Ghost Tales by the Fireside - True Ghost Stories Podcast

Clem Dallaway
  • 4.8 (195)
  • Documentary
  • Updated Weekly

True ghost stories from the UK by Clem Dallaway If you’re enjoying my content and want to help me make even better episodes, you can now support me on Buy Me A Coffee. Every bit helps me upgrade my gear, spend more time researching, and keep bringing you the stories you love. Just head over to https://buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales — it’s quick, easy, and really makes a difference. Thanks for keeping this going!

  1. 6h ago

    The Woman in Black of Wilden - A Victorian Roadside Ghost

    In the summer of 1873 or 1874, Charlotte Goodhall and her daughter May were travelling by pony carriage along a quiet road between Wilden and Ravensden in Bedfordshire when they saw a woman dressed entirely in black. She wasn't walking. She appeared to glide across the grass. As their carriage passed within only a few feet of her, the woman turned towards them, revealing what Charlotte later described as a terrifying “fiendish” face. May looked back and saw the mysterious figure staring after them. Seconds later, she had vanished. Nearly twenty years later, the extraordinary encounter was investigated by Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research and preserved among its studies of apparitions and collective hallucinations. But there was another disturbing detail. When Charlotte tried to discover who they had seen, she learned that the road was already said to be haunted. Over the following century, the mysterious Woman in Black became part of Bedfordshire folklore, eventually acquiring another identity, the Witch of Wilden. But was the witch story ever true? In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside: Dark Folklore, we return to the original Victorian testimony and follow the strange evolution of one of Bedfordshire's most intriguing roadside ghost stories. Ghost Tales by the Fireside Ghost stories, haunted places, British folklore, dark history and unexplained encounters from across the UK. Website: https://ghosttales.co.uk Support Ghost Tales by the Fireside: https://buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales

    The Woman in Black of Wilden - A Victorian Roadside Ghost

  2. 4d ago

    Blackness Castle – Ghosts, Prisoners & Scotland’s Haunted Fortress

    Blackness Castle has stood on the Firth of Forth for nearly 600 years. Known as “The Ship That Never Sailed,” this extraordinary Scottish castle has been a royal stronghold, artillery fortress and state prison. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we uncover the real history behind Blackness Castle — from its medieval origins and Cromwell’s devastating siege to the Covenanters and political prisoners confined within its walls. We also explore the archaeology still hidden beneath the castle, the legend of a secret underground tunnel and the paranormal stories that followed — including unexplained noises in empty rooms and the woman who claimed she was chased from the Prison Tower by the ghost of an armoured knight. Is Blackness Castle really haunted, or have nearly six centuries of history created one of Scotland’s most atmospheric ghost stories? Ghost Tales by the Fireside True ghost stories, haunted places, folklore and the history behind the legends. Website: https://ghosttales.co.uk Support Ghost Tales on Buy Me a Coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales

    Blackness Castle – Ghosts, Prisoners & Scotland’s Haunted Fortress

  3. Sep 7 ·  Bonus

    The Man on the Line: The Ghost of Ashton Moss

    In early 1975, a signalman working at OA&GB Junction near Ashton Moss heard footsteps climbing the stairs to his signal box. He saw an unfamiliar man carrying a bag reach the top — but when he opened the door, nobody was there. One week later, a mysterious figure appeared beside the railway. This time, two signalmen saw him from separate locations and approached from opposite directions. The man should have been trapped between them. Instead, he vanished. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore the history of the Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway and one of Greater Manchester's quietly disturbing railway ghost stories. Was the mysterious visitor simply a trespasser who somehow escaped unnoticed, or had an old railwayman returned to a place he once knew?

    The Man on the Line: The Ghost of Ashton Moss

  4. Sep 3

    Battle Abbey – Ghosts of the Battle of Hastings

    Battle Abbey stands on the site of one of the most famous battles in English history, where King Harold fell and William the Conqueror defeated the English army in 1066. But the ghosts said to haunt Battle Abbey are not only the dead of the Battle of Hastings. There are sightings of mysterious monks wandering the medieval ruins, a silent horseman crossing the battlefield, unexplained sounds from empty rooms and the unidentified Woman in Red. In 2002, a teacher and two pupils reportedly saw a monk they believed was a costumed interpreter — only to discover that nobody was dressed as a monk that day. There is also the extraordinary curse supposedly placed upon Sir Anthony Browne after the Dissolution of the Monasteries: a warning that his family would perish by fire and water. And after heavy rain, the battlefield itself can appear to bleed. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore the history, folklore, ghost stories and reported paranormal encounters surrounding Battle Abbey and the battlefield of 1066.

