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Brummie Ghosts

One passer-by told me that there used to be a big, white flag pole next to it...... pity it's not there now though!!!!:D

If you check the area out on Google Earth, you can find the well in no time...... obviously not that easy on the ground !! And I used to be exceptionally good at orienteering in my youth too !!!

Re. the suggestion of water divining...... come on, you should guess that I don't believe in such things ......

Regards,

Nick:D
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
lol nick. my son cycles miles round sutton park im going to ask him if hes ever seen this well. will show him the map lyn
 
I found it by leaving the Old Targets on my left, over the bridge 1st right and then 1st right again then it`s on the right down a dip :)
 
Ghost`s, the only one I believe I have seen was in 1956 approx, and it was in Sutton Park one early evening, on my pushbike from the Town gate making my way to Banners gate, in the area of Holly Hurst, a figure appeared from my left and glided across the road in front of myself, the figure was covered from head to toe in a white robe, due to the attire I presumed it was a female, once across the road within a short distance it just disappeared, but not because of the tree`s, I still wonder today
 
Brum has many ghosts, perhaps the most notable being the blue lady of Aston hall, of lesser known ones, there is the ghost of Wasson Pool, only ever seen at dusk. The ghost of Alfred road handsworth and the Bartons arms is reputed to have a couple too. One other I know about is at the former UCE in Perry barr now City of Birmingham uni.
There was also repted to be a ghost in Wilkins & Wrights old utility works on the Hollyhead road, never seen but was seen to roll, billiard balls around the table in full daylight!
TEZZA
 
Anyone is most welcome to join the forum - which you can find through a link on the westmidlandsghostclub.com index page - but please, please, please don't expect too much from it.......

While the WMGC run the forum, it is pretty much allowed to tootle-along at it's own speed and goes up and down with regards to posters interest.....

It really doesn't reflect on what we do as a group, to be honest.....

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
In the 1920's my grandfather demolished a timbered building in Digbeth. Built into the hearth was a bellarmine jug 'witch bottle'. The jug was made some time in the 1600's. Apparently this installalation was to catch or distract the evil spirits coming in through the chimney.

The jug subsequently sat on his hearth, on my parents hearth and now on our hearth.

Sorry no brummie ghost to report, but prevention is better than cure.
 
That's interesting Robert - I grew up at Soho House in Handsworth when it was a Hotel in the 40's and 50's but my grandparents had had it since the end of the 1920's.

When it was being restored by Birmingham Museums in the early 1990's, the house was stripped back to virtually the bare boards, and when one of the fireplaces was opened up to expose the original, a besom (witch's broomstick) was found placed there for the same reason - to repel evil spirits coming down the chimney.

Judy
 
RobertS said:
In the 1920's my grandfather demolished a timbered building in Digbeth. Built into the hearth was a bellarmine jug 'witch bottle'. The jug was made some time in the 1600's. Apparently this installalation was to catch or distract the evil spirits coming in through the chimney.

The jug subsequently sat on his hearth, on my parents hearth and now on our hearth.

Sorry no brummie ghost to report, but prevention is better than cure.
Click to expand...

What a superb find RobertS - I absolutely love this sort of antiquity !!

There is a shop in my home town where a medieval shoe was discovered behind a hidden wall panel (in an upstairs room) during renovation some years ago. Allegedly, after it's removal / discovery, a host of poltergeist-like activity took place in the building. Over recent years, the happenings appear to have subsided to a great extent and recent occupants have only really spoken of a 'certain something' on the stairs of the property which leaves people with a bit of an eerie feeling when they encounter it. (Far preferable to poltergeist stuff, I'm sure !?)

Sadly, the shoe has always been kept at the shop until a few years ago when one (long term) occupant left the premises and possibly took it with him(?) I've been trying to track the shoe, via the local historical society and museums services, but there is currently no sign of it, which is a terrible shame indeed.

An acquaintance of mine has a habit of secreting an old shoe of hers somewhere, in every place she moves to........

You don't have any pics of the jug do you Robert, as I'd love to see it??

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Nick, do you know if there is any special meaning regarding hidden shoes in a building?

I recently visited a Manor House close to where I live which dates from about 1567 and in the small fireplace in the roof area (yes, in the roof area) there was a handmade soft leather ankle boot and another boot which reached to the knee. The laces were handmade out of the same leather. I was allowed to inspect the boots and then return them to the fireplace.

