A616 Stocksbridge
Part of the A616 road was intended to
alleviate the heavy traffic through the town of Stocksbridge in South
Yorkshire, England. The bypass was completed in April 1988, cost over £14
million and was carved out of the hills adjacent to Stocksbridge but even
before its completion things started to happen in the area and on the site
of the road which caused concern not only for those involved in the work,
but for the policemen sent to deal with it.
1987 -
Stocksbridge,
Near Sheffield, North England
The McAlpine construction company, who were
contracted out to do the work, employed security guards from
Constant Securities who patrolled the site and the materials stored
their after work hours. Peter ***** was in charge of the security
but was not on site the night of Tuesday September 8th. That night
he was called out by Steven ******* and another man who were on duty
at the by-pass. He arrived and found them in a distressed state -
the two men had white and pallid faces, were physically shaking and
crying. Upon questioning them he found out what had happened to
them.
1987 September
7th
The
night before, Monday September 7th they had commenced their shifts
as normal and had driven up Pearoyd Lane (above the steelworks in
Stocksbridge)
20-30 minutes after midnight and saw what they took to be a group of
children playing just down from the half-constructed bridge beside a
pylon. The men parked up the Land rover and went to investigate. They
were puzzled by the sight of the children especially since they were
wearing clothing which was especially dated - antiquated even. It
was late for any kids to be out there and the pylon was a fair
distance from the nearest houses in the town itself. When they
reached the spot, there were no children. The ground was fresh mud
but there were no footprints and no sign of anyone having been
around. Mystified, they got back into the Land rover and continued
onwards. The following morning they checked with the local workmen
who slept in some caravans nearby and were told that they too had
heard the sound of children's voices during the night hours on a few
occasions.
1987 September
8th
The
following evening, Tuesday September 8th, they began their shifts
once again as normal and at roughly the same time drove up Pearoyd
Lane towards the partially-constructed bridge. Steven noticed
something and pointed it out to his colleague. There on the bridge
was a figure of a monk. Steven got out and his partner drove up the
road and around to the bridge. When the headlights touched the
figure, they passed right through it. Suddenly the figure vanished.
Afraid and uncertain of what they had seen, the men rushed back down
to their base and called up Peter Owens, their boss.
Disturbed, the men called the local police at
Deepcar and told them what had happened. PC Dick Ellis took the
call and explained that it was hardly a police matter and
half-jokingly suggested they needed a priest rather than a PC.
Later
that day PC Ellis
received another call, this time from Stuart Brindley, the vicar at
Stocksbridge, who told him that the two security guards had
called on him in a distressed state and asked for an exorcism, such
was the extent of their fear, PC Ellis
was instructed to go to the church to remove the men and also to find
out what was going on.
...they noticed ahead of them a figure walking with its back
towards the traffic in the middle of the
road...
1987 September
11th
Following these reports, PC Ellis and former Special
Constable John Beet drove up to the spot in their Vauxhall Astra
squad car on Friday September 11th to investigate. They expected to
find nothing and attributed the words of the two security guards to
panic and hysteria.
They parked up and sat facing the
bridge. The night was warm and both men had their windows rolled
right down.
Before long they thought they could see
something moving on the bridge, something unidentifiable from their
position. PC Ellis man got out and went up onto the bridge, only to
discover that what they had seen was a loose tarpaulin flapping in the
breeze. Relieved and feeling a little foolish they sat in the car for
a while.
Gradually the men
began to feel unsettled. PC Ellis said he 'went cold' ....as if someone had walked
over my grave. And what was so odd I went cold without knowing what
was the matter.' Suddenly PC Ellis was aware of a presence on his
right outside the car. He turned his head quickly and saw what he took
to be a figure immediately outside his window pushed up so close that
he could see only the torso it. He said it looked like it was wearing
dark clothing with a white 'v' shape from the neck down. As he was
turning to look it vanished. Then John Beet saw exactly the same thing
on his side of the car, and when he looked it also disappeared.
PC Ellis, although disturbed by the experience, got out of the car and
walked around it to see who it was. He looked on all sides and even
peered underneath. Nobody was near the car. Both men were in no mood
for pranks or jokes but this seemed very different and very real. Back
in the car, PC Ellis turned the ignition key and at first the car
would not start. For a few moments the engine refused to turn over,
then suddenly sprung into life.
They drove further down the road towards the
construction area and pulled up. The site was deserted. They radioed
into the police station of their position. Without warning something
banged hard on the rear of the car. PC Ellis described it as
sounding like a baseball bat or pickaxe handle. Again he got out and
checked the car. Nobody was in the area and the men were alone. He
climbed back in only to hear the bang twice more. Without
further ado, they drove off back to Deepcar.
The men
reported that the feeling they had was not one of fear when facing
danger, but one which springs from a situation over which you have no
control. A feeling of dread.
Other Experiences
1987 Late Summer
Joggers Graham and Nigel Brooke
were out on the Stocksbridge Bypass during its construction one
evening when they noticed ahead of them a figure walking with its
back towards the traffic in the middle of the road. As they drew
nearer they noticed that it had no discernible features except for
the nose and eye sockets. Accompanying this figure was a 'fusty,
rotten smell' but more bizarrely the figure was walking 'in the road
from the knee down' as if on a different level to the tarmac. When
they were closer still the figure disappeared, leaving the father
and son perplexed and scared.
The Bypass
Bridge
1987 Autumn
Later Judi and David Simpson were
driving over the bypass on a bridge one day when out to their left
over the fields they noticed something odd and distinctly
unsettling: a figure was floating above the field. They described it
as having no face but it did have arms and legs which were flaying
around. As they drove, the figure came up the embankment, rose to
the road and disappeared into the car. The couple were terrified.
Historical Evidence
The area had
monastery farms hundreds of years ago. There is a story of one of
these monks had become somewhat disillusioned with the church and had
decided to leave. He subsequently went to work at Underbank Hall as a
groundsman. When he died, because of his departure from the faith, he
was buried in unhallowed ground.
In the area in the late 18th
century and up to the mid 19th century children were regularly used in
mining pits.
Updated
October 2003
We were coming back over the bypass late
one night last week and after the Wortley turnoff, between the rocks
where the road has cut through and the bridge at the underbank end of
Stocksbridge , we noticed that the temperature had dropped from 3.5
degrees to 0.5 degrees, it only went back up again after we had driven
under the bridge.
