ROB GANDYABOVE:Abridg eoverthe brook atSandbach Heath,just to the no rthofStJohnthe Evangelist Church, which is visible in th ebackground.BELOW:Blue Bel lHill
in northKent is home to anotorious road ghos tlinked to the deathofabride-to-be in1965.The storywastold by Sean Tudor inFTin No vember 1997.
FT389 43stopped the car and joined MissWand
Chris whodescribed what hadhappened.
Theyall tried to callforthe police andan
ambulance on their mobiles, onlytofind
that there wasnosignal.They decided
thatMiss Wand Chrisshoulddrive on to
find somewherewhere theycould finda
telephone,orget asignal,whilethe friends
stayedbythe bridge towait and seeif they
couldfind thewoman.Afterabout three
minutesMissWand Chriscameacross a
ratherisolated,moderately-sizedpublic
house–MissWthinksthatit couldhave
accommodatedabout 50 people.Thepub
carpark wasnot very large and most cars
were parked on theroad. Beyond thepub
were anumber of houses.MissWand Chris
stopped andentered.
Theyaskedforatelephoneanddescribed
whathad happened.Theyweregreetedby a
deathlysilence.Thelandladythenexplained
thatwhat theyhad seenwas theghost of a
woman called ‘Sarah’ who hadfallen offthe
bridgeand drowned onherweddingday
25 yearspreviously. Shehadbeenwearing
herweddingdress. Thephantomhad been
witnessedeveryyear on the anniversary.
MissWandChriswere naturallyshocked.In
the circumstances, accepting what theyhad
beentold,theydecidednot to call thepolice
or ambulance.Theyreturnedto theirfriends
beforesettingoff on theremainderoftheir
journeytoMerseyside.
This isaveryintriguingstory, particularly
as manyaspectspotentiallysoundfolkloric:
an anniversaryghost, appearingeveryyear
for25years;the ghostisthat ofabride;and,
aremote pubwhereeveryone is familiar
with the ghost.Thereare some parallels
with thefamous BlueBellHill ghost,in
Kent, whereabride-to-bewas killed in a
carcrash on theeveofher weddingday(seeFT73:28, 104:36-40). Ihavepressed
MissWaboutthe variousdetails,andshe
is whollysincere about herexperience.
Indeed, during ourvarious correspondences,
she mether friend Lucyfromthe second
car, whocorroboratedthe story. Therefore,
it appears to be agenuine, first-handmulti-
witnessexperience.Unfortunately,Miss
Wcannotremembersufficient detailsto
enableidentificationofthe bridge andpub.
Sherecalls therewerenotraffic lightson
the bridge and no otherbridges, such as
overarailway, were nearby.
Ipursued severaldifferent approaches in
my follow-upinvestigation.IcontactedFT’s
Alan Murdie toaskif theGhost Club^1 had
anythingof relevanceinits records. Alan
washis usual helpful self,but unfortunately
nothingwasfound.Ialso liaised with
fellowWeird Weekend Northpresenter
MikeWalters,who livesinthe Stoke-on-
Trentarea[FT355:24].Mikehas agood
knowledgeof allstrangephenomenain
the area andexcellentcontacts.He putthe
word out throughouthisnetwork,seeking
relatedinformation,butalso drewablank.
Nevertheless,heprovided detailsofsome
other storiesbelow.
Itried identifying potentiallocationson
Google Maps and Street View,but failedto
identify anybridgeswherethe locations and
descriptionsfitted the detailsprovided;it
is unlikelyIcoveredall possibilities.Ithen