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Crossroads Spirit

gellatly68

gellatly68

Deity upon a velocipede
Joined
Jan 16, 2004
Messages
274
I'd like to relate this tale. It didn't happen to me, fortunately! The only reason I paid notoce to this tale is because the guy who related it is a thoroughly bluff, no-nonsense Northerner who wouldn't make stuff like this up.
Andy, to give him his name, and his friends had been out on the beach somewhere near Hull. It was a summer night, with a full moon. They were heading home when they walked past a crossroads with a telephone box situated on one of the corners. Suddenly, the phone began ringing. After their initial surprise, they started joking that it was probably a ghost trying to make contact. Andy picked up the receiver, and said, 'Hello? Mr. Ghost? You there? Hello?', but there was no answer. He put the receiver back down, and they carried on their way, making jokes about it, when Andy noticed their shadows on the road.
'Dave', he said to his mate. 'How many of us are there?'
'Four of us,' replied Dave.
'I know that,' said Andy. 'So why are there five shadows?'
And there, next to them, was a fifth shadow.
Unsurprisingly, they crapped themselves, and began to run. After a while, they slowed down, but then, from behind them, they heard the sound of footsteps. Looking behind, they couldn't see anyone behind them. The footsteps increased their pace, and suddenly they saw a shadow on the road, racing towards them. Cue panicked sprinting for home and bed!
An odd story, and as I say, I wouldn't normally believe this if it hadn't been for the person telling it!
 
Eh? I don't understand why this is odd. If you're standing under a lamppost you often get 2 shadows.
 
I think there's a thread about shadowmen around here somewhere. Sounds like one of those guys.
 
Gibbets and such other devices were often used at cross roads so as to confuse the ghost of the criminals in them (which would surly not go to heaven) so they couldnt get revenge out of the judge and jury.
 
Crossroads are often regarded as haunted; often as they are the site of many accidents in the past.

In Bradford, West Yorkshire (where I used to live) there is a crossroads known locally as 'Hellfire Corner'. It is unclear how it aquired this name, but it does seem appropriate as, even though in recent yers the junction is controlled by traffic lights, it has been the site of many serious and fatal road accidents.

The pub on the crossroads is notoriously haunted, and there have been many sightings of 'phantom' cars and even horsedrawn coaches. There are often sightings of 'out of place' vehicles - old cars from the 60s and 70s which look too 'lived in' to be kept as classics; the 60s and 70s being the junction's killing heyday.

When looking into local Lore; there's usually some kind of haunted crossroads around somewhere, no matter what area you live in.
 
There's a place near me on the A428 called Caxton Gibbet, which is a crossroads with a roundabout. The gibbet is still there, with a Chinese restaurant next to it.
I have no idea if there are any ghost legends about this place, though.
 
Speaking of crossroads, the Full Moon Ghost story reminded me of another story about a group of geologists travelling in Siberia. They were out in the countryside and had to stop for the night. So they chose a spot near a crossroads. They all got down and settled for the night, right on the ground, just off the crossroads, - all except for one guy who for some reason decided he wanted to lie down smack in the middle of the intersection (crossroads). Anyway, some time during the night that man was violently kicked aside from his sleeping place. He woke up the rest of the party and told then of what had happened. One old man realized that the young guy shouldn't have settled down where he had and warned him to move aside, as he must have been staying in the path of some local spirit. Still, this young stubborn chap laughed it off and lay in the same spot again. Guess what - when everyobody went to sleep he got kicked so hard that he flew off his nesting spot (Russian ghosts aren't as polite as British, mind you). This time he learned his lesson.

In addition, some people believe that you should never walk directly across the crossroads (kitty-corners) as it is the spot usually used by those practising witchcraft. That's a very ancient belief.
 
Crossroads are also important in voodoo. In order to open the doors to the spirit world, practitioners must first contact Papa Legba, the gaurdian of the crossroads. Legba is a promethian figure who controlls the passage between the worlds of spirit and of flesh, and his symbol (or veve) is a stylized cross.
 
gellatly68 It wasnt anywhere near Lelley inbetween Preston and Sproatley was it? As the crossroads near there has a strange entity called 'The Lelley Boggle' which appears near the Stag Inn and haunts the road upto the crossroads, apparantly.

I live in Hull myself and have read many stories about the roads leading to the coast out of Hull, one such story tells of a man on his way back from buying fish and chips from the chip shop in Bilton. He was on his way back along the country road past Sandhill Nurseries when something took over his car and drove him for miles and at that point near the crossroads he finally managed to regain control of his vehicle!

Weird.
 
He went to the pub with a lass he was seeing at the time, when he drove off home down towards Sandhills he said he thought he could see lanterns in his mirror all the way untill he turned left at the bottom to go into preston, used to live down neat marsh and that had a story aswell, anyway he said he mentioned it to his lass and she said oh it sounds like the lelley boggle and some other stuff etc...
 
My encounter with the Lelley Boggle or Ghostly Carriage Lights

It was about the year 1999 when I had been with my friend Emma to the stag inn pub, and after a few drinks I drove her back home after dropping her off at her parents farm house I drove home via the crossroads, I remember being about half way in between the Stag Inn Pub and the crossroads and saw what looked like very dim orange lights, I pulled up at the crossroads to check if I could pull out when I checked my mirrors I could see the lights getting much closer, moments before I pulled away in the direction of Sandhills nurseries, the lights looked just like old style carriage lights you used to have on horse drawn carriages, I thankfully never looked back at them only saw them in the mirrors, as I was told if you look into the lights your self you see the spirit driving the carriage and its meant to imply your doom, needless to say im still here and went home rather hurriedly.