Anthea:)
 
hi judy. i didnt realise that you had connections with soho house. how brillient. myself and mayfield were that way an couple of months ago taking pics of the area and we took a couple of soho house. i dont think i have posted them on the site so it you are interested i will try to find them and put them on although i dare say you probably already have some. lyn:)
 
Hello Nicholas

The jug in all its glory, (about 11 inches high). Seems very efficient. Catches all the evil spirits.
 
I have done a few paranormal investigations myself with a group who I used to work with. They have since stopped doing it but would love to start again.

The most interesting one ive done was at Galleries of Justice in Nottingham

The house next door to us was empty for a good two years after we moved in as the previous occupant died a month or so prior to us moving in, however we would often hear someone walking up and down the stairs whilst it was empty.
 
Lyn, I would love to see some photos. I can never see too many. Maggie took some recently and sent them to me also. I haven't been back to the house for quite a few years now, since just after it opened to the public. It was never the same again for me, not home anymore if you know what I mean. And yes, there were several strange experiences we had while we lived there which can't be explained!

Judy
 
Hi Nick

It was a small lake in what we called Bluebell Dell (Leasowes Park) way back when but I think it was more of a story made up by the adults to try and keep us kids away from the water:)
 
anthea said:
Nick, do you know if there is any special meaning regarding hidden shoes in a building?
Click to expand...

Anthea - there is plenty of stuff to be found on the net regarding this sort of matter, i.e.:

https://wayhistsoc.home.comcast.net/~wayhistsoc/whs/Shoes_in_the_Wall/shoes_in_the_wall.htm

I'd always been led to believe that shoes were an endeavour to bring general good luck to the occupants, though such innocent sounding traditions might well stem from less savoury practices, like the old notion of secreting 'bodies' in new structures (!?:rolleyes:) There have been many examples of animals found secreted (seemingly purposefully) in properties - frequently under the step of a door or under windows. (I'd always took this to be as a form of protection / security).

Have a good look online Anthea - there are oodles of references.

Robert - what an absolutely cracking jug...... though I wouldn't trust such a delicate item on our mantle-piece, I must admit !!! (It would be in smithereens in a matter of seconds with my hyper-active family !! :(:()

TizzyKat - thanks for the reference. You are probably right re. your theory, though it might be worth looking into at some point?

Best wishes to all,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Sorry about the delay NICHOLASThe ghost of Wasson pool was quite common when I was a lad, we would cycle up to see it, always at night and always in the dark of course, Some nights it did not show, but when it did, it was quite a sight, a wavy white shape floating about in the dark and nearly always at tree top level, we never ever heard it make any sound, but I think the paper, The smethwick telephone, did do an investigation if I remember aright.
The ghost of Alfred road was also experienced by more than just me, There was this old deserted house that we would enter at night, where everthing was covered in dust and bits of fallen plaster, several times on coming back down the stairs, there would be a Black top hat and a white silk scarve hanging over the bottom newell post, This was never there when we went up the stairs. We were all that scared that we never thought of pinching the hat and scarve!
The ghost of Wilkins and Wright, was located where my father worked, this is now a Wick's store I think.
Originaly it was a large house, the front entrance being on Hollyhead Road and the rear being on Island Rod Handsworth, they specialized in making radar parts for the war effort and as the demand grew a factory was built and the house became the works canteen and rest room. The old billiard table was left in the house and the workers would play on this when they had a break.
My father told me about the ghost of the billiard room and took me to see it. One could stand and watch the billiard balls roll around the table of their own accord and finaly would all end up in the pockets. When re-arraged back on the table, the same thing would happen again after a wait of around 10 mts or so. No one ever explained this, but according to dad, the men could only ever play snooker on this table, as the snooker balls always stayed where they were put. but it was impossible to play billiards. Hope this satisfies your curiosity, I can offer no explanations I'm afraid. TEZZA
 
Tezza - thanks for filling us in mate !! I wish I'd have knocked around with you as a kid..... it certainly sounds like the sort of thing I'd have revelled in!! ;)

Is Wassons Pool still there, do you know? I ran a search for it, but couldn't find much about the place......

A friend of mine - an ex-member of the WMGC - used to run a billard / pool hall in Wednesbury.... and he experienced very much the same sort of thing that you mention in your Wilkins and Wright encounter. At that site, the billiard markers also used to move of their own volition too, apparently.

