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Once there, they locked themselves in, and even though it was the early hours, they called the managing director of the security company again and again until he answered and agreed to come down to their office.

Mick Lee got to the security office and walked inside and was shocked by what he saw.

Two experienced security guards who had been part of his team for quite a while.

In a state of complete terror and panic.

This is episode sixty two of the Haunted UK podcast, and it's time to take a look at one of the most haunted stretches of road in the UK, the Stocksbridge Bypass.

In the early nineteen eighties, a huge construction development was announced and approved, a development that was a long time coming, but one that wouldn't be easy.

Huge amounts of rock had to be cut through to make way for a road that would finally bring some relief to the town of Stocksbridge.

Were, of course talking about the Stocksbridge Bypass, one of the most haunted locations in the UK.

You'd have to go all the way back to season two in episode three Phantom Hitchhikers to find tales of ghosts haunting stretches of roads.

But this five mile stretch of tarmac has much more to offer than just phantom hitchhikers.

After planning was approved, work began in nineteen eighty seven at a cost of fourteen million pounds, finishing in May nineteen eighty eight when the bypass was officially opened.

Congestion was choking the town of Stocksbridge and a bypass was way past due.

Large trucks were finding it difficult to navigate through the narrow lanes of the steel making town, and this was causing huge problems.

But a lot of that changed when the bypass opened.

It was seen as somewhat of a triumph for the town and its surrounding areas.

But the Stocksbridge Bypass soon began to get the reputation of being a terrible accident black spot.

Within only the first decade of it being open, around fourteen fatalities were reported due to accidents, with hundreds more suffering injuries.

Police would put this unusually high number of accidents down to common mistakes that the public were making whilst driving on the bypass, not knowing the road, taking unnecessary risks such as overtaking in bad conditions, speeding and loss of concentration.

And with accidents and fatalities come stories, ghost stories, sightings, strange experiences.

Yet paranormal phenomena had been reported way before even one car had traveled along the bypass.

During its initial construction, the Stocksbridge Bypass carved through land which had a rich and sometimes bloody history.

As with many cases of large scale construction projects such as the London Underground and the current huge undertaking of HS two, the building of the Stocksbridge bypass did disturb things.

Consideration and thought have to be given to the thousands of years of history on our small island, ancient burial grounds, graves, plague pits.

The living are definitely outnumbered by the dead, and because of this obvious fact are we unknowingly unleashing the spirits of those who were rested, causing them to roam the land which they once called home.

The stories that will go through in this episode have a wide range of paranormal phenomena attached to them, and this in itself is incredible considering that it's only roughly a five mile stretch of road.

You'd normally associate these types of hauntings with this much varying activity with castles or stately homes.

So let's go back to nineteen eighty seven.

When construction began.

A private security company had been hired to help not only protect the expensive equipment and stock of materials on site, but to also keep children and teenagers away from a potentially dangerous area.

There were a number of small security offices which were dotted along the site, and it was from these that the various teams worked from.

On the seventh of September nineteen eighty seven, security guards Stan and Jeff were on patrol in their land rover, driving towards a bridge which was still under construction.

Near to this bridge was an electricity pylon, and it was here that both men saw something truly odd, a group of children who appeared to be playing.

As Stan and Jeff got closer to the bridge, they could clearly see that these children were dancing and skipping around very close to the pilon.

They decided to get a closer look and pulled their vehicle over, both grabbing torches as they made their way towards the pylon.

Both men said that it appeared that these children were playing ring a ringer roses, and they could hear them singing, laughing, and talking.

But what they thought was stranger.

Even stranger than the fact that these children were out at such a late hour, was what they were all wearing.

All of them were dressed in very old fashioned clothing, which was completely out of place in the current time.

The security guards looked at each other confused, but began to walk towards the children, who they could still see very clearly, until they faded away right in front of them.

Completely shocked, both Stan and Jeff ran towards the area of land by the pylon where they'd seen the children, and even though the ground was soft and muddy because of previous wet weather, there were no footprints at all, no evidence or trace whatsoever that anyone had been there.

Oh, come on, let's go out here.

Yeah, that was bloody weird.

They both quickly made their way back to the land rover and then backed the security office.

The following day, they made a point of asking several construction workers on site if they'd experienced anything out of the ordinary.

To their surprise, they were told yes, many others had heard strange voices, laughter and singing, as if made by children when they were non in sight.

But it was on their evening shift later that day that events took a truly terrifying turn.

