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Workplace Synchronicity & Hartshead Tunnel Spectre(s)

evilsprout

Gone But Not Forgotten
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I'm doing a work placement at a regional newspaper, and today went into the clippings library to get some research on a local character I had to write a story on.

The guy in the library had never heard of this fella, but found his clippings file, pulled out one of the clippings to check it was the right guy, and gave me the envelope with the clippings in.

When I went back to the library later in the day, it turned out the next thing he looked up on the microfilm (on a completely different subject) was on exactly the same page as the clipping he pulled out of the envelope! And this was a page going back to 1993.

Spooky, eh?
 
You working at the Star now Sprout? I once had occasion to search the microfilm archive looking for Spring Heeled Jack stuff.

You do know about the Hartshead Tunnel and it's resident bucket carrying spectre, right?

If it isn't the Star, I don't know any stories about the Sheffield Gazette and Motor Gazette offices, I'm afraid.
 
Not the Sheff Star, it's the local paper in Huddersfield.

Heard of Hartshead ghost but don't know all the details... what's the story?
 
I've seen the manager of the Pub FKA "the Tut", and the big bald guy with the beard who's a regular (what band is he in?!?) carrying a bucket through there... they may be "rock" in nature, but they sure as hell ain't ghosts :) I still want to know the contents of that bucket...

I've walked through that tunnel hundreds (thousands?) of times... not seen anything more threatening than members of Less Than Zero or Freekspert after binge drinking!

Maybe the ghosts will be rattled by the proposed "continental plaza" and the other redevelopment at hartshead :eek:

However, Sprout, maybe it's not colleagues... just some cosmic fixer. Trust life.
 
Quick run down on story, before the Sprout brothers get to fighting:

Bloke in 1930s down in cellars in Hartshead area, late one night. Hear's odd rattling noise. Man with bucket walks through wall and strolls on, vanishing into other wall.

1970s - on a rough line with this, the Hole in the Road is constructed. Shop assistants in the little kiosks become terrified by tramps - no, sorry, by a rattling noise and a smell of rotting meat (mind you, it is near Castle Market).

1980s - Man in Boots cellar (same neck of the woods) gets bags of cosmetics chucked at him by polt late one night. Other staff report rattling sound and smell of rotting meat (pie shop investigated).

1990s - on digging up Cathedral area for tram lines, council are forced to employ hygiene control dudes and erect a big metal wall. They keep turning up bodies...hundreds and hundreds of bodies. Cos', like, y'know, it was a graveyard. They should have thought of that, really.

Hole in Road filled in, as are all subways. For architectural reasons. Yeah right, we know the truth.
 
Wow, and there was me thinking the Hole in the Road was a launchpad for an alien rocket ship...
 
What's the Hole in the Road??????
 
In Sheffield, there used to be a subway with some shops and a (very murky) aquarium in it. The top of the subway at one point was open as a big round hole in the road. It's subsequently been filled in.

There's a photo of it here.

Link is dead. Photo not archived at Wayback Machine.

- EnolaGaia, August 2018
 
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It was brilliant. At one point you could cover half the city centre and never see daylight. Tramps, criminals and malcontents (mainly Jarvis Cocker) roamed freely. I have fond memories of being chased through this labyrinth by a collection of individuals who I never actually saw. The acoustic effects of the tunnels led to an odd echo scenario which created the impression that I was in very low budget thriller and the producers couldn't afford to hire 'Thug 1', 'Thug 2' and 'Thug 3'.

They haven't filled all of the tunnels in. There are odd little staircases on corners here and there, leading down. Iron gates seal off the netherworld. See, we know what's really down there...
 
It's true, Dan, I do wonder if there's owt going on down there, even if it's just a few homeless people living in the old tunnels.

I know there's one barred up entrance to the old subway in the road opposite McDonald's at the top of the Moor. Any others you can think of?
 
I believe (may be untrue) that the one which once crossed the road near Boots (Fargate) is still mainly there, sealed up. Also, some of the underpass stuff on the dual carriageway behind the library is rumoured to be intact. Apparently a fall out shelter is located in that vicinity, but I can't verify this...
 
This is not 'in the workplace', but a very interesting Syn anyway:

This morning I got an email with a story about a useless Police bloodhound. Later I started a new Patricia Cornwell book - within a few pages an abandoned car is found, and because foul play is suspected, bloodhounds are called for to find the occupants. Then I put on the TV - the beeb has another science-for-kids show to compete with C4's RI lectures, and today's topic was Taste and Smell - and a bloodhound was used to track down the
presenter in the Science museum!

Three references to bloodhounds in one morning! Is someone trying to tell me something? Should I buy shares in a bloodhound puppy farm or something? Bloodhounds don't generally have a high profile nowadays - I didn't know the UK police were testing them, and they certainly don't figure much in modern detective fiction. Interesting.
 
I love coincidences.
This morning I was at the doctor's and decided, on the spur of the moment, to ask if a prescription which I occasionally use was ready. The receptionist heaved a big indexed box onto the counter, which fell open at a prescription for my own father!
 
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