Anthea - unfortunately, a lot of these sort of things go walk-about after being discovered. Perhaps their actual 'finding place' isn't always the best 'resting place' for them, but I believe they should at least reside in the building where they were found if the place is still standing, of course. (In the case of the shoes I mentioned earlier, it concerns me to wonder where such a lovely find are situated now??)

As a matter of interest, there is a data-base (online somewhere) where such items can be catalogued. It would be a lovely idea to possibly keep a record of the ones mentioned here, for posterities sake (?)

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
NICHOLAS, thanks for replying to my last post.
Wasson pool is still there, but is now known as SANDWELL VALLEY NATURE RESERVE .the pool has been landscaped,but the actual water is still there.!
Wasson was originaly the sump pool for the now defunct Colliary, all water fom the mine would be pumped in there, this pool had lots of swans on it, and was aslo known to the locals as SWAN POOL, but to me it will always be Wasson. ( Many speculated that the white shape seen floating about, might have been a swan, but having seen it myself, this could not have been the case)

Its hard to see how a ghost could have been resident there though ,when I used to go, as it was used for a WW11 Tank wash in the 40s, but there you are, I did see it several times, so believe what you will.

interesting about your Billiard hall balls Nich, these phenomena were usually put down to Subsidence and coal mining activity below ground, but , in the case of Wilkins & Wright, this could not be so as all foundations had to checked to be sound, to ensure that the radar measuremente were accurate.
I did see this happen several times and if one tried to grab a ball, whilst it was moving it seemed to move away rather quick,and pop into a pocket, as I recall!
As a final comment Nich, I was once in a house in Hazelslade near cannock, the lady who lived there, said she often heard voices mumbling somwhere in the house , but never saw anything and could never QUITE understand the words, this had been going on for some years ,she told me.
On further investigation, we found that one of the pit tunnels from Hazelslade colliery ran right under her house and was only about 20 feet below it. What she could hear was the minors, going and returning from the shift at the coal face. So NOT a ghost after all, but food for thought though in other cases. There are many more strange cases to relate, none of them though, have ever had any reason to happen. there was never any Sequel, as one might say.
Hope to hear more from you on this subject.
TEZZA :(
 
TEZZA said:
NICHOLAS, thanks for replying to my last post.
Wasson pool is still there, but is now known as SANDWELL VALLEY NATURE RESERVE .the pool has been landscaped,but the actual water is still there.!
Wasson was originaly the sump pool for the now defunct Colliary, all water fom the mine would be pumped in there, this pool had lots of swans on it, and was aslo known to the locals as SWAN POOL, but to me it will always be Wasson. ( Many speculated that the white shape seen floating about, might have been a swan, but having seen it myself, this could not have been the case)

Its hard to see how a ghost could have been resident there though ,when I used to go, as it was used for a WW11 Tank wash in the 40s, but there you are, I did see it several times, so believe what you will.

interesting about your Billiard hall balls Nich, these phenomena were usually put down to Subsidence and coal mining activity below ground, but , in the case of Wilkins & Wright, this could not be so as all foundations had to checked to be sound, to ensure that the radar measuremente were accurate.
I did see this happen several times and if one tried to grab a ball, whilst it was moving it seemed to move away rather quick,and pop into a pocket, as I recall!
As a final comment Nich, I was once in a house in Hazelslade near cannock, the lady who lived there, said she often heard voices mumbling somwhere in the house , but never saw anything and could never QUITE understand the words, this had been going on for some years ,she told me.
On further investigation, we found that one of the pit tunnels from Hazelslade colliery ran right under her house and was only about 20 feet below it. What she could hear was the minors, going and returning from the shift at the coal face. So NOT a ghost after all, but food for thought though in other cases. There are many more strange cases to relate, none of them though, have ever had any reason to happen. there was never any Sequel, as one might say.
Hope to hear more from you on this subject.
TEZZA :(
Click to expand...

And so it becomes clear Tezza !!!! I'm such an idiot...... I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've been to Swan Pool over the years and never realised !! :D:D:D I'm not at all surprised under the circumstances re. ghosts reported at the pool, as there are plenty of tales surrounding that general area. Sandwell Valley Park was the site of one of the biggest (properly organised) ghost hunts this country must have seen during the 1960's when members of the British Metaphysical Society descended on the region looking for the ghostly monk of Sandwell Priory.

I was contacted by a UFO researcher a few years ago who handed to me a (rather credible sounding) report of a 'bigfoot sighting' in that same area !!