Stan and Jeff had both left their security office to begin their patrol and were once again driving up towards the construction site and the bridge where the previous night's events had taken place.

As they approached the bridge, they were shocked to see a figure standing on it.

But this figure appeared to be dressed in some type of hooded cloak.

Jeff asked Stan to stop the vehicle, and for a brief moment they both stared at the mystery figure until Jeff got out of the car and told Stan to drive back around to the top of the bridge while he stayed below, making sure that whoever it was didn't make a run for it.

As Jeff kept an eye on the figure, he could also see Stan as he made his way up the hill to the bridge.

Inside the land rover, Stan had made it up to the top of the bridge, and as he drove closer to the figure, he could now clearly see that with the cloak and the hood, it looked more like a monk.

But what both he and Jeff had thought was a real solid person was now exhibiting a disturbing phenomenon.

The land rover's lights were shining right through it.

Then, in the terrifying blink of an eye, the figure vanished, and this was seen by both men at the same time.

Now, what we have to understand here is that the security guards weren't novices, as were about to find out, and they also knew how to handle themselves, and they weren't exactly small either.

In a blind panic, Stan put the landrover into reverse, and quickly drove down to pick Jeff up.

Did you see that?

Yep?

Quit get it, Let's just go.

Then they both abandoned the bridge, the whole construction site, and their shift and went back to their security office.

Once there, they locked themselves in, and even though it was the early hours, they called the managing director of the security company again and again until he answered and agreed to come down to their office.

Mick Lee got to the security office and walked inside and was shocked by what he saw two experienced security guards who had been part of his team for quite a while in a state of complete terror and panic.

Something has scared these men very deeply.

Mick listened as Stan and Jeff recounted the events of their two terrifying experiences, and, seeing that they were in no fit state to continue working that night, he sent them both home.

The next evening, at around eight pm, Mickley welcomed both Stan and Jeff back into their security office, fully expecting them to start their shift, but there was no way they were going back on to the construction side that night.

Once again, mick felt that he had no choice but to send both men home.

Yet what he wasn't expecting was what happened next.

The following morning, the doors to Stocksbridge Police station opened and in walked both Stan and Jeff, and they wanted to file a report.

They sat down with Police Constable Richard Ellis, who could clearly see that something had deeply disturbed them.

He listened intently as the men, who he knew quite well, gave a detailed account of what they'd experienced, including the children by the pylon and obviously the dark monk like figure on the bridge.

P c.

Ellis had never been in a situation where a member of the public had reported seeing ghosts, but here sat in front of him were two at a loss to know what to do.

He advised the men that it was probably a better idea that they seek advice from the church rather than from the police, and that is exactly what they did.

After leaving the police station, they went straight to the local church to speak with the vicar.

The Reverend Stewart Brindley welcomed both men into the church and had no idea that he was about to be told in great detail about the sightings of ghosts up at the bypassed security site.

Although he listened and tried to calm the men down.

They refused to leave until the vicar agreed to go up to the bridge where both Stan and Jeff had seen the ghost of the Monk and perform an exorcism.

The Reverend Brindley had no choice but to call the police, As it had been P.

C.

Richard Ellis who'd taken the statements from the security guards earlier that day, he was given the task of going to the church to sort the issue out.

Along with Reverend Brindley.

Pc Ellis began to talk the men down to a more civilized tone, and after a while they agreed to leave.

Pc Ellis assured Reverend Brindley that Stan and Jeff meant no harm whatsoever, something that Brindley already knew.

He was fully aware that this was a very strange but delicate situation and could see that the men were genuinely disturbed by what they'd experienced.

Stan and Jeff never returned to work, quitting their jobs just a few short weeks after their encounter.

Security company managing director Mick Lee, PC Richard Ellis, and even the Reverend Stewart Brindley felt that these men were telling the absolute truth.

They were genuine witnesses who'd seen something that they could not explain, something that was completely out of the ordinary, something that had scared them so much that they actually quit their jobs.

Because statements have been taken by PC Ellis and an official report had been filed, his superiors told him to investigate the matter further and to take down as man much detail as possible if anything happened that night.

P c Ellis and his partner, PC John Beat took a patrol car and made their way up to the bridge at the construction site.

They parked up just below and to the side of the partly finished bridge, giving them a good field of vision all round, and sat there in silence, waiting to see if anything would happen.

After about twenty five minutes, both officers had got used to the dark, and it was a clear night with a star filled sky.

