Haunted Derby

Hello everyone, and welcome to LukeLore. A quick deep dive into a folklore topic, where I share some of the stories from around the world that have piqued my interest.

I visited Derby as a bit of a haunted staycation summer 2024, and I LOVED it there. This episode was originally going to follow on soon after the visit, but I think we can point to everything beginning to get away from me at around that point in time. The city has a bit of an underfunding problem, which can lead to poor reviews about it online. But it has a winning surplus of fascinating history as well as wonderful residents! While it may not dazzle every visitor, I still highly recommend it. Especially if like me you wanted to hunt about the old buildings and museums on offer more than you were looking for a louder time out.

So we have something of a two parter. Part one is Derby specifically as a mix of what I found there plus a primary source in 'Haunted Derby: Myths, Magic and Folklore' by Wayne Anthony and Jude Savage – supplemented by my usual online sources. The second part, which may be interrupted by a pop up topic but is at time of recording planned to be next, will be looking at the wider Peak District of England that Derby is a part of.

For now though, let's enjoy some spooky tourism, as we look at the capital for one of England's most competitive claims to being the country's Most Haunted region.

SECTION BREAK – A Lovely Place to Stay

Oh, The Georgian House Hotel! If you follow me on social media, you may have already seen the pictures back from the visit, this is a perfect place to stay a few days if you're into haunted hotels. It looks a little plain from the front, but don't let that fool you. Once you make your way inside, this Grade II listed building is absolutely jam packed with historical curios. The bar is a nice traditional British pub serving hearty food and drinks, with a pretty lovely beer garden as well as hireable function areas. Where it really gets good, is the long standing hotel side of things. After you make your way through the pub restaurant, you find yourself in a low lit and quiet pile of antiquities. Furniture, paintings, trinkets, and the occasional accusatory stare of taxidermy. The foyer, staircase, corridors, and breakfast room are all a wonderful glimpse into the past. The hotel was originally built in 1756, and it feels like it still has some original décor to enjoy in there.

All of which leading to a most unsurprising assortment of hauntings!

A conversation with the new owners gave a good insight into the old Hotel. When the new Lady of the Georgian House was first settling in, she was getting overwhelmed with everything that needed doing. No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to get the fires to start, and there was one particular cupboard that always seemed to get stuck. She got upset on one of those early days, being completely trapped unable to get into this cupboard full of supplies. She took a moment to let the negativity roll over herself, questioning if she could even do this or if she should just give up... At which point, she noticed that this stuck fast cupboard door had opened itself.

Whether the Hotel has taken on something of a life of its own, or it has some less than visible long term stay guests, the new owners aren't scared of the strange goings on in there. To an extent, there are little stories like this where a helping hand will be offered, the latest proprietors getting accepted by the resident spooks. Which isn't to say there still isn't an element of scares to be had, even for the owners. Bar staff don't like to be alone in certain parts of the building at night, which seems fair if you're a student topping up your spending money, spectre wrangling is not a skill you expect to have to work on as a part timer. There's also one occasion in the aforementioned beautiful side room restaurant for Hotel guests the Landlady was talking to two more spiritual minded friends when she felt a chill right behind her. The doorway she was stood in divided between a comfortable warmth before her and a noticeably colder patch. She just paid it no mind, but realised her friends were getting distracted looking behind her. One said “I don't mean to alarm you, but there's someone stood behind you”, only when she turned around the room was empty. The whole Hotel side seems to come with a chance of sighting strange figures or getting washed over by strange feelings.

Beyond opportunities for general spookiness, there is supposed to be a roaming ghost of some note. A man in a pin-striped suit appears to have never checked out, and can be a bit of a menace. Slamming doors, knocking items off of shelves and bookcases, even moving things about in guest rooms to confuse the visiting living. Not to mention making the occasional showing of himself, given we know he wears a pin-striped suit. Online sources reckon Room 10 and Room 12 are hotspots. The owners definitely agree about 12, but as I am Me with no prior coordination in place I ended up in Room 4 which one regular refuses to stay in. The en suite toilet in Room 4 can apparently make unnerving rattling noises throughout the night with no obvious cause – it kindly behaved both nights while I was there though.

