My Eerie Encounter on Yeadon Way

Sit down dear reader, get comfortable, let the train take the strain, as I regale you with the true life encounter of a phantom vehicle witnessed by myself back in the late 70’s . . Tightly grasping each other’s hands we quickly scrambled up the steep incline, our pathway choked by brambles and weeds. Leslie

Dead amongst the Dunes

Kathleen Elsie Breaks December 24th 1919 Even in death she was beautiful. But how did the ‘prettiest girl in Bradford’ end up dead among the sand dunes of Lytham, near Blackpool? Imagine the excitement 25 year old Mrs Breaks (for she was in fact a married woman) must have felt as her train slowed to

The Abominable Ablutions of Alice

Alice Burnham. Died 12/12/1913 In the eerie glow of a Bobby’s lantern a cheaply made coffin was raised slowly from its penultimate resting place. This was the second of three disinterments requested by detectives in the February of 1915. The cadaver of 25-year-old nurse Alice Burnham (of ‘Brides in the Bath’ infamy) was removed from

The Last Goodbye of Abigail Whalley

On the 11th May, 1931 the body of eccentric widow Abigail Whalley was discovered in her bungalow on Robins Lane, Carleton, near Blackpool. She was believed to be away on holiday as she had earlier confided in a local resident she was going away and had said ‘Goodbye, I might not see you again’ as

Suffer the Little Children

ALAMI, Ahmad Saded-Din Doctors have always encouraged a peculiar combination of faith and trepidation inside us all, within medical circumstance we are expected to give ourselves and our loved ones over to them when at our most vulnerable. Doctors have power over both life and death, we quite literally leave our lives in their hands.

She Who Walks Between The Stones

Many people have enquired about tours of Layton Cemetery, Blackpool, Lancashire, which unfortunately weren’t able to go ahead this year because of Covid restrictions. So allow me to take you on a fleeting excursion around some of the stones, giving a brief insight into the stories we will elaborate upon once we can safely escort

The Monsterous Misses Flaherty

A house once belonging to three sisters from Ireland, situated where Forest Gate meets North Park Drive, was renowned for being haunted. Crying children could be regularly heard, along with pained screams of ‘Mummy!’ On the upper floors & attic tiny footsteps scuttled around. During the 1930s the sewage pipes were dug up for replacement

From Balaclava to Blackpool

25th October1854 The Charge of the Light Brigade wasn’t just a disaster in its own right; It marked the final turning point of the Battle of Balaclava. For the Russians, Balaclava was a morale-boosting victory. Yet it is in Britain that the ill fated charge became the stuff of legend! Here at Layton Cemetery, Blackpool,

The Southport and St Anne’s Lifeboat Disaster

The worst disaster in the history of the RNLI, 27 lifeboatmen were lost attempting to save the crew of a foundering ship The Southport and St Anne’s Lifeboat Disaster

Exotic Ecdysiast Extraordinaire!

(Augusta Carolina Rosaline Wingfield died 12th October 1947) The Queen of the Spiral – The Belle of the Ball! One of the most wonderful entertainers to grace Blackpool ~ that you’ve never heard of! Also known as ‘Alphonsine La Belle Rose’ Queen of the Spiral (or sometimes just plain Mrs Wingfield) Augusta was, in her