PC Ellis's attention was suddenly drawn to the bridge and to the sight of something moving around.

Saying nothing, Ellis turned to PC John Beat to see if he was aware of the movement as well, and, to his relief, he was.

They both quickly exchanged a few words and decided to walk up to the bridge to see who or what was up there.

As both officers stood on the bridge searching for any movement, they saw nothing so made their way back to the patrol car.

Upon opening the door, the interior light came on again, temporarily robbing them of their adjusted vision, but this soon returned.

As they sat there once again in the dark, both Ellis and Bete were sharing a few jokes about the whole situation when once again they could see movement on the bridge.

Pclis said that he would go up alone this time to investigate, so he grabbed a torch, opened the car door, and walked back up to the bridge.

As he stared across the bridge into the darkness, he could see something moving from side to side, but he could also hear a flapping type of noise.

As he continued to walk across the bridge, he saw a number of pallets of concrete blocks wrapped in polythene sheeting, and it was the show sheeting on one of these pallettes that had worked its way loose.

Shouting down to PC John beat Ellis informed him that it was just polythene sheeting which was moving around in the wind.

He went up to the pallet, tied it up.

The polythene and then secured it down with a few stray blocks.

He then made his way back to the patrol car and continued to observe the surroundings.

After a while, both officers felt that they weren't going to see anything that night, and if their friends and colleagues knew that they were on a stake out looking for ghosts, they'd be thought of as gullible and mad.

They both decided to give the cause another five minutes then leave, but their night was just beginning.

Pcllis said that the patrol car they were in was a three door Vauxhall Astra, so the driver and passenger doors were quite long.

Both officers had their windows down, and Ellis remarked that his arm was resting half outside when suddenly the atmosphere completely changed.

Ellis said that he went deathly cold, so much so that he commented that he found it hard to catch his breath.

PC John Beat also felt the change in the surrounding atmosphere, and as he was trying to sense what was happening, Ellis suddenly became frighteningly aware that there was someone pressed up against the side of the car where his open window was.

But there was nobody there.

P C.

Ellis, an experienced officer and involved in many challenging and dangerous situations, swore that he felt the same shot of adrenaline and fear right on that bridge as he would in any violent riot.

Except in a riot or a fight, he knew what he was dealing with, but he wasn't so sure.

Now.

The intense and terrifying feeling of a presence right next to Ellis's window became more and more overwhelming, and he admitted that he wasn't able to do anything about it, not even speak to make John Beat aware he'd completely frozen.

Ellis shrieked out in surprise.

Christ He could have sworn that there was nobody there at first, So how had someone managed to get so close to the car so quickly and silently?

The vision of this person disappeared instantly, and almost immediately for Richard Ellis, the atmosphere returned to normal.

He was about to tell John Beat what he'd just experienced when he heard John scream out loud what the hell, and witnessed him push himself off the car seat and up towards the ceiling of the vehicle.

Ellis quickly opened the car door and ran around to the opposite side, fully expecting to see the person who he'd felt and now seen on his side of the car, but now at John's side, but there was nobody there.

Ellis didn't say anything at first about what he'd seen, but it was obvious by John Beat's reaction that he'd also experienced something.

Ellis was stunned to hear from his colleague that he'd seen the torso of a man in a robe outfit standing right next to the open window, then inexplicably disappearing.

PC Ellis then told John to stay in the car as he was going to check around the immediate area.

He grabbed his torch and checked all around the car, underneath the car upon the bridge, but found nothing.

He mentions that at the time the area around the bridge was just soft mud, so surely there would be footprints, but the only prince he could find in the mud were that of the patrol car's tires, his boots, and John's boots.

There was no trace to even suggest that another person had been anywhere near their vehicle.

They decided to move location, but as PC John Beat turned the key in the nition of the car to switch it on.

The car refused to start up, instead just turn over and over, just bloody start.

Both officers admitted that they started to panic someone, but were relieved when, after a second attempt, the engine sprang to life.

They went back on themselves, then actually drove up to the bridge, switched the engine off, and again sat waiting watching.

A few minutes went by.

Then a sudden and loud bang came from the rear of the car, as if something had hit it hard, But the strange thing was there was no feeling of impact.

Both officers quickly got out of the car and ran to the rear to check to see what had hit them and if there was any damage, but they found nothing.

As they stood there, completely perplexed, another four loud bangs rang out from the rear of the car.

Both men looked at each other.

This was a situation which neither of them had ever experienced, with Pclis commenting that the feeling was at the same as when he felt the presence at his window.

