Ghost Tales by the Fireside - True Ghost Stories Podcast

Clem Dallaway
  • 4.8 (197)
  • History
  • 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. 3d ago

    The Children of Winstone Close - Haunted Redditch

    In the Lakeside area of Redditch, Worcestershire, an ordinary residential street has become connected with a strange collection of ghost stories. Residents of Winstone Close have reported seeing children who should not have been there. One young boy appeared to be searching for a lost ball. Another became known as Jimmy. Inside one of the houses, a strange mist was said to take the shape of a woman, while objects reportedly moved without explanation. But the strangest account concerns three children who appeared at a front door. Their clothes looked old-fashioned, later described as Victorian, and they seemed to be lost. They were looking for their mother. Local memory also tells of cottages which once stood on the land and a fatal fire in which children were said to have died. But how much of that history can actually be proved, and were the later ghost sightings ever really connected with it? In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, I look at the ghost children of Winstone Close, the history behind the story and the way separate experiences can slowly become joined together as local folklore. A haunting from an ordinary Redditch street that could easily have disappeared if nobody had recorded it. The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre https://amzn.eu/d/093Shix6 Ghost Tales by the Fireside https://www.ghosttales.co.uk Music used Chasing Ghosts — Kindred Spirit https://open.spotify.com/track/6n58iB0o66y2o062ypvuRy?si=kIc5luYtRQSG68LecMUmEA Among The Graves — Clem Dallaway https://open.spotify.com/track/4hvMSzbWhO5U7cB1SONmAU?si=8gbSnYFTQXyD_cUnGYmUew The Dark One — Clem Dallaway https://open.spotify.com/track/58IwqgxMwiwedfWHF8wtyl?si=Bwv7d1RcQJKLDegEp2gl-g See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Children of Winstone Close - Haunted Redditch

  2. 6d ago ·  Bonus

    The Forgotten Creatures of Feckenham Forest: Goblins, Fairies, Dragons & Tolkien

    What strange creatures were once believed to live in the old Forest of Feckenham? In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, Clem Dallaway explores some of the forgotten folklore surrounding Redditch and north Worcestershire, beginning with the strange legend of the Beoley Goblin, a creature said to jump onto the backs of passing horses. But Beoley also had a place known as Little Hob Hill, recorded by Worcestershire writer John Noake in 1856. A Hob was an old supernatural being related to creatures such as Puck and Robin Goodfellow, raising the possibility that the Beoley Goblin may have grown from a much older local tradition. Across the former Feckenham Forest landscape, other strange names and stories survive. There were Puck Hills at Hanbury and Himbleton, a Puck Lane at Stoke Prior, and an old tradition from Inkberrow in which fairies repeatedly moved building materials after people tried to build too close to where they lived. There is also the strange story of Harry-ca-nab, a supernatural huntsman said to ride wild bulls through the Lickey country while the Devil's hounds ran ahead of him, and an old Bromsgrove legend involving a monstrous wild boar and the wild woman who mourned its death. Then there is Dragon Farm at Edgiock, near Astwood Bank. According to local tradition, sheep began disappearing from the farm until watchers saw two strange creatures carrying lambs into a huge hollow oak tree. The creatures were eventually killed and were supposedly represented in an old farmhouse carving dated 1614. The Dragon Farm legend has even been discussed in connection with J. R. R. Tolkien and the Midlands countryside that helped shape his imagination. There is no evidence that Tolkien actually knew the Edgiock story, and it cannot be claimed as an inspiration for The Hobbit or Smaug, but it remains a remarkable dragon legend from the same wider Midlands landscape. Were these simply stories created to explain strange place-names and old carvings, or are they fragments of a much older supernatural landscape that once surrounded Redditch? From Hobs and Pucks to fairies, wild huntsmen, monstrous boars and dragons, this is The Forgotten Creatures of Feckenham Forest. The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre by Clem Dallaway https://amzn.eu/d/093Shix6 Music connected with Ghost Tales by the Fireside Chasing Ghosts — Kindred Spirit https://open.spotify.com/track/6n58iB0o66y2o062ypvuRy?si=kIc5luYtRQSG68LecMUmEA Among The Graves — Clem Dallaway https://open.spotify.com/track/4hvMSzbWhO5U7cB1SONmAU?si=8gbSnYFTQXyD_cUnGYmUew The Dark One — Clem Dallaway https://open.spotify.com/track/58IwqgxMwiwedfWHF8wtyl?si=Bwv7d1RcQJKLDegEp2gl-g Clem Dallaway on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/4q4UZstxVT6XbsOkBkfP6f Ghost Tales by the Fireside https://ghosttales.co.uk See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Forgotten Creatures of Feckenham Forest: Goblins, Fairies, Dragons & Tolkien

