Otherworld North East Research Society Journal 01 | Page 40

Otherworld North East The War reputedly left its ghostly mark in many areas of the UK, especially in relation to bombers, fighters and aviation hangars. In the Peak District, a ghostly Lancaster Bomber, thought to be the plane known as Vicky the Vicious Virgin has been seen flying close to ground level and then the sound and sight of an explosion can be heard: this apparition has been seen every fifteen years - the plane in question crashed in 1945 killing its crew, during a routine training operation. A similar story can be found in Kent, at Biggin Hill, where a ghostly spitfire has often been seen and heard, as if it is coming in to land at the airstrip. RAF Hendon, Surrey and RAF Cosford, Shropshire also have many tales of hauntings, from apparitions of airmen being seen, to disembodied voices and feelings of being watched. An unusual case of a reported Second World War haunting can also be found at RAF West Malling in Kent, where people have reported a brick crashing into their car out of nowhere, only for that brick to vanish upon trying to find it (though the damage done to the vehicles doesn’t... how on earth do you explain that one to the insurance company?!). There have also been numerous sightings of a figure dressed as a World War II airman, who has been blamed for throwing the phantom brick. Historians have surmised that this is a replay event when during the war a Spitfire crash landed, and the pilot was killed when a brick crashed through his canopy and hit him. Perhaps a more grisly apparition awaits visitors to RAF Wellesbourne in Warwickshire: this unfortunate soul is said to be that of a navigator who ran into the moving propeller blades of a stationary aircraft. His ghost is now said to be seen retracing his final steps. Up here in the North East, we have plenty of our own reported World War II ghosts. Just before the outbreak of war in August 1939, aircraft Hudson n7290 crashed into Cambridge Road in Middlesbrough killing the crew, though thankfully there were no civilian casualties: the plot of land where the crash took place has been reported as very ‘atmospheric’, and occasionally passer-bys have reported the sound of crackling flames and the smell of burning. Not too far away from this site, Thornaby Snooker Club can be found, sporting tales of a phantom airman being spotted within the main snooker hall, as well as the sound of balls being struck on the tables when in fact none are in play. There has also been the sound of a distant aircraft being reported, with engines that sound way too old to be a modern aircraft. Historically, this site is built over the Martinet Road Officers’ Mess of the Thornaby Airfield, dating to the War. The site of RAF Thornaby itself is also reputedly haunted, with sightings of airmen, reports of cold spots and also of being jostled, as if someone unseen had walked past. The site of RAF Greatham, near Hartlepool, now used by the Fire Brigade, seems to have developed tentative stories about phantom airmen and even a poltergeist, though as only one source can be found for these stories, it can’t really be substantiated! RAF Middleton St. George, known locally as Goosepool and now the Teesside Airport also has its share of ghost stories, with an airman dressed in helmet and jacket being seen a number of times 38