This new feeling was pure terror.

They were genuinely scared.

The bangs, which were heard clearly by both officers, were described as being like someone hitting the rear of the car with a bat or some kind of club.

After this, both John Beat and Richard Ellis felt that they had experienced enough for one night, quickly got back into the patrol car and left the area to go back to the station.

As with commercial airline pilots who report sightings of UFOs, police officers who come forward and admit seeing a ghost or poltergeist activity are somewhat of a rarity.

You only have to go back to episodes forty four and forty eight of the show Tales from the Emergency Services Parts one and two to see just how guarded people who work for the Emergency Services in the military are when it comes to submitting official reports concerning paranormal activity.

But PC Richard Ellis wasn't afraid to report what he and PC John Beat had experienced and promptly submitted an official report, which in turn was entered into the official log.

More experiences and sightings were reported by construction workers, security offices, and delivery drivers, and these were mainly centered around the monk like figure seen by security guards Stan and Jeff.

One sighting, in particular happened to Melbourne, who was a haulage driver making a delivery to a section of the construction site.

It was early evening, just beginning to get dark, and the allotted parking and drop area was already pretty full of trucks and trailers.

Melbourne found a space and reversed his vehicle into it, then got out of the cab to begin taking the ropes off which were securing the load.

As he was working his way down the length of the trailer, he said he suddenly went very cold, then a musty smell quickly enveloped the area.

He then caught sight of movement towards the front of the truck and saw a monklike figure glide through the headlights, which he'd purposely left on.

He watched it as it made its way further along to the next truck, and then lost sight of it.

The smell then disappeared, as did the cold atmosphere, and although Melbourne admitted that he wasn't particularly scared at the time, he did find it a very unnerving experience.

After this, he would make deliveries and pick ups in the same area a few more times, and even though he said he never saw the monk again, the cold atmosphere a musty smell would always descend around him.

On the night of his sighting.

After returning to the depot where he worked, he even made a point of telling his manager about the encounter, and was surprised to hear that several other drivers had seen the same thing in the same area.

So was there any evidence of a monastery being in the area of the Stocksbridge Bypass years ago?

Well, the answer is yes.

In fact, research tells us that there were actually two monasteries.

One of them was a Cistercian whose monks lived by a very strict code of practice and ethics.

As with many sites such as this, a local legend exists about a monk from this very monastery, a monk who fell out of favor, a monk with flaws, who floundered within that very strict code of practice and ethics.

Cast out, he found work and a home at a local farm, but upon his death he was buried in unconsecrated ground, and it was the building of the Stocksbridge Bypass that allegedly disturbed his resting place that had been unsuitable in the first place.

As already stated earlier in this episode, there had been various fatalities on the bypass, and that reputation of being an accident black spot may run even darker than first thought, because it seems highly possible that a percentage of those accidents could have been caused by sightings of phenomena which cannot be easily explained.

Not long after the bypass opened in nineteen eighty nine, Judy and her husband David were traveling along it in the direction of a village called Wartley.

It was a clear day with not much traffic on the road, and Judy was driving.

As she and her husband chatted, she noticed a figure standing in a field up ahead on the left hand side of the road.

She pointed this figure out to David and commented that while it looked like a person, there was only a strange outline to it, no obvious features at all, and as well as that it looked like it was floating around a foot above the field, they also noticed that it had a strange distortion surrounding it, and its arms and legs moved in a way that no human could accomplish.

As both of them continued to watch this strange figure, gradually getting closer to it, they were then shocked to see it move incredibly quickly, suddenly appearing at the bottom of the embankment at the side of the road.

Both Judy and David were now getting very concerned as to what this thing actually was, Was it a person or something else?

Then, in a split second, Judy and David saw the figure rise into the air and drop down in front of their car.

Judy immediately braked to avoid the collision, but watched as the figure disappeared.

In the aftermath of this sighting, even Judy's more skeptical husband David, had to admit that they most likely witnessed some sort of apparition or ghost.

Another similar sighting happened and number of years later.

On New Year's Even nineteen ninety seven, Paul Ford and his wife Jane were traveling along the bypass to visit his sister in Stocksbridge when a terrifying encounter left them deeply shocked and disturbed.

As they made their way along the road, Paul spotted a figure up ahead at the side of the road.

He initially thought it was someone waiting for an opportunity to cross the road, but as they got closer to it, Paul noticed it was wearing a long hooded type of cloak.