  3. Oct 22

    The Foxlydiate Arms: The Corpse Bride and the Flying Hearse - Haunted Redditch

    On Halloween night in 2009, a woman dressed as the Corpse Bride entered a costume competition at the Foxlydiate Arms in Redditch. The organiser remembered speaking to her. Some of the people watching remembered seeing her too. Others insisted there had been nobody there at all. Then the guest list was checked. The strange Halloween encounter is only one part of the Foxlydiate story. Long before the pub was built, travellers were already telling stories about a ghostly vehicle heard racing through the darkness. It became known as the Flying Hearse, and according to an old warning, anyone who actually saw it would be dead within a year. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore the haunted history and folklore of Foxlydiate, including the Corpse Bride, the Flying Hearse, the White Lady, the mysterious figure known as Tom, and the real-life murder of Hannah Middleton in 1902. Which parts are history? Which are folklore? And what really happened inside the Foxlydiate Arms on Halloween night? Music used “Chasing Ghosts” – Kindred Spirit Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6n58iB0o66y2o062ypvuRy?si=kIc5luYtRQSG68LecMUmEA Explore more haunted Redditch The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre – available on Amazon. Redditch Ghost Walk information and tickets: ghosttales.co.uk/ghostwalk See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Foxlydiate Arms: The Corpse Bride and the Flying Hearse - Haunted Redditch

  4. Oct 19 ·  Bonus

    The Tall Man of Headless Cross - A Redditch Ghost Story

    In 1995, a family living in Headless Cross, Redditch, Worcestershire, began seeing a very tall man inside their home. He was dressed completely in black, appeared to wear a wide-brimmed hat and had large buckles on his shoes that seemed to catch the light. At first, the sightings were brief. Then the activity became more intense. Banging and crashing began inside the house, and one night the man of the house went downstairs believing somebody had broken in. The moment he entered the large living room, the noise stopped. At the far end of the room, beside the kitchen door, a figure was standing there. The family left the house that night. The following morning they asked a local vicar for help. What happened when he returned to bless the house became one of the strangest parts of the entire Headless Cross haunting. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, I investigate the Tall Man of Headless Cross and look at the history of this part of Redditch, including the ancient routes that once crossed the area. There is also a much older ghost story connected with the road from Headless Cross towards Tardebigge. Redditch-born writer Sir James Yoxall remembered hearing the legend during his nineteenth-century childhood. Travellers were said to hear the sound of wheels, a cracking whip, horses and rattling harness moving through the darkness. Yet when they looked towards the sound, nothing was there. It became known as The Flying Hearse. There is no evidence connecting the Flying Hearse with the Tall Man. They are separate stories, generations apart, but both form part of the strange folklore surrounding this corner of Redditch. A haunted house, an unidentified figure, a terrified family and an old Worcestershire road with its own ghost story. This is The Tall Man of Headless Cross. https://www.ghosttales.co.uk The Redditch Ghost Walk Tickets and information: https://ghosttales.co.uk/ghostwalk The Redditch Ghost Walk Book The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre Available on Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/093Shix6 Music Used Among The Graves — Clem Dallaway ISRC: QZNWR2463170 https://open.spotify.com/track/4hvMSzbWhO5U7cB1SONmAU?si=8gbSnYFTQXyD_cUnGYmUew The Dark One — Clem Dallaway ISRC: QZWFS2504572 https://open.spotify.com/track/58IwqgxMwiwedfWHF8wtyl?si=Bwv7d1RcQJKLDegEp2gl-g Chasing Ghosts — Kindred Spirit https://open.spotify.com/track/6n58iB0o66y2o062ypvuRy?si=kIc5luYtRQSG68LecMUmEA&utm_source=copy-link See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Tall Man of Headless Cross - A Redditch Ghost Story

