Chat It’s Fate — August 2017

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Britain’s network of canals

hides many dark secrets

Harecastle
Tunnel:
Many
apparitions

Springy Jack!

Spooky

footsteps

Young ghost:

Walks alone

Holiday time:

Float your boat?

Red steps:

Terrible stains

58 Chat it’s fate

Fright at the end

of the tunnel!

Grisly sights

Blood^

runs deep

Alright,

Jack

?

Photos (Posed by models) getty images/alamy

A

trip by barge along one of Britain’s

historic waterways is a holidaymaker’s

dream... Great pubs, beautiful scenery,

the chance to relax and watch the world

go by from your boat. But once the sun goes down,

the 200-year old canal network’s creepy tunnels,

spooky locks and misty towpaths become a whole

lot more sinister and spooky...

S

tandedge Tunnel on the Huddersfield

Narrow Canal at Marsden is the country’s

longest and highest (above sea level) tunnel,

measuring 3.25 miles long.

Over 200 years old, dark and with a dripping ceiling, it’s

easy to believe it’s been the scene of many

gruesome events. More than 50 navvies

were killed during its construction,

which took 17 years in ghastly

conditions, and their dying groans

have been heard by travellers.

The restless ghost of a poor

local girl, 15-year old Matilda

Crowther killed in 1935, has

been spotted wandering the

tunnel. Several people

have claimed to see pink

orbs, or have been

overcome by fear and

claustrophobia, and

had to leave

immediately.

T

he Trent & Mersey Canal’s

Harecastle Tunnel at^

Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, is

home to the ghost of Kit^

Crewbucket, who was^

murdered and his headless^

corpse dumped

in the canal.^

He’s

sometimes^

known

as the^

Kidsgrove^

Boggart^

• although,^
  confusingly, so is^
  another apparition^
  of a young woman
  who was decapitated in^
  the tunnel in the 1800s and her body chucked^
  into a local coal hole.^
  Her headless ghost
  was once said by
  local miners to be^
  a forewarning of^
  disaster. In 1990, a
  row of boats was^
  waiting to enter the^
  Harecastle Tunnel,^
  but were blocked by^
  an old working boat^
  coming the other^
  way. Only before
  coming out the other^
  end, it mysteriously^
  disappeared...

A

t Brindley Bank Aqueduct in Staffordshire, the

Trent & Mersey Canal is haunted by the ghost of 37-year-

old Christina Collins, who was brutally raped and murdered

there on 17 June 1839 as she travelled down by barge to

London to join her husband, Robert.^

Three boatmen were convicted of her killing; two were

hanged, the third transported. As Christina’s body was dragged

near the Talbot Inn, her blood ran down a flight of sandstone

steps leading from the canal, and it’s said the red stain reappear

on those stones – giving them their name, the Bloody Steps.

I

n the mid-19th^

Century, a^

bizarre fiend^

called Spring-

heeled Jack^

terrorised

the country.

His claim to fame was he could jump vast^

distances – over buildings, across rivers...

He was spotted everywhere, but one of

his favourite haunts was the Grand Union^

Canal in London, which he was seen^

springing over more than once. Some say

his footsteps can still be heard there.