Weird place all together, all told...... (though the site of much nefarious activity in recent years. Certainly not a place to investigate after dark unless situated inside an armoured car !!! :D I did it once, but we were more worried about drug dealers and automatic weapons than any ghosts!!)

The billiard / pool hall in Wednesbury is long gone now and would have been situated somewhere around the entrance to the new Morrisons Superstore(?) Your experience with the moving balls (when you tried to grab them) seems to indicate a definite form of 'intelligence' at work there - something which interests me greatly.

Re. the Hazleslade story - this sounds like my old house in Darlaston !! We were too late to hear the miners talking - the mines having been long closed - but the subsidence from all of the 'undermining' in the area was a constant worry. (Some houses in nearby Moxley actually disappeared over the space of a few hours !! I kid you not:()

Keep the stories coming if you have them Tezza !!! Thats what we're here for mate !

Best wishes,

Nick
wwww.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Thanks for the info Nich, interested in Darlaston as I used to work there many years ago, in King St. I agree about sandwell valley, and I was not aware of the Ghost hunt in the 60s, so that was enlightening. Also subsidence was very interesting too, I worked around Darlaston and Cannock areas and it was a very real problem and caused quite a few funny happenings, of one sort or another!>
As I say, I have never had any follow up to any of my experiences, they just happened and thats all.
A collegue of mine used to do part time work at West Brom crem, he told me the following tale.
One saturday morning when they were having a"burn up" a smartly dressed elderley lady suddenly appeared in the back room, where the public were not allowed to enter and handed him a wedding ring, asking if he would give it to her husband, who had " overlooked it"! she desribed her husband and my colleague went around the front of the chapel and located the man she had described as they all filed out. He gave the ring to the man, who was quite astounded to realise that the ring had been given to my mate by the woman he had just cremated!!!! Obviously, this tale is second hand and cannot be proved in any way, but compared to some of my experiences, I can quite believe it.
TEZZA
 
Tezza - the Sandwell Valley investigation was co-ordinated by a group called the South Staffs Metaphysical Society (who were a regional branch of the aforementioned British Met Soc). Around the time referred to, there were a lot of alleged sightings of the ghostly monk around the priory site and this inspired the visit. (I believe some 60 members of the group descended on the area for a number of days). Sadly the S. S. Meta. Soc. folded a long time ago...... though I've been trying to locate members of the local branch for some years now (or perhaps some relatives of theirs). They were in existence between the 50's and early to mid 70's at least. (I've advertised in numerous newspapers and periodicals for any information on them, but all to no avail???)

Re. the Crem. experience - this would have been a bit too 'up close and personal' for me, I think!! Ghosts should be seen at a reasonable distance - so you've always got a good, head start when the running and screaming begins !!

We're organising a night-time visit to the area soon, so I WILL get to see it eventually...... Ha, ha..... (More than a little mania in this laugh too !!)

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NICHOLAS, Thanks for all your comments and I hope your trip to Sutton park bodes well.
I have to say, that if some of the experiences that I have had, were, indeed ghosts, then they were not all frightening in the least.
Not at the time they happened anyway, it was only AFTERWARDS that the spooky feeling set in. Re the crem experience, My collegue assured me that the lady he saw l and spoke to looked QUITE REAL and SOLID and it was only AFTER the event that he filled his trousers!
The Wason pool affair was a little different, with a white ghostly shape floating around and making no noise, however, this was never proved to be a ghost, so its wide open to conjecture. I moved away from Handsworth in the late 50s, so was not aware of all the fuss at Wasson, so many thanks for enlightening me.
I follow your thread with GREAT interest.
TEZZA
 
Thanks Tezza......

Re. the lack of fright during ghostly experiences, I must admit that I've heard reports from both ends of the spectrum regarding such matters. (A great many people have - with considerable surprise - told me that they weren't frightened at all during their encounters, where they would have previously 'thought' that they'd be mortified?!?)

