When you think of the moors around Haworth and Thornton, the windswept romance of the Brontës often comes to mind. But beneath the literary landscape lies a darker, more mysterious history… a world of forgotten tragedies and lingering spirits that are as much a part of the local fabric as the famous parsonage. Some stories aren’t found in novels, but in the whispers from old houses and the chilling silence of desolate lanes.
A Murder in the Front Room
At one house on Green Lane in Thornton, one family has lived for over 58 years with unexplained occurrences: the image of someone walking across the top of the stairs, the smell of pipe tobacco, and footsteps in an empty house. For decades, they assumed it was the ghost of the elderly couple they bought the house from.
The truth, however, was far more shocking. They recently discovered that their home was the site of a brutal murder in 1897. A 45-year-old resident named Sarah Pickles was killed in their front room by her cousin, Walter Robinson, in a fit of rage. Robinson was later hanged for his crime, but it seems the tragic event left an indelible mark on the property. The family’s long-standing experiences with a ghostly presence suddenly had a chilling new context, transforming a simple haunting into a direct connection with a forgotten Victorian tragedy.
The Eerie Legacy of the Fever Hospital
Just a short distance away, on Back Lane, lies the former site of an isolation hospital, a place locals once called “the old Aussie”. Opened around 1889, it became a place of quarantine for those suffering from smallpox and scarlet fever. It was a desolate institution where many, including children, died alone, with families only able to see them through a window.
The building was demolished in 1971, but its ghostly reputation endures. During the demolition, two different workers on separate occasions reported seeing a “white, misty figure” in the trees. Both men, working on warm, sunny days, noted a sudden, inexplicable coldness accompanying the sighting.
This is just one of many tales associated with the site. Local lore is filled with other chilling accounts:
- The ghost of a matron seen standing in the glassless window of the derelict building.
- A terrifying vision of a figure described as “the devil” standing atop the hospital gates in a thick fog.
- A local vanishing hitchhiker legend, where a driver gives a lift to someone who turns out to have died in the hospital 50 years prior.
- An unsettling quietness, with multiple locals attesting that birds never sang in the trees on the property and that horses would get spooked when passing by.
History That Won’t Stay Buried
These stories from Green Lane and the old fever hospital are not isolated. They are part of a rich tapestry of local history. These stories move beyond folklore to uncover the real, often harsh, stories of the people who lived and died here, from the difficult working conditions of wool combers to the grim realities of Victorian crime.
While the Brontës gave this corner of Yorkshire literary immortality, the true spirit of the place is also found in these buried histories. It’s in the tragic tale of Sarah Pickles, the lingering sorrow of the fever hospital, and the countless other stories etched onto old headstones and whispered in family homes. It’s a powerful reminder that sometimes, the past is much closer than we think.