    Battle Abbey – Ghosts of the Battle of Hastings

  5. Aug 31 ·  Bonus

    Jack and Jill Hill: The Dark Somerset Story Behind the Nursery Rhyme

    Everyone knows the nursery rhyme. Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after. But in the Somerset village of Kilmersdon, an old local legend gives those familiar words a much darker meaning. Here, Jack and Jill are remembered not as children, but as young lovers. The story tells of a secret pregnancy, a fatal falling stone, a child left behind and a local surname supposedly born from the tragedy. And Kilmersdon has something else. A real Jack and Jill Hill — and at the top of it, a genuine medieval well. So could one of Britain's best-known nursery rhymes preserve the memory of a real Somerset tragedy? In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside: Dark Folklore, we follow the old path through Kilmersdon and discover where history ends and one of Somerset's strangest legends begins. Website: www.ghosttales.co.uk Support Ghost Tales by the Fireside on Buy Me a Coffee.

    Jack and Jill Hill: The Dark Somerset Story Behind the Nursery Rhyme

  6. Aug 27

    The Enfield Poltergeist — Britain’s Most Famous Poltergeist Case

    In August 1977, strange events began inside an ordinary council house at 284 Green Street, Enfield. Peggy Hodgson's children claimed their beds were moving. Knocking sounds came from the walls. Furniture appeared to move by itself. Neighbours were called into the house, followed by the police and WPC Carolyn Heeps later reported seeing an armchair move across the living-room floor. What followed became one of Britain's most famous and controversial paranormal cases. Investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair spent months at Green Street, witnessing and recording extraordinary phenomena. Objects were reportedly thrown, furniture moved, and eleven-year-old Janet Hodgson began producing a strange, deep voice that claimed to belong to a former resident named Bill Wilkins. But there is another side to the story. Janet and her sister were caught faking some incidents, and several famous pieces of evidence have much simpler possible explanations. Sceptics have argued that the entire case can be explained by tricks, exaggeration and credulous investigators. Yet some incidents were reportedly witnessed by neighbours, journalists, police officers and others outside the Hodgson family. So what really happened at 284 Green Street? This episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside goes back to the original Enfield Poltergeist case, separating the documented events from the mythology that has grown around them and asking the question that still hangs over Green Street nearly fifty years later: If some of it was faked… was all of it?

    The Enfield Poltergeist — Britain’s Most Famous Poltergeist Case

  7. Aug 24 ·  Bonus

    The Ghost of the Shipwrights Arms - A Haunted Pub on the Kent Marshes

    Out on the lonely marshes near Faversham, Kent, stands the Shipwrights Arms — an isolated old pub with a ghost story that has lingered for generations. Local tradition tells of a sailor whose ship foundered in the Swale on a bitter winter night. Somehow he survived the wreck and struggled across the freezing mudflats towards the lights of the pub. He reached the door and knocked... but nobody let him in. By morning, he was dead on the doorstep. And according to the old story, he never really left. Landlords, landladies and customers have reportedly encountered a thickset, bearded sailor wearing a heavy reefer jacket and peaked cap. Sometimes his arrival is announced only by a sudden chill — and the unmistakable smell of rum, tar and tobacco. This is the strange story of the ghost of the Shipwrights Arms near Faversham.

    The Ghost of the Shipwrights Arms - A Haunted Pub on the Kent Marshes

  8. Aug 20

    Tintagel Castle – King Arthur, Merlin & the Ghosts of Tintagel

    Tintagel Castle rises above the Cornish coast, forever connected with King Arthur, Merlin and one of Britain’s greatest legends. But beyond the familiar Arthurian stories, Tintagel has acquired ghost stories and strange traditions of its own. Medieval writers claimed this was the place where Arthur was conceived, while centuries later the great sea cave beneath the cliffs became known as Merlin’s Cave — and eventually gained a tradition that Merlin’s spirit remained within its darkness. Then there is the mysterious ghostly horseman reportedly seen among Tintagel’s ruins. The surviving account gives frustratingly little detail about the encounter, except for the identity the witness gave the rider: King Arthur. And in 1998, archaeology added another extraordinary chapter when a piece of sixth-century slate bearing the name Artognou was discovered at Tintagel. It wasn't evidence for Arthur, but it revealed something almost as intriguing: during the period in which a historical Arthur might have lived, Tintagel really was occupied by powerful people whose identities have been lost. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we travel to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall to explore the real history behind the ruins, the legend of Arthur’s conception, Merlin’s Cave, the Artognou Stone and the ghost stories that have grown around one of Britain’s most mysterious landscapes.

    Tintagel Castle – King Arthur, Merlin & the Ghosts of Tintagel
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4.8
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True ghost stories from the UK by Clem Dallaway If you’re enjoying my content and want to help me make even better episodes, you can now support me on Buy Me A Coffee. Every bit helps me upgrade my gear, spend more time researching, and keep bringing you the stories you love. Just head over to https://buymeacoffee.com/ghosttales — it’s quick, easy, and really makes a difference. Thanks for keeping this going!

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