Personally - I have to say that I'll probably 'scream myself to death in an instant' should I ever encounter anything spooky !! :D:D

I'd really love to spend some more time over at Sandwell Valley Park (nocturnally, I should have said) and if I ever do invest in that bullet / stab proof body suit, I'll certainly give it a go !! :D

Cheers,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Nicholas, I think that Sandwell Valley has changed so much over the last few years , that any ghosts there would be frightened back to where they belong. As regards the bullet proof vest, I think they are rather expensive!!!! I don't think that you would scream yourself to death if you saw a ghost Nich, not unless you were expecting to see one , that is.
When I was courting my, as now wife, I would walk her back home to Great Barr, then walk back to Handsworth, arrivng home around 02.00am or so. One of the weeks that I was on leave from Germany, I passed our next door neighbour under the gaslamp on three different nights and we both spoke wished each other Good night. I thought this was odd because I was only 20 and he would have been around 50. I asked my mom where this neighbour might have been to, till that hour of the morning. Mom looked very shocked and told me that he had died about 2 months before I came home.She added, that she had written and told me about it, when I returned to germany, I went through all her letters to me since my previous leave, I could find no mention of it.
Once again he was not in any way frightening or see through!!!
It was only in hindsight that I worried why had it happened to me, what was likley to follow??? Nothing followed, it was just another strange happening, without any purpose as far as I could see.
Think on these things Nich, no one is more doubting than me, but some things just Cannot be explained I agree. Look forward to more,
TEZZA:(
 
TEZZA said:
It was only in hindsight that I worried why had it happened to me, what was likley to follow??? Nothing followed, it was just another strange happening, without any purpose as far as I could see.
Click to expand...

Tezza - I believe that we all have varying degrees of 'power' to experience the paranormal and some are evidently more likely than others to have these encounters. At a guess - from what you've said - you seem to be at the 'most likely' end of the scale when it comes to seeing such things, while I evidently fall at the 'more likely to see pigs fly' end !! :D:D And I'm not discussing so called mediumistic types here - i.e. the sort of people who claim to be able to speak to ghosts / spirits and influence them, etc...... I'm talking about 'true' psychic power, as in the ability to be more inclined towards having paranormal experiences. I have a good friend - one of our group members - who also appears to have this tendency, something which he has possibly handed on to his children.

Your mention of such things 'having no purpose' is spot on, I think. Such ability is possibly no more important - in the grand scheme of things - than having a heightened sense of smell, better eye-sight than someone else or whatever. It seems to be 'just one of those things' to a great many people......... though it is something that I personally wish I had in abundance !! :)

Best wishes to you,

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
NIcholas.
I think you have hit the nail on the head, when you say its just part of lifes rich pattern. My Mother was deeply attached to my father and younger brother, when she lost dad she was bereft, when she lost my brother three yrs afterwards she was almost out of her mind, however, she did get over it[sort of, Time is a great healer] and she promised me that if it was possible to return, she would. Mom died in 1996, so far, I have had NO sense of her at all. I can only think, [ and believe] that she found total peace back with dad and my brother, so why should she need me?? I interviewed a Bishop some years ago, concerning Life after death, he said the following " Young man, Life is for the LIVING, go and Live it" nuff said I feel.!
Tezza
 
I know exactly what you're saying here Tezza......

Knowing of my interest in such things, I'm sure a number of my family members would have made the effort to 'return' to me if such things were humanly possible - if only just to give me a little something 'definitive' for all of my years spent (and possibly 'wasted') on this subject. Needless to say, no one has ever made that return (yet)......

This - as well as the matters pointed out in your last post - is basically why I'm such a non-believer in the 'spiritual existence of humans after death' having anything to do with ghosts and hauntings. (And why I'm so 'against' the sort of people who claim to be able to commune with the dear departed whenever they like, etc).

I believe ghosts and haunting activity occur naturally as part of day-to-day, human experience and, except for a certain something that makes some people susceptible to such matters, it strikes me there is no real, blatant 'connection' between 'us' and 'them'....... much the same as you can't speak or interact with John Wayne (for example) when you're watching 'True Grit' or whatever.

I believe such things happen and it's a simple chance - dice slightly 'loaded' for some, perhaps - that we might be there to experience such events....??

Regards,

Nick
www.westmidlandsghostclub.com
 
Nicholas.
I agree with all you say in your last mail, around 5 yrs ago now, I was working with some students trying to make a documatary on spritualism[Radio] for Radio WM and BBC radio 4. We contacted 6 different mediums in Birmingham and none of them would let us sit on a seance? With a recorder going and none of them would let us in anyway without paying some sort of fee. We did find one who was prepared to sit through a recording session however, and youv'e guessed it---nothing happened, the blame was put firmly on the recording gear being there,of course. I do have other experiences too personal to put on an open forum, but I still think like you do.
I would say though in conclusion, that if such things bring happiness to some people, and this does seem to be the case, then live and let live I would say. Faith after all , is a very personal thing.
Tezza
 
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