He drew Jane's attention to this person then noticed something even stranger.

It seemed as if he was hovering above the road.

Then the figure turned to face them, and both Paul and Jane were shocked to see that the figure had no face.

It then quickly glided out in front of their car, causing Paul to hit the brakes to try and avoid it, but also causing Jane to grab the wheel, steering the car away from an almost certain terrible accident.

Stating in a newspaper interview, Paul said, quote, from a distance, it looked like someone trying to cross the road, but as I got nearer, I could see it was like a man in a long cloak.

Then I realized it had no face and it was just hovering above the road.

I just slammed the brakes on and swerved to avoid hitting it, and it was only through Jane grabbing the wheel that we managed to stop the car from crashing.

End quote.

Jane also added quote, if I hadn't have been in the car, Paul could have been killed or seriously injured, and it left both of us badly shaken up.

It was a very frightening experience, and I think it might explain why there have been so many accidents on that road end quote.

This encounter cuts so deeply with both Paul and Jane that neither of them have traveled along the bypass since, choosing instead to take alternative routes.

It's not just people driving along the bypass that have encountered this terrifying monk like creature.

Retired bus driver Neville Campbell had a very strange encounter one day whilst out walking in the fields which lined the bypass each side.

It was a bright and clear day, and as Neville and his partner walked up the lane which led to the field in question, they were suddenly hit by a very cold atmosphere which seemed to descend from nowhere.

Neville described it as if someone had opened an industrial freezer door and you'd walked inside it.

This atmosphere also had mass to it, a thickness which almost stopped them in their tracks for no reason whatsoever.

Neville and his partner began to shake uncontrollably, and as they entered the field, they also started to experience a very heavy and oppressive feeling.

Then, something completely out of the ordinary immediately caught their attention.

A cloaked, hooded monk like figure moving around the field at incredible inhuman speed, exactly like what Judy and David witnessed as they were driving along the bypass.

It also seemed to display a type of teleportation characteristic as one second, it would appear in the far corner of the field, but in another it would be in the complete opposite corner.

Was this some sort of distortion, an artifact from a different time or dimension?

Could there also be other factors involved with the appearance of spirits, such as the monk in Stocksbridge?

After all, it is a steel making town, so that means iron ore deposits huge factories consuming great quantities of power, electricity pylons, and large power substations.

Could any or all of these be contributing factors to the paranormal activity in the area.

Is there a strong magnetic field in the area because of all of this disruption to the land, as well as the presence of so much electricity being used, generated and carried by the pylons.

Scientific studies concerning the effects of strong magnetic fields on the brain have been carried out to great success, with many reports out there in the public arena.

It's quite possible, but there's one problem with this theory the activity only really started when work began on the bypass.

This then takes us back to near the beginning of this episode and the notion that the huge undertaking of building the road in the first place may have been the catalyst for the activity during and after the work was completed.

Another very strange sighting happened as work on the bypass was nearing completion, and the details which were shared by the two witnesses paint a very picture of how old the apparition of this monk could be.

Living in the local area and watching the progress on the bypass almost daily, keen runners Graham Brooke and his son Nigel had roots which took them to not only finish sections of the road, but also to those still under construction.

Graham and Nigel's encounter happened early one evening at a section of finished road, and it really is a very fascinating sighting.

Graham said that both he and Nigel decided to take a route towards Wartley, a route that they'd both run many times before.

As it was in the summer months, daylight stretched into the early evening, and although they'd both taken a little longer than usual to get to Wartley.

They still had plenty of time to run the return leg before it got dark.

With Graham quite a distance ahead of his son, he decided to stop near a new lay by to wait for Nigel to catch with him.

Being a finished section of road, vehicles were already using it, and a steady stream of traffic past Graham as he waited.

As Graham continued to stand near the lay by, he could see Nigel in the distance, slowly getting closer and closer.

He turned his attention again back to the vehicles moving along the newly completed section of road, but quickly became aware of a figure a short distance away that had its back to the traffic, walking directly towards Graham's location.

He quickly looked over his shoulder to check on Nigel, who was now almost at the lay by, then turned back to see if the figure was still there.

It was, but as it got closer still Graham noticed something very disturbing.

Whoever or whatever this figure was, it wasn't walking on the road, It was walking in the road.

By now Nigel had caught up and he was looking at the exact same figure as his father, and notably, he couldn't see the lower portions of its legs either.

According to both witnesses, these parts of the figure's legs were deep in the road, but it was still giving the impression that it was walking.

