It's Halloween, and Bradford's ghostly past is thrown into sharp focus here by Skipton's MALCOLM HANSON. Malcolm is the the official ghost walker for Valletta, Malta, and is the author of the Valletta Ghost Walk, Keighley's Darkest Secrets and A Skipton Anthology.

There is an ancient crossroads situated between Bradford, Halifax and Brighouse, and very close to Wyke, which would seem to house a dark secret.

For centuries, possibly even before our present-day roads existed, locals have unofficially dubbed the area "Hellfire Corner" due, it is claimed, to a long succession of strange events.

In the 1940s a fatal motor accident took place at the crossroads; an event which was given a rather bizarre twist by the driver who claimed to have been startled by a light in the nearby woods causing him to ram his car into the wall.

This appears to have been just one example of a long list of unexplained happenings that have given the area a ghostly reputation. Paranormal researchers claim that local children refuse to play in nearby Judy Woods as "white smoky glows" have been seen to rise up between the trees.

Travel north just a handful of miles and you enter Bradford city centre and, in particular, West and East Bowling, where stands Bradford's most haunted house, Bolling Hall. This beautiful building houses a museum and is open to the public who come to gawp at the exhibits.

Yet it is not always just the exhibits that attract the more curious: many come in the hope of catching a glimpse of the supposedly 20-plus spectres that frequent the building and its grounds.

The most famous of this ghostly collection is the notorious White Lady who in the night wrung her hands and wailed "Pity poor Bradford" at the Royalist commander the Earl of Newcastle when he stayed at the hall at the height of the Bradford Civil War seige, and from where he had given orders that every Parliamentarian man, woman and child in Bradford were to be put to death.

The earl was terrified by the apparition and at dawn countermanded his orders. Whether she was real, fake or imaginary, the White Lady saved Bradford from what would have been a terrible fate.

Be careful when travelling the back lanes of Calverley for you might just encounter the hellish phantom of Walter Calverley on a red-eyed steed galloping wildly along the long road to hell. In 1605, the then Lord of the Manor, who lived at Calverley Old Hall, went insane and tortured his wife before stabbing to death his two eldest sons, after which he set off pell-mell along the back lanes of Calverley in pursuit of his youngest son, who was out with the nanny. Luckily for the little boy, Calverley's horse hit a rabbit hole and the mad lord was halted.

Brought to York Assizes on charges of murder, Calverley refused to plead, bringing down on himself an automatic death sentence - of the worst kind. He met his end in a horrible manner: that of being pressed to death by weights until his chest caved in.

But this terrible story is far from finished; it is claimed witches raided his grave at York, reburying his body in an unmarked grave at St Wilfred's Church, Calverley, after which they created a ritual which invoked the spirit of their demonic "master". It was after this that Calverley's ghost was seen frantically riding the lanes, perhaps still searching for the young boy.

The "Calverley Ritual" is now long-forgotten, but I have visited St Wilfred's Church and performed the ritual in the very place the witches did all those centuries ago. The strangest thing was within minutes I was joined by a man who I took to be the local vicar. He showed me around the church before departing, "because", he said, "the real vicar will be along soon..."

In Keighley stands a house, now used an an office, which is soon to be bulldozed. This building has had a very dark reputation: I understand in the past several suicides - and at least one murder - have taken place within its walls. The things that haunt this place - and the nearby mill - are legion.

However though frightening they may be, there is one wraith within this miasma of lost souls that produces smiles, warmth, and feelings of love towards it from all who encounter it, as someone recently explained to me.

"My friends and I, who are students, moved into the house just a short while ago. We had already been told the place was haunted and, by way of welcome to the house we should all expect to see a little Victorian girl materialise within the first 24 hours of occupation.

"On our first day, as I was unpacking in my bedroom, I suddenly sensed a change in atmosphere. I turned around and there, framed in the doorway, was the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen.

"She smiled at me and then the strangest thing happened: though she did not speak I heard her voice in my mind saying "You can see me, can't you?" With that the girl vanished, though she later appeared to each of my friends, in turn - just as we had been told".

Careful checking of census records by a friend revealed that the house had been built in 1881 by the mill owner, who at that time was living there with his wife and one-year-old daughter. In 1891 the census reported that now only he and his wife lived there - the daughter had recently died. Her name was Fanny Slingsby.

Fanny has dwelt in the house for the past 116 years, greeting everyone who has ever lived there with the same smile and welcome. She is happy in her world where, at night-time, when the offices are closed, she mischievously plays havoc with the staple gun, and woe betide anyone who leaves important papers lying around - Fanny will hide them in the most inappropriate places.

Before the house comes down, I intend to gain permission to spend 24 hours there. I want to be the last person on earth to meet this lovely little ghost, and if Fanny should appear to me I will tell her I can see her too, but I will also call her by her name - the first person to have done so for more than a century - and I will attempt to explain as gently as possible that perhaps it is now time to leave and go on to another place where her loved ones are waiting - and when she is ready, we will leave together.

  • Got a scary local story? Malcolm Hanson can be contacted at info@malcolmhanson.co.uk or radioleeds@bbc.co.uk