The Stately Ghosts of England

The way back to the big house was by way of what was known as the 'Step Walk', a path which winds upwards through the heavily wooded part of the grounds and contains some eighteen flights of steps, each flight having about ten or twelve steps.

It was sometime after 9.30 on a warm summer evening as the estate worker made his way back along this route. He had walked the path many times, by both day and night, and he knew it like the back of his hand. Between each flight of steps, there is a distance of several yards and, as he approached the final flight, he saw someone standing right at the very top, some thirty yards away from him. The estate worker took little notice of the stranger at first, assuming it was a guest from the house taking a stroll in the warm evening air. As he approached, the figure began to descend the steps and the worker could not help but notice his clothing and how shiny his shoes were - like patent leather. He was wearing a top hat and a long, flowing black cape. A white silk scarf hung round his neck and he carried a black, silver-topped walking-cane.

As the figure drew level with the estate worker, the latter touched his cap with a courteous 'Good night, sin' As soon as he had uttered the words, the figure vanished. The young man stopped dead in his tracks. He looked round for the figure he had spoken to, but there was no one there, nor was there anywhere he could have hidden in such a short time. Feeling the hair at the back of his neck begin to bristle and an icy chill creeping down his spine, the estate worker ran home as fast as he could.

The following day he discussed his experience with the foreman, an elderly man who had worked on the Alton Towers estate for many years. He asked the surprised young man if the figure had been accompanied by a black dog. The younger man said that he had not noticed a dog, to which the old foreman replied that he too had seen the figure on several occasions, but each time there had been a black dog with it. He said that this was the result of an incident which took place late in the nineteenth century at the very spot where the figure was usually sighted.

It appears that there had been a party at Farley Hall, a large house which stood not far from Alton Towers. A guest had walked from the Hall to the Towers, where he was being accommodated. The following morning his body had been discovered at the top of the last flight of steps on the 'Step Walk', where he had apparently collapsed and died of a heart attack, brought on no doubt by climbing the steep 'Step Walk'.

Over the years the spectre has been seen several times by a variety of people, often accompanied by a black clog. But still, no one appears to know who he was - or why he should be seen going down the steps, when he apparently died after coming up them!