Graham also started to notice details about this strange person's clothing.

It was wearing some sort of old fashioned, dark brown hooded cape which appeared to be buttoned down the chest every inch or so.

It was also carrying a type of bag, but the bottom of this bag couldn't be seen either, as it appeared to be hidden under the road.

But probably the most frightening thing about this ghostly apparition was its face.

Both Graham and Nigel said that it didn't have any facial features at all that they could pinpoint.

Its face looked like it was covered with a thick, dark dust, as if it had been down a coal mine.

Where its eyes, nose, a mouth should have been, there were only dark voids.

Although father and son both realized that they were witnessing something very strange and completely out of the ordinary, their impression of this figure was that of a solid person.

It didn't look in any way faded or have any value of transparency to it, and disappeared right in front of both Graham and Nigel as they watched in utter disbelief.

But even after the figure disappeared, another phenomena suddenly manifested itself, something which hadn't happened to any of the previous witnesses, but something which another witness years later confirmed happened to them.

It was a smell, a specific smell.

Graham described it as if you were in a bookshop which sold nothing but very old books and had a musty kind of smell.

At the time, he didn't mention anything to his son, so he was surprised when Nigel commented on a smell and described it in the same way as his father.

So it seems quite obvious from the story so far that this monklike apparition is not shy about appearing in front of more than one person, and that's not only astonishing but very rare.

You'll usually find that one person will see the apparition but the other can't.

Whether this has something to do with one person being more susceptible to picking up on the paranormal isn't clear.

But when more than one person is seeing the same thing at the same time and then experiencing other sensations related to that encounter.

Again, at the same time, it does make the argument about the brain playing tricks on our minds that little bit weaker.

How could two people be experiencing the same thing which allegedly doesn't exist.

A few years after Graham and Nigel's encounter took place, Lucinda June was traveling along the Stocksbridge bypass.

As she got to a specific area, the inside of her vehicle became extremely cold.

She was also struck by the smell of musty books, the same as Graham and Nigel, and if that wasn't enough, a black mass began to appear to the left of her as she drove.

Lucinda is a psychic and said that the black mass gave off a very heavy and negative type of energy that frightened her immensely.

But it was at this point that she picked up on a vision of a monk.

A few seconds later, the vision ended, the black mass disappeared, and the inside of the car returned to a more normal temperature.

Still, the sightings and encounters continued to be reported, including the terrifying experience an anonymous motorcyclist had at night as he rode along the bypass.

The person said that it was approximately three am, so the road was pretty deserted at the time, apart from a strange figure which he spotted at the side of the road walking towards him.

As he got closer to this figure, he noticed that it was a woman walking with her head bowed.

She was wearing a long white dress and her hair was a similar color and long.

It fell all around her head, obscuring her facial features.

The biker slowed down to get a closer look, and as he passed her, he quickly turned around, but she disappeared.

It seems this person was either speeding at the time or made a sharp and quick getaway, because not long after he was pulled over by traffic police.

He told them what he'd seen and asked them if they'd also seen the woman, but they hadn't.

Whilst a lot of these stories have made it to the media in some way, shape or form, many more remained largely unheard, but they are shared occasionally.

An anonymous man who was driving from Manchester to Sheffield in the early hours of an October night had a very strange experience on the bypass, and he had passengers next to the driver was another man, while in the back of the car there were three people, a man and two women.

As they got towards the end of the bypass, they navigated the island to head in the direction of the M one motorway, when suddenly two of the passengers saw a strange looking figure standing on the verge between the lanes.

This figure was incredibly close to the car and was leaning forward looking inside.

As they drove past, the two passengers commented on who the hell the person was and why were they standing so close to the road now.

The strange thing was only two out of the five people in the car saw this figure, but they both described him in exactly the same way.

He was wearing a long dark coat and an old deer stalker type hat with the flaps at the sides to cover the ears.

He also had a handlebar mustache and a beard.

They didn't bother to turn around and go back to see if the figure was still there.

They'd already heard so many stories of the bypass and surrounding areas being very haunted.

In another fascinating account, a couple called Vicki and Paul were traveling down the bypass after watching an ice hockey game in Manchester.

Neither of them had consumed any alcohol, and even though it was dark and getting quite late, both were wide awake and fully aware of their surroundings.

As they neared per Royd Bridge, a location where a lot of activity has taken place, Vicki noticed a musty smell inside the car.

