent and Mersey Canal. She is also believed to stalk the Crick Tunnel on the Grand Union Canal - Leicester line. Kit was murdered and her headless corpse was dumped in the canal. During the 19th century, boatmen were so convinced of her presence that some chose a long detour over a short jounrey through Harecastle Tunnel. However, unlike other scary spooks, boatmen believe that Kit will cook your breakfast if she takes a liking to you.

Saltersford Tunnel on the Trent & Mersey Canal near Barnton is thought to be one of the most haunted tunnels on the canal system. Its reputation was such that boatmen feared to tackle it alone.

At Astley in Manchester a mysterious grey lady appears to be searching for something. She is thought to be the ghost of 18 year-old Ann Mort who died of a broken heart when her parents banished her catholic suitor.

Known locally as the ‘bloody steps’ the canal at Brindley Bank near Rugeley, Staffordshire, is said to be haunted by a woman called Christina Collins. She was murdered at the canal in 1839 and as her body was pulled from the water her blood ran down a flight of steps leading from the canal. Today the stain occasionally reappears and the site is haunted by the tragic Christina.

A grotesque cackling figure draped in black is thought to haunt Buttermilk Bridge. She is said to be the spectre of a woman who once sold buttermilk to the navvies constructing the canal.

At Chester’s old Northgate where the canal was dug into the part of the town’s moat, a Roman centurion can sometimes still be seen guarding the entrance to the city.