  5. Oct 15

    Moon’s Moat: Murder, Mystery and the Ghost of Lady Moon

    A woman screams inside an isolated house. Something falls into the moat. By morning, Mariolle Moon has vanished — and centuries later, a female figure is still said to return. Hidden amongst the houses and footpaths of Church Hill in Redditch is the remains of a medieval home surrounded by a moat. More than seven hundred years ago, people lived on the small island at its centre, crossing a bridge over the water to reach the house. But Moon’s Moat has another story. In 1692, Captain Richard Hill murdered actor William Mountfort in London and fled. Almost two hundred years later, an extraordinary account connected the fugitive killer with Moon’s Moat and a young woman named Mariolle Moon. According to the story, screams were heard coming from the old house one January night. A local constable hurried towards the moat and saw what appeared to be a living body fall into the water. By morning, Mariolle had disappeared. No body was found. Only a cloak. And Mariolle Moon was never seen there again. Years later, another tradition tells of a woman known as Lady Moon or Lady Mohun, who is said to return to Moon’s Moat on St Agnes’ Eve. Could the two stories be connected? In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore the archaeology and history of Moon’s Moat, the real murder committed by Captain Richard Hill, the strange Victorian account of Mariolle Moon, and the old Redditch legend of the woman who still walks beside the moat. History, folklore and ghost story meet in one of Redditch’s oldest surviving landscapes. Throughout October, I am also leading The Redditch Ghost Walk every Monday to Thursday. Tickets are £8.50 and proceeds go to Redditch Local History Museum. ghosttales.co.uk/ghostwalk My book, The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre, is available on Amazon. And providing part of the musical backdrop to this October season is “Chasing Ghosts” by Kindred Spirit. Chasing Ghosts on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6n58iB0o66y2o062ypvuRy?si=26ubKi7eR6GEGD8gIbb3zw&utm_source=copy-link Chasing Ghosts on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IZl1T6As31g?is=eM-OaBFEq1mctb1V See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Moon’s Moat: Murder, Mystery and the Ghost of Lady Moon

  6. Oct 12 ·  Bonus

    The White Ladies of Redditch: Ghosts, Folklore and Haunted Places

    Redditch has more than one White Lady story. From the woman seen at the windows of Beech House on Church Green, to a pale figure in woodland near Batchley and strange sightings around Smallwood, the same image appears again and again: a woman dressed in white. In this Dark Folklore episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, Clem Dallaway explores the stories behind Redditch’s White Ladies, including the mysterious woman said to walk near Beech House, the figure seen among the trees, and the woman reportedly spotted picking flowers in a garden at night. Are these separate ghosts, mistakes of perception, or part of a much older folklore pattern that keeps repeating itself? The episode also looks at how White Lady legends grow, why ghost stories so often attach tragic backstories to unidentified female apparitions, and the idea of residual hauntings. Explore more of Redditch’s haunted history in my book, The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre. Book: https://amzn.eu/d/093Shix6 Redditch Ghost Walk: Monday to Thursday throughout October Tickets: £8.50 Proceeds support Redditch Local History Museum https://ghosttales.co.uk/ghostwalk Music connected with Ghost Tales by the Fireside: Among The Graves – Clem Dallaway https://open.spotify.com/track/4hvMSzbWhO5U7cB1SONmAU?si=8gbSnYFTQXyD_cUnGYmUew The Dark One – Clem Dallaway https://open.spotify.com/track/58IwqgxMwiwedfWHF8wtyl?si=Bwv7d1RcQJKLDegEp2gl-g Chasing Ghosts – Kindred Spirit Clem Dallaway on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4q4UZstxVT6XbsOkBkfP6f Website: https://ghosttales.co.uk See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The White Ladies of Redditch: Ghosts, Folklore and Haunted Places

