GHOSTS and ghouls, poltergeists, phantoms, restless souls and spirit guides. You can safely wager that any mention, in this cobwebby column, of one or other of these things is bound to trigger off keen supernatural response.

The 'unknown', in my gossip-writing experience, is an area into which our readership just loves to venture.

And this week we have tales of the ghosts of a red-clogged pitman; a mysterious 'lady in grey'; and an old decapitated woman - together with a reputed deathbed visitation by a martyred saint.

An old chum of mine, fascinated by tales of the unexplained, picked up on the mysterious theme after reading my earlier piece (January 27) about the spirit of an Irish navvy, said to have haunted the canal area of Blackbrook in years past. Though greatly familiar with Blackbrook, having lived and taught in that district for many years, Kevin Heneghan had never before heard of this particular spook.

"However," he says, "we can probably put a date on him. If fatally injured while moving heavy stonework (as earlier stated) this was almost certainly during construction of the Old Double Locks - first staircase lock system on any English canal - between 1756 and 1757."

In my friend's youth, the canal-side playing fields, now used by Blackbrook ARLFC, were known as the Flat Yard, as canal boats (known as flats) were built and repaired there. Blackbrook, it would appear, was among the most haunted places in the region. It is reported that three Roman Catholic Sisters, on various dates, spotted the 'lady in grey' in the vicinity of St Mary's Church.

"One of the last sightings was by the late Pat Flanagan, who taught at Blackbrook House School," adds K. H. "Pat was walking towards the church one evening when his little dog ran ahead, but soon returned in a state of terror. Pat looked up, and on the path leading to the junior school, he saw a figure in a long, grey dress - a figure that was clearly not of this world."

Many Blackbrookers, from earlier generations, were convinced that the headless ghost of old Moll Bolton haunted a field beside the lane leading to Stanley Bank Farm. She was said to have been decapitated by a coal-box on the gravity railway that once carried coal downhill from Pewfall and Garswood collieries to the Blackbrook canal wharf.

My erudite chum goes on: "Perhaps Haydock readers will remember stories of Red Clogs, said to haunt old workings in the Lyme Pits. One of the most daring lads I knew found work there. He and another youth were near the entrance to the workings when they saw, coming towards them, a figure carrying an old-fashioned safety-lamp.

"They thought at first it was a fireman testing for gas, but then noticed his unusual red clogs."

When shouts brought no response, a piece of stone was thrown - and this passed straight through the apparition. The lads took to their heels in panic, probably finding no comfort when told by their more senior workmates that to see Red Clogs was a warning to give up working underground . . . or else!

Another story revolves around St Oswald's Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield where the severed hand of St Edmund Arrowsmith, martyred at Lancaster in 1628, is preserved in a glass case. This sacred hand is credited with having miracle properties. The account concerns a lady, dying in a south of England hospital. When the end seemed near, a sister and brother-in-law who had been attending her, asked the hospital authorities to send for a priest, who duly arrived and ministered to the dying woman.

Later, the pair asked who the priest was, so they could thank him. It was then learned that the hospital had been unable to contact anyone.

Then, while going through her sister's effects, the woman found a small coloured card with the head and shoulders of a priest printed on it. She at once recognised that it was the priest who had attended her sister.

"Her blood ran cold," writes K.H., "when she read from the card that it was a likeness of St Edmund Arrowsmith, to whom her sister had been evidently devoted."

Stories of ghosts go back throughout history, and are referred to in the Bible.

"There are various theories," says K.H. "One of the most favoured is that incidents which give rise to strong emotions leave imprints on the atmosphere. Some people, rather like television receivers, can convert these impressions into sights, sounds, touches and even smells."

The last word on the subject must come from the conclusions of famous ghost-hunter Harry Price who once observed that 99.9 per cent of ghost stories have a perfectly natural explanation.

IT was that odd 0.1 per cent that kept him interested.

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