It was weak at first, but grew more and more potent.

Then the temperature dropped dramatically.

It was then that the hares on the back of her neck began to stand on end.

Not wanting to alert Paul to this as he was driving, she kept quiet, but noticed that he increased speed for some reason, and they were now hurtling along the road.

As they got to Wartley, the smell disappeared almost instantly, as well as the temperature inside the car returning to normal.

Still, Vickie kept quiet, and it wasn't long after that that they reached home.

As they got inside and settled, Paul asked Vicki if she had experienced anything strange on the drive home.

She told him about the musty smell and sudden drop in temperature, but it was what Paul told her that really gave them both chills.

He admitted that he felt the car get very cold.

Then as he looked in the rear view mirror, he clearly saw the figure of a monk walking at the side of the road.

What apparently freaked him out the most was that he'd been checking his mirrors frequently, as he always did, and never saw anything.

It was as if the figure just suddenly appeared at the side of the road from thin air.

As with many others who have witnessed terrifying apparitions on the Stocksbridge bypass, they very rarely travel on it now.

On the rare occasions, this figure of a monk has been known to do something that would disturb even the most level headed and skeptical of us.

At around ten p m.

One evening, an elderly couple who were driving across the Perroi Bridge began to take note of that familiar musty smell that so many other witnesses have reported.

It became so strong and pungent that the woman likened it to that of a rotting corpse, and then the inside of the car when cold, like a freezer door opening.

She then became aware of someone or something sitting in back of the car, and as she slowly turned her head to look saw a dark cloak sitting on the back seat.

It had fallen to it, but nothing else, and radiated a terrible, ominous atmosphere.

In shock, the woman cowered down in her seat and whispered to her husband that there was someone sitting in the back of the car.

Yes, sort.

The mark, But as she said this, the temperature went back to normal and the figure had vanished.

A similar incident happened at a location near the bypass called Underbank.

The witness was driving up through Underbank one morning when as they neared the corner, they experienced the phenomena of a dramatic drop in temperature.

Not being able to see an apparition, but only feel it.

The witness said that they became very aware of something sitting next to them in the car.

In their mind's eye.

Whatever this was, it was giving the witness the impression that it was a monk.

It sat there with a type of basket on its lap, giving an evil and malevolent vibe.

The witness also said that they were fully aware that this entity knew it was frightening, knew it was causing discomfort, even that it wanted to cause an accident, then as quickly as it appeared, it went.

This sighting is also interesting because of its location.

We've already heard about the monk who fell out of favor at the monastery and went to work on a farm, But another story tells of a monk with a similar reason for being cast out by his fellow colleagues.

But instead of going to work on a farm, he went to work at Underbank Hall as a gardener, where he lived out the rest of his life.

As with the other story of the monk, he was buried on a nearby hillside, a hallow ground, and this hillside decimated when work on the bypass began built in fourteen eighty.

Under Bank Hall is certainly old enough to have been thrust into legend of the ghostly Monk, and still stands today, obviously renovated over the centuries and passed on to various owners.

It's now back in private ownership.

But was there any trace of a monk ever having worked there?

Unfortunately we'll probably never know for sure.

But what about the sightings of the children by the electric pylons, heard singing ringo ringo roses dancing holding hands?

Is there a story to explain their existence.

Well, yes, there are two possible stories which could shed light on why they continue to haunt the Stocksbridge bypass, one more believable than the other, I might add.

The first involves the bridge which has been involved in many sightings of apparitions and entities over the history of the haunting of the area, the bridge which Pcllis and PC Beat had one of their experiences.

Now, obviously that bridge was only just being built, but there were other ones in the same location years before.

There have been a number of stories involving a coach and horses overturning and killing a group of children, but just as with the stories of the monk, these have been hard to actually nail them to an element of truth.

Crashes have indeed took place on the old now demolished bridges from over one hundred years ago, but there doesn't seem to be any records of fatalities.

Now that's not to say that some sort of accident involving a coach and horses didn't happen, and that's not to say the children weren't killed.

It's just that there aren't any records of it, such as in newspapers from the time.

Another storyline which could explain the apparitions of the children, and the one I'm more tempted to believe in, revolves around the mining industry in the area.

Years ago, open shafts allegedly littered the countryside, and many children are said to have perished as they felt their deaths down one of the many shafts.

Also, let's not forget that it wasn't until the Mines and Collieries Bill, which was passed in Parliament in eighteen forty two, the children and whole families were working down coal mines.