  7. Oct 8

    The House on Abbeydale: 30 Years of a Redditch Haunting

    A family moved into an ordinary house on Abbeydale in Redditch, Worcestershire, in 1996. Almost immediately, they began experiencing things they could not explain. A scruffy middle-aged man appeared repeatedly in the garden before being seen walking through the house and straight through the staircase. A young child spoke to someone called Albert. Another talked about an imaginary friend named Ballot, shortly before the family began seeing the apparition of a little girl in a white dress. As the years passed, the activity became increasingly strange. Objects vanished and reappeared in unexpected places. Unfamiliar jewellery appeared inside the house. Footsteps crossed empty rooms. A woman was seen in the hallway. Members of the family heard voices belonging to people who had not spoken. A paranormal investigation later introduced the names Charlotte and Albert, along with the suggestion that some kind of supernatural “portal” crossed the house. The family moved in thirty years ago. They are still there. And in 2026, the activity is still happening. In this episode of Ghost Tales by the Fireside, we explore one of Redditch’s longest-running modern haunting accounts alongside the changing landscape of Abbeydale, the farmland that existed before the estate and the much older history surrounding the nearby Arrow Valley and Bordesley Abbey. This episode forms part of the October season of haunted Redditch stories. You can explore more of Redditch’s haunted history on the Redditch Ghost Walk, running Monday to Thursday throughout October. Tickets are £8.50 per person, with proceeds going to Redditch Local History Museum. ghosttales.co.uk/ghostwalk My book, The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre, is available on Amazon. Music featured in this episode includes Chasing Ghosts by Kindred Spirit which will be released on 12th of October alongside original music by Clem Dallaway, including Among The Graves and The Dark One. Among The Graves — ISRC QZNWR2463170 The Dark One — ISRC QZWFS2504572 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The House on Abbeydale: 30 Years of a Redditch Haunting

  8. Oct 5 ·  Bonus

    The Ghostly Monks of Redditch

    Why are so many of Redditch's ghostly monks described as wearing brown when the Cistercians of Bordesley Abbey were known as the White Monks? In this episode of Dark Folklore, Clem Dallaway follows one of Redditch's most persistent supernatural traditions through the medieval landscape of Bordesley Abbey and into the modern town. Stories tell of hooded figures near Bordesley Corner, apparitions apparently walking below the modern ground level, monks crossing gardens and walls, strange figures around Ipsley Church Lane and sightings inside modern buildings. But the brown habits may not be a mistake. Bordesley Abbey's Cistercian community also included lay brothers, known as the conversi, who worked the farms, fields and outlying granges belonging to the monastery. Their darker clothing raises an intriguing possibility: could some of Redditch's brown-robed apparitions represent the working brothers rather than the familiar White Monks? Then, on the morning of 9 June 2025, the story became personal. At approximately 9:20 AM, while walking his dog through Bordesley Meadows beside the River Arrow, Clem saw what appeared to be a man in a bright white hood standing amongst dense brambles. He walked towards the figure. It disappeared. There was no obvious route away, no sign that anybody had moved through the undergrowth, and the place where the figure appeared to have been standing seemed almost impossible to reach. A strange man in a white hoodie? A trick of distance and landscape? Or something connected with the White Monks who once lived and worked beside the River Arrow? This is the story of Redditch's ghostly monks, the forgotten working landscape of Bordesley Abbey, and one unexplained encounter that Clem still cannot account for. Throughout October, Clem is also leading The Redditch Ghost Walk, exploring the history, folklore and hauntings of the old town and Kingfisher Centre every Monday to Thursday. Tickets are £8.50 per person, with proceeds going to Redditch Local History Museum. Ghost Walk information and tickets: https://ghosttales.co.uk/ghostwalk Discover more from Ghost Tales by the Fireside: https://ghosttales.co.uk Clem's book, The Redditch Ghost Walk: History, Folklore and Haunted Places from the Old Town to the Kingfisher Centre, is available from Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/093Shix6 Music featured during the October season includes the upcoming debut single “Chasing Ghosts” by Kindred Spirit, Clem's own new musical project with singer Hollie James. The song was written to inhabit the same atmospheric world as these stories: haunted places, memory, loss and the urge to keep following the traces left behind. Ghost Tales by the Fireside explores true ghost stories, paranormal encounters, haunted places, dark folklore, local legends and the history behind them. Presented by Clem Dallaway. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Ghostly Monks of Redditch
See All (204)

Trailers

Hosts & Guests

4.8
out of 5
197 Ratings

About

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!

Information

You Might Also Like