I cannot recommend The Georgian House Hotel highly enough. It's a little held together with duct tape in places, and doesn't have air conditioning so you may want to avoid a heat wave (like I did not), but it has so much character with friendly owners ready to offer you a warm welcome. Do yourself a favour and give yourself a few nights there as a base for a ghost hunting adventure. Even if you aren't off chasing phantasms, go soak in the history of the area. Definitely treat yourself to breakfast there, while you're at it, and tell them LukeLore sent you. Especially in advance if you want to request one of the extra haunted rooms! I've been invited to reach out ahead of time to get the extra haunted treatment for a return visit, I hope to be fighting some of you for Room 12 when I do.

SECTION BREAK – Smaller, But Not Lesser

One of the lovely little places I visited about Derby was the Cathedral. It's a relatively small building, especially when “Cathedral” tends to bring to mind a sense of significant scale, but a more than interesting one to make up the difference. Beautiful architecture, wonderful staff, and more than its fair share of spooky tales.

A series of small Cathedrals around the British Isles is a strange quirk of the Industrial revolution. A rapidly shifting, growing population created a demand for new bishoprics in a hurry. With no time or money for erecting grand edifices, regular churches ended up getting promoted to Cathedral status, which in 1927 led to All Saints Church becoming the newly booming population centre's spiritual heart.

Not that All Saints was a particularly ordinary church, it got chosen with some cause. As best as can be determined, it was founded in 943 by King Edmund, and in the time of King Henry the VIII the church tower was built that would result in it being the second highest parish church tower in England. This nearly all came tumbling down, alarmingly literally, by 1723 when the church was deemed unsafe and effectively became abandoned. A Reverend Doctor Michael Hutchison intervened, insisting everything but the Tower be demolished and what would go on to become the Cathedral today was built around what was deemed possible to preserve. This long ranging history of twists and turns may be why the plucky little Cathedral is disproportionately haunted.

Due to its somewhat unique circumstances, the rapid development of Derby as the 19th Century became the 20th, means that the Cathedral is just kind of... There. It's right on the street, easy to pass by as you go about your business, whether that's shopping or a hard night's drinking. Which makes roaming spectres pretty easy to blunder across without needing to go out of your way. A man in Jacobite clothes can be seen walking into the Cathedral, something reported as being remarkably common by a woman who used to live opposite the main entrance. Her home is now converted into a store, making me wonder how many people working and shopping will have this strange figure just pop up and vanish without realising it isn't simply some eccentric pedestrian. The back entrance to the former church has a small collection of possible spirits doing their own thing surrounded by the hustle and bustle of modern life. A small boy can appear then disappear, a crying young woman may be encountered, and a White Lady can sometimes be seen walking down the steps.

Should you fancy taking taking the side path of the Cathedral to cut across Derby, there's a renowned enough ghost to be identified by name. You may be unlucky enough to encounter a distressed looking wanderer in old fashioned clothes. This would be John Crossland, and once you hear his story you understand why he doesn't want to pass over to the other side to find out what awaits him. He was a former executioner who turned to a life of crime to make ends meet, perhaps because he found this the morally preferable alternative? Maybe all the killing got to him. If true, it makes what happened next a fate worse than death. Crossland's life as an outlaw caught up with him, and he was met with an ultimatum. He could meet the end of a rope himself, when an executioner could make the time to come over to Derby from another county. Or Crossland could have a pardon, on the understanding that he spend the rest of his life as the local executioner the county courts needed. This, in itself, is horrific as it was the life Crossland wanted to leave badly enough to turn to crime, but it came with an extra catch. He had a first job the courts insisted he must do as a further condition to the pardon. Crossland had to execute his own brother and father. The unlucky executioner would then spend the rest of his life being sent around multiple shires, doing the unwanted job, until he should eventually die himself. Buried he may have been some time after evading execution, but John Crossland was far from laid to rest. He doesn't want to find out what comes next for him. He just... Wanders the night. Guilt ridden, and afraid.

So, definitely visit Derby Cathedral! Like I say, the staff are lovely, it's an interesting little building with a curious history, and if you fancy doing something of a nighttime stakeout looking for spooks? There are plenty of chances to get lucky.