The day after I was told the Carriage driver used to frequent the Stag In Pub, and one night in the pouring rain he left late and on his way home he lost control of the horses and carriage, and not knowing he met his untimely death he roams the road between the Stag Inn Pub and the crossroads, also your not meant to look into his carriage lights as you see his spirit and its said to drive you mad, enough that if your driving you could easily crash.

Pete
 
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deanofox said:
one such story tells of a man on his way back from buying fish and chips from the chip shop in Bilton. He was on his way back along the country road past Sandhill Nurseries when something took over his car and drove him for miles
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I rather hope he eventually bowed to the inevitable, shrugged, and ate his fish supper while the boggle attended to the driving duties.
 
Mythopoeika said:
There's a place near me on the A428 called Caxton Gibbet, which is a crossroads with a roundabout. The gibbet is still there, with a Chinese restaurant next to it.
I have no idea if there are any ghost legends about this place, though.
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I've read years ago that Caxton Gibbet is haunted might have been Peter Underwood.

here's a few googles:

http://eerieplace.com/ghostly-tales-from-caxton-gibbet/

http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/cambridgeshire/hauntings/caxton-gibbet.html
 
Frideswide said:
shades of The Hands of Dartmoor? :eek::eek::eek::eek:
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That reminds me when i lived in Preston several years ago I was driving home late one evening, it had been snowing heavily and Neat Marsh Lane is very narrow, the snow very deep and I couldn't get off to one side as towards me coming at speed was a big truck, I sounded my horn but it was no good, fearing immanent death and in fear I covered my head with my arms and hands and crouched behind my wheel expecting any second to be hit by the truck, then all I felt was buffeting around a lot, and my ABS brakes pulling me up on the ice looking up the truck was gone, I got out shaking and trembling from the intense fear looked at my self looked at my car in complete disbelief not so much as a mark or scratch, then looked behind the truck was gone, but in the thick snow you could see were it had been and were my car went, it seemed my car came off the road crossed a ditch turned in a half circle on the field, re crossed the ditch and back on the road, I cant explain it and even telling the story it docent sound real but I remember it very well, I remember telling a friend they joked saying it was your guardian angel Pete who drove your car, well who knows but it still makes me sweat thinking about it.

Pete
 
There's a crossroads out on the A449 South Staffs that has the occasional
late night horseman sighting ,about half a mile from Gibbit Wood were the last man in England to be gibbited met his end ,oh yes plus the odd car that disappears just up the road(at another crossroads )
,can you ride a horse at 3am ? Any Equestrians out there?
 
I've been down to the local Crossroads at midnight to ask to be able to play better guitar than Steve Vai.

Alas, I'm still a shit guitarist and got propositioned by a man who seemed to think I would be good at playing the piccolo, for some strange reason. A purple one.
 
There's a place I sometimes go mountain biking or simply walking the nature trails, near Hindhead in Surrey. There are two impressive valleys either side of an ancient crossroads, called The Devil's Punchbowl and Gibbet Hill.

A sailor was brutally murdered there and his killers hanged in chains and left to die of exposure or starvation in 1786.
Here are some photos I took there several years back, including the stone marking the spot of the gibbet. The Wikipedia page reports there is a curse on anyone who removes or damages the stone:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_Sailor

Unsurprisingly, the place has a disturbing atmosphere, with people expressing feelings of anxiety and unwholesome sensation as they pass. The spot is rumoured to be haunted by one of the murderers, still begging for forgiveness and mercy:

GibbetHill003.jpg

GibbetHill008.jpg


GibbetHill004.jpg
 
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Back in the early 90's I used to avoid the highway traffic and take the back way home from work in the afternoons. My route took me through a notoriously haunted small Texas town. One day I was driving home and it was very close to raining on me. There was a dark thunderstorm approaching and it looked like it might start raining at any moment. I rounded a corner at a crossroad and I saw a young woman with a metal walker standing by the side of the road with her thumb out. She gave me a pleading look as I drove past which looked absolutely pathetic. I felt kinda torn about possibly giving her a ride. If she looked like a normal person with no "baggage" I most certainly would have given her a ride, but something about her looked off to me and I had a sense of some sort that if I offered her a ride I would NOT be doing her any kind of favor. So I drove on down the road wondering if I'd done the right thing. I did feel like a bit of a cad leaving her there to get rained on. Well, it was a few years later and I had the same exact thing happen AGAIN. At the same spot. And it was the same exact weather condition as the first time, very close to starting to rain. And there she was again, just standing there with her walker with a pleading expression on her face, and I had that same feeling again. I didn't know what her story was or where she wanted to go, but just a sense that giving her a ride won't make anything any better for her. I didn't really think I was looking at a ghost, or anything out of the ordinary, really. But the odd coincidence of that girl with the walker hitchhiking and both times it was about to start pouring rain. More recently, someone erected a roadside cross at that exact spot, indicating someone had been killed there. I have no idea if there might be any connection. But it makes me wonder.
 
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