But even this law only stopped the mining companies from sending women down and children under the age of ten years old.

So it's quite possible that the spirits of the children which have been seen near the bypass are those who were maybe killed in a mining accident, a cave in or tunnel collapse, maybe even an explosion.

Psychics, including Lucinda Jane who was mentioned earlier, have attempted to tap into the energy and spirits that roam the countryside around the bypass as well as on it.

Some have had mild six others not so much, and the area is a hotspot for paranormal investigators.

Ghost hunters and organized tours.

One paranormal investigator called the Stocksbridge Bypass his most terrifying investigation yet.

Phil Sinclair was up at the bypass one night with a few colleagues on a routine investigation.

The group packed various pieces of equipment to help them in their research for paranormal phenomena in the area, and their night wasn't to be a disappointment.

With his actions being filmed, he carefully navigated a number of locations along the bypass in the dark.

Armed with a device called an ovolus.

He began asking questions out lauds, such as quote, I would like to talk to any spirits that reside in this area.

I mean you no harm, Please manifest yourself end quote before we carry on.

It's important to understand what an ovolus is and what it does.

An Ovolus comes in a number of different formats, but the basic function of this device is as follows.

It is equipped with an onboard electromagnetic field or EMF for short detection system which scans the area hunting for changes or anomalies in the electromagnetic field of the area you are in.

These changes in the EMF are linked to a database of words, and it's these words that are either spoken out by the device or displayed on a small screen.

The theory behind an ovelus is that spirits, ghosts, entities, apparitions, whatever you want to call them, can manipulate a location's electromagnetic field, converting those changes into words and thus making contact with the world of the living.

These devices are a favorite amongst ghost hunters and paranormal investigators because they can encode compus a number of tools in one unit, an EMF meter, an EVP or electronic voice phenomena detector, and a spirit box or radiofrequency scanner.

Depending on the model, they can carry more options such as environmental senses, which can pick up changes in humidity and temperature, all things that are allegedly signs of a ghost, spirit, apparition, or poltergeist.

So now we have a better grip of what an ovelus is and what it does.

Let's get back to what Phil Sinclair experienced during his investigation.

As he was asking questions, the ovelus began picking up strange fluctuations in the surrounding electromagnetic field.

Initially, it seemed like Sinclair felt that the presence was a child and actually called out to it to make itself known.

But then the ovelus converted the EMF readings to sounds, and what they said was quite disturbing.

He raise was the first word, followed by you need.

But when Sinclair asked the presence, what do you need, it chillingly replied your soul.

Sinclair then felt a shift in the atmosphere, claiming that he now felt an evil presence.

Then, in complete shock, shouted out Jesus Christ as he said that he'd seen the figure of a man standing in amongst undergrowth.

After this, the tension racked up even more, with the sounds of a growl allegedly being heard, as well as more voices.

But the peak of the investigation came when Sinclair asked the spirit do you want us to leave and got a three word reply, hate and get out.

The group then decided it was probably a good idea to quit while they were ahead.

But what do we think think about investigations such as these using tools which are frowned upon by the majority of the scientific community, Tools which are being used to detect phenomena which they feel doesn't even exist.

We have to try to put these investigations and all the other accounts, experiences and incidents into context.

Is it in our nature as human beings to concoct stories, to exaggerate, to lie?

Are we to believe and come to the conclusion that every single person who has witnessed strange phenomena on or near the Stocksbridge Bypass are lying?

Have they all been mistaken with what they've seen, confusing their experiences with something which is not only not paranormal but also easily explainable.

To this day, PC Ellis and PC Beats stand firm by their experiences, as do many others who have had encounters with the strange and unusual to many.

In their opinion, this clearly very active area is testament to the possibility that the dead do in fact come back to roam the earth long after they have passed, that spirits, apparitions, ghosts can somehow interact with the living in our dimension, and maybe, just maybe, all of this could go some way to proving that the Stocksbridge Bypass really is the most haunted stretch of road in the UK.

So the next time you're out at night driving along and lonely road, just be sure to double check quickly look at both sides of the road for strange figures, keep the heater on in case the inside of your car suddenly feels ice block cold.

And finally, last of all, double check which road you're actually on, because if you find yourself traveling alone on the Stocksbridge bypass, then the next person to come face to face with the paranormal, specifically a monk like being who has a pension for appearing on your back seat and locking dead eyes with you in the rear view mirror, well, the next person to endure that could be you.

Put the proputing the paper, the pre book