SECTION BREAK – Gaol With No Parole

Derby, in its bid for being one of the most haunted places in Britain, has claim to one particularly haunted building. The Derby Gaol. Spelt G A O L because English neither respects no fears any attempt to tame the language, you already know you're on to an old building steeped in misery. Modern jails get the modern spelling, the old spelling signposts a terrible history anywhere you find it.

The Darby Gaol even makes the claim to be THE most haunted of the bunch still standing in England.

It's underneath numbers 50 and 51 of Frairgate, already a worrying start, and parts of the old structure are suspected to have extended even further beneath other residences. Probably nothing you need to worry about if you live there now, I'm quite sure.

It was in active use between 1756 and 1828, with some use continuing until its ultimate closure as an official government building in 1929. Which isn't the longest running of prisons, but it also had its own gallows while in operation so probably had quite the turnover. It only appeared to have two main cells, but between the potential extra chambers and having a wood and rope structure outside the entrance to help empty them again that does little to suggest it wasn't busy. Being a Georgian Gaol it wasn't planned to be a long term stay. Criminals would be held there until their trial verdict was passed, then would likely be punished immediately thereafter. Sometimes that would be the short drop from the gallows outside, but it would also be where floggings got carried out until the punished party was a bloody mess, or thieves got branded with the letter T.

To say this was not a nice place would be a severe understatement. Law and order becomes something of a looser term the further back in time you go, punishment being meted out a little liberally. There was no segregation by age, gender, or severity of crime so each windowless underground cell getting stuffed full with six people 23 hours a day with just a bucket to share for a toilet was not going to lead to happy memories. The punishments carried out there were seen as a useful deterrent for further crime, whether it was “only” the painful outcomes or one of the 56 recorded hangings. The amount of hangings was in part due to a law passed for a time called the “The Bloody Code”, which meant any crime no matter how small could be punished by death at the court's discretion. Those hangings weren't the only deaths, either, as inmates were known to kill each other and even themselves out of desperation down in the dark of the gaol.

There are signs that the inmates were terrified of the ghosts of those damned to death there. Witch marks, preserved to this day, got crudely scratched into the doors of the cells. Two V's next to each over, roughly etched into the wood in an attempt to block evil spirits from passing the barriers and joining the crowded misery beyond.

Visitors report seeing ghosts of men, women, and even children who all may have been former inmates there at some point. The ghostly children are known to laugh and play about the place, which probably isn't a comforting sound in the dead of night. One room used for the holding of criminals condemned for death can sometimes be found with two hanging bodies facing each other, two brothers who assisted in ended their lives on their own terms before the hangman could get them. While these apparitions seem common enough, most activity that gets reported seems to be strange noises. Inexplicable footsteps, creaking of doors, and the bonus fun one of creepy whispering emanating from the shadows. There are also plenty of reports of cold spots, although being underground this isn't the strangest of phenomena.

As part and parcel of the ghostly overcrowding going on down there, poltergeist activity also get reported. Rarer seeming than the other encounters, it can range from simple moving objects to sudden inexplicable attacks. The witch marks may have been a good idea, although they may not always be effective. One of the cell doors is well known for opening and closing itself with no apparent cause. One legend attached to a particular spirit is that of a former gaoler, an inmate managed to murder the man running the prison and ever since then he has continued to wander about in there. Its collection of immiserated criminals, some of whom may even have been guilty, along with dozens of murderers and revolutionaries who met their ends at the gallows there seem to have left quite the indelible impression upon the place.

Derby Gaol is currently fully restored as a museum and the current owner holds ghost hunting experiences, even overnight lock ins, should you feel brave enough. I haven't actually done one as yet, I'll consider that another reason to go back.

SECTION BREAK – The Traditional Pub Stop

If you've followed LukeLore for a while, you'll know that when we dig into a haunted location in Britain we look to include a haunted pub story. The Public Houses of the country tend to have seen some things, stretching back across centuries, and it's rarer to NOT find a haunted pub. There's generally a few to pick from. Derby is certainly no different, with a few good choices, but Ye Olde Dolphin Inne is something special.

