There are two types of people in this world. Those who attend a live ghost-themed theatre show, walk past an ancient, blood-soaked medieval tower at half ten at night, and sensibly get in their car and go home. And then there is Paul. Paul, who has given us what may be the most perfectly British paranormal adventure of the year, culminating in a Clifford’s Tower ghost photo that is either evidence of the afterlife or proof that smartphone cameras really do struggle in low light. We may never know which.
A Night Out in York That Got Slightly Weird
Paul had travelled to the magnificent city of York to see Danny Robins’ Uncanny: Fear of the Dark stage show. For those unfamiliar, Danny Robins is the man behind the hugely popular BBC podcast that investigates real-life paranormal experiences with a pleasing mix of genuine curiosity and raised eyebrows. It is, in other words, exactly the sort of show that primes your brain to see ghosts in every shadow, puddle, and slightly oddly-shaped lamppost on the way home.
Paul parked at Castle Car Park, which sits conveniently — or, depending on your outlook, ominously — right next to Clifford’s Tower. The tower, for context, is a 13th-century keep with a history so grim it makes a wet Monday in Grimsby feel cheerful. It was the site of a massacre of around 150 Jewish people in 1190, who were either killed by a mob or died by mass suicide rather than face forced conversion. It is, consequently, considered one of the most haunted locations in England. Which is saying something, because England is essentially haunted from top to bottom.
Up the Stairs, Alone, at Night — What Could Go Wrong?
Rather than absorbing all of this history and making the entirely rational decision to drive home and have a cup of tea, Paul decided to climb all the stairs to the top of the illuminated tower. At half past ten. Alone. After a ghost show. One has to admire the commitment, if not the life choices.
He found the doors locked, obviously, because most medieval towers do observe closing time. He then walked back down and took a photo of the lit-up staircase. Just the one photo, which he notes is “a bit odd” in itself, as he thought he’d taken several. However, it wasn’t until the following day that things got interesting. Reviewing his camera roll over what one imagines was a very tense morning coffee, Paul spotted something near the top of the stairs. A misty figure. A discernible head and torso. Something that appeared to span two or three steps, as though standing on them.
The Clifford’s Tower Ghost Photo: Mist, Mystery, or Mild Pareidolia?
Now, before we all start phoning the Ghost Research Society, it is worth considering the alternatives. Mist is a very real phenomenon, particularly in York, which sits at the confluence of two rivers and practically marinates in atmospheric vapour for nine months of the year. Furthermore, pareidolia — the brain’s well-documented tendency to find faces and figures in random patterns — is responsible for more ghost photographs than any actual ghost has ever managed.
Paul himself, to his considerable credit, does not go full tabloid about this. He acknowledges it could be a trick of the light. He notes he has compared it against other nighttime photos of the tower online and found nothing similar. He asks, simply and rather endearingly, “What do you think?”
Meanwhile, the rest of us are left pondering life’s great questions. Is there an afterlife? Do the souls of the departed linger at the places of their suffering? And most pressingly: if you attend a show called Fear of the Dark and then voluntarily wander around a notoriously haunted medieval ruin in the dark, have you really earned the right to be surprised by what turns up in your photos?
York: Haunted, Historic, and Absolutely Worth a Visit
Whatever the truth behind this particular Clifford’s Tower ghost photo, it serves as a timely reminder that Yorkshire remains magnificently committed to being eerie, atmospheric, and slightly unnerving after dark. York in particular has built an entire tourism industry on its ghosts, and frankly good for it. The city has over 2,000 years of history packed into its medieval walls. Something is bound to have left a mark. Whether that something is now hovering on a staircase waiting to photobomb unsuspecting theatre-goers is, of course, a matter for each of us to decide alone — ideally not at half past ten at night, on a dimly lit staircase, after a ghost show.
Read the original story at Paranormal Globe.
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