The most haunted places in Manchester to visit this Halloween

From haunted mansions to seriously creepy hospitals there’s plenty of ghostly things you can do this weekend to get in the spooky spirit – all from a nice social distance! 

Head down for some spooky sights… if you’re brave enough…

Simply Ghost Nights/Youtube

Ordsall Hall
Salford’s 750-year-old manor house is home to more than just dusty old furniture… Ordsall Hall dates as far back as 750 years ago and is known as the alleged site where Guy Fawkes helped devise The Gunpowder Plot – the street beside it is even named after him.

You know those places that give you the creeps even just being near them but you don’t even know why? Ordsall Hall fits that criteria exactly. I mean, the fact you can watch a live GhostCam and have a creepy sleepover with whatever lurks in the shadows overnight certainly adds to its chill…

The most-reported place for paranormal activity seems to come from the Star Chamber, where it’s said that voices of small children are often heard. To add to these spooky voices, visitors often comment on strange sightings followed by shivers and cold drafts from nowhere and what appears to be ghostly hands on shoulders.

One visitor even noted that the atmosphere changed in the room, becoming violently oppressive and
feeling a sudden and intimidating presence. Members of staff at Ordsall Hall are usually quite accommodating of the ghosts – you wouldn’t work there otherwise, surely? One staff member though, when opening up for the day, knew that the building was empty but could hear her name being called from across the gallery.

Urban Explorers/YouTube

Stretford’s Abandoned Hospital
The Stretford Memorial Hospital closed in 2015, but they left almost everything behind…

Now, the hospital itself was built all the way back in 1850 as a private residence known as Basford House. It was designed in an Italianate style meaning it sort of resembles an Italian Renaissance building, but a bit more modern.

Well, that’s as simple as I can make it – if you really want to know what ‘Italianate’ style means in terms of architecture – feel free to spend around 2 years of your life doing your own research. It doesn’t really matter what architectural style it has really, all you need to know is that it started out as a private residence and was then lent to the British Red Cross as an auxiliary hospital during the First World War.

It was then converted into a maternity hospital in 1925, and one of the Bee Gee’s was even born here in 1958!

David Dixon/Geograph

Boggart Hole Clough
It’s a glorious patch of greenery that covers over 170 acres of woodland. There’s gently sloping gullies, steep ravines, even play and sports facilities. There’s a nice boating lake presumably complete with pleasant ducks (I’ve never been) and of course, a cafe. Sounds beautiful right? Wrong.

This dark forest, which dates as far back as the Bronze Age, is riddled with spiritual history, witchy tales and a creature that cackles in your dreams. Tucked away in the thick lining of trees, rustling foliage and slippery muddy gulleys of Hole Clough is a child-eating monster. A Boggart.

It’s pretty common knowledge that Boggarts don’t like dogs at all, so don’t be surprised if your four-legged friend starts snarling at seemingly nothing in Hole Clough. It’s just a terrifying boggart. This Boggart inhabits the old farmhouse which was crumbling away in the woods, after scaring away the farmer and his family way back when.

But you can often find Boggarts in muddy holes, sharp bends and in bushes if you ever want to go hunting for one. Boggarts even have a terrifying and creepy affinity for children, in particular babies, and there have been many cases of missing children since the 18th century at Boggart Hole Clough.

Gavin Clarke/Flickr

Barnes Hospital
Barnes Hospital, a stunning Grade-II listed building in Cheadle, has now been transformed into flats – but you might not be the only thing that lives there…

Built in the 1870s by Robert Barnes, the hospital was designed to help the then thousands of factory workers in Manchester who worked and lived in dangerous and filthy environments. Obviously, it’s haunted. It’s an old abandoned hospital.

It’s got death intertwined in its foundations with pillars of illness throughout. Secondly, during the initial building phase of the hospital, pieces of three Celtic Christian high crosses were found. And do you know what that means? A church nearby. And do you know what that means? A graveyard even closer.

One individual reported that he saw a nurse, clear as day, doing her rounds of the patients. Only there were no patients, no beds and the tune she was whispering echoed deafeningly around the entire building.

Nicola Miller/Flickr

St Thomas’ Hospital
This hospital might have closed in 2004 but there are still things wandering the halls…

This building has got some serious paranormal activity going on. Once a hospital caring for thousands of psychiatric patients, St Thomas’ Hospital was previously a workhouse home to 700 inmates, working in conditions described as totally ‘brutal and chaotic’.

Those who have bravely ventured in have run away screaming from the horrors they have seen or heard. From footsteps – even when there are no stairs to the second floor – to floating doctors complete with a white coat and white face mask.