Being Derby's oldest surviving pub, coming in at a founding from around 1530, it was basically inevitable it came with some strange stories across nearly 500 years of serving the community. It's an utterly gorgeous Grade II listed building, that's all of a one minute walk from the Cathedral. The Dolphin is usually referred to as the most haunted pub in Derby, and this being Derby you can be reasonably sure that marks out something especially spooky. As with other haunted pubs around the country, there's quite the cast of resident apparitions to bump into should you be exploring the nooks and crannies of the Inne. There's the ghost of a young boy who just sits in the way on a staircase, staring at anyone trying to get by – something worrying enough with a living child. The steak bar restaurant there has a Grey Lady that the current landlord swears to have seen himself, adding some extra spice to the dining experience. One ghost runs up and down the corridor separating the two main buildings of the structure, which seems reckless but at least has a low chance of a physical collision. There's also at least one headless monk, which feels like a classic phantom to pick up across the centuries.

But there's one ghost that is notoriously terrifying, and her origin needs a little extra background...

You see, what gets bonus interesting about the Dolphin Inne, is that arguably it's a newer addition to the structure that's more haunted than the original fixtures, and with quite the good reason once you understand what used to be there. This is going to get a little dark, and is the final section if you decide you've had enough. I promise you that it IS interesting, and is grounded in history rather than just being some gross out spectacle on my part, but we're about to go on something of a disturbing journey here.

There was an 18th Century extension to The Dolphin Inne, connecting the original structure to a house that used to belong to local doctors. The trick here, is what the resident doctors would get up to. This connects us back to the It's Alive episode, as there was a singular exception to the rule preventing the dissection of bodies around that time. Anyone interested in learning biology through the autopsy of a cadaver could only do so with the corpse of an executed criminal, something the Gaol could provide at the time. The condemned were terrified of the idea of this, part of the taboo in the mutilation of a corpse was the idea this could somehow impair progression to the afterlife, a fear severe enough it directly led to suicides among the condemned. Those poor souls preferring to risk that mortal sin, rather than face deconstruction under an aspiring surgeon's tools for fear of what it may mean to the integrity of their soul. This being the choice made by the two brothers who can be found still haunt the Derby Gaol.

This brings to mind the unfortunate John Crossland. I wonder if there was some overlap in businesses here?

There was a time before the more efficient gallows were in use, when a cart would take the condemned to the executioner and they would simply have the rope tied off before the cart just moved along. This would often result in death by strangulation, not a quick clean break. It's a process that could also vary wildly depending on the whim of the executioner. Some would attempt to get a clean drop, and failing that may result in some extra effort to finish the job. There are recorded examples of an executioner climbing a tree and pressing down on the hanging criminal from above, stepping down onto their shoulders to speed the process up. A much more common attempt would be to pull down on the criminal's legs, often one leg each between the executioner and an assistant they had to hand. This seems to be the morbid origin of any folksy sayings related to leg pulling. “You're pulling my leg” and “pull the other one” appear to be some classic, as well as literal, British gallows humour.

The lack of clean break also meant it was very possible to not actually kill the condemned criminal, with a more than fair chance of missing slight signs of life before they got cut down and carted off again.

Which brings us to the ghost in the basement of the newer building...

It was common enough that, when beginning to carve up the supposed corpse, it may well turn out that there was still yet some signs of life. Dissection was, instead, vivisection The unfortunate criminal would be dragged off the dissecting slab and left in a corner to see if they would recover, or have the good manners to finish dying quietly so the autopsy could resume. The basement of the old doctor's house was where the local criminals would end up after their death sentence, and so the stories go one such example of this was a poor woman who was alive, but comatose. The doctor had cut into her gut and began removing the innards when she suddenly sat up and screamed in his face, before collapsing back down dead.

This is the anguished death scream that can sometimes be heard replaying down in that basement. Staff prefer to go down there in pairs, and that room has become notorious for poltergeist activity disconnecting the kegs of real ale stored down there.

Ye Olde Dolphin Inne is somewhere else I completely failed to go on a first visit. I need to plan my trips better, but in my defence there's loads to see and do in Derby.

SECTION BREAK

That's it for this episode, but it's nowhere near everything Derby has to offer the ghost tourists among us. I didn't even touch upon the theatrical traditions there, and if you step a little outside the bounds of the city you immediately begin hitting fascinating small towns with more than their own fair share of spooks! I'm probably going to visit again at some point in the hopefully near future, don't be surprised if a follow up episode shares more Derby specific tales yet.

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