Dunstable, Bedfordshire

Dunstable Downs

thisisparanormal

Due to its extensive and illustrious history, Dunstable is a town which has long been associated with hauntings and paranormal activity. Although a sceptic, tales of and investigations into paranormal activity interest me greatly due to their connection to our town's wonderful history.

Throughout this section of the site, I hope to document as many of Dunstable's reported paranormal sightings as possible. If you have had any paranormal experiences, please contact me by emailing adam@thisisdunstable.co.uk.

Priory Church - The prior lives on

The ghost of a former prior is said to walk around the building eight times a day in accordance with religious ritual. Interestingly, the observed route follows the walkways which existed in the old Priory Church - routes which now pass partly through the Church gardens and have not been within the Church walls for hundreds of years.

A ghostly Benedictine monk

A Benedictine monastery once stood on the site opposite the gates of Priory Gardens (now in the area of the town clock). A local archaeologist, while undertaking excavation work in the town, stayed in a caravan on the site of the old Benedictine monastery. One night, he was awoken by his caravan shaking violently. On going outside to investigate, the man found himself face-to-face with a hooded Benedictine monk.

The Black Horse pub - The headless war hero

Although the Black Horse pub no longer exists, items in the former pub would often move or go missing and lights would frequently turn on and off. One day, the barmaid saw a headless Civil War soldier stood by the bar.

The Victoria pub - The injured stable boy

A stable boy with an injured hand is known to haunt The Victoria pub on West Street. In the garden at the back of the pub is an old stable block where the ghost is often seen.

The White Swan pub - Caught on camera

Continuing the theme of pub hauntings, The White Swann in High Street South is home to a ghost who likes to interact with modern technology. With security cameras filming the inside of the pub constantly, the owners have often seen a figure walking through the empty bar. When the tape is played back, however, the figure is gone. It is worth noting that this pub is thought to date back to 1769 when it was called The Two Black Boys.

Buttercup Lane - A floating spectre

Buttercup Lane is situated at the corner of Canesworde Road, next to the entrance to Hurlock Close and leads up to the Dunstable Downs Golf Course. In 1969, two men were walking up Buttercup Lane when they saw a man wearing a large hat, gliding about eighteen inches from the ground. The man had no arms or legs, was between eight and ten feet tall, and changed colour from white to black.

Church Walk - A dog gets spooked

Church Walk is the alleyway which leads down the side of the old Woolworths building on High Street South, through the car park and up to the Priory Church. In days gone by, this narrow lane was nicknamed Corpse Walk as this was the route coffins were taken through to Priory Church. In the late 1940s, a man was walking his dog along Church Walk when the dog rooted itself to the spot, growling and baring its teeth at no obvious threat. Yelping, the dog turned and ran back down the alley towards the High Street and was hit by a passing car.

The A5 cricketer - A recurring haunting

This is a popular recurring haunting which occurs just outside Dunstable on the edge of Kensworth by the Packhorse pub. A ghost has been seen standing by the side of the road and occasionally steps out in front of cars. The man is believed to be a cricketer from the Kenwood Manufacturing Company cricket team who was killed in a coach crash in 1958 when returning from a match at Milton Bryan.

The guilty builder - A residential poltergeist

The following account was sent to us by visitor who lives in Dunstable.

Our house was built in the 1960s in the south-east of Dunstable. Four years ago, we had our living room completely gutted out and redesigned. As part of the redesign, we knocked out our old fireplace area and put in a new one. On doing so, we discovered that the old wall cavities had been filled with rubble as well as pieces of old gravestones. We could even make out some of the names and words that were carved into them. Excited by our discovery, we put the gravestone remains to one side and left them in our front garden for a few days while we continued the renovation.

That night, my television turned itself on at full volume. This particular television set is always silent when turned on - you need to manually turn the volume up. The following morning, my mother heard a crash in the bathroom and found a selection of toiletries in the bath. These toiletries were originally on the other side of the room. The door was closed and no windows were open. What's more, everyone else in the house was asleep. Along with a few other electrical oddities, we were starting to get rather worried.

At the time, my mother worked in a local gym. One day whilst at work, a customer came up to her and said, "You've got problems with spirits, haven't you?". Without my mother even saying a word, the woman told my mother "he's nervous because you've moved the gravestones". The lady went on to tell my mother that the ghost was of the builder who had originally built our fireplace. He had somehow obtained these stolen gravestones and was worried that he would get caught now that they were in our front garden - in public view.

When she got home, my mother moved the gravestones and buried them at the bottom of the garden. Needless to say, the strange events stopped straight away.

A year later, I received a large electric shock when plugging in a new printer - which wasn't even switched on! Our television turned itself on again - on full volume. Additionally, my brother's music system kept turning its own volume down and my parents' video player would start up and play at random intervals. This all occurred within the space of a week. When we told my father about this, he went as white as a sheet. He told us that he was working in the garden on the Sunday and had discovered the gravestones whilst digging. As they were in his way, he dug them up and put them at the side of the lawn. Upon hearing this, we went out and buried them again and the electrical problems stopped.

Our next-door neighbours, on hearing this story, told us that they had had similar experiences when they renovated their fireplace.