There is little doubt about the dynamic phantoms which race through the quiet countryside west of York in the region of Long Marston. These are said to be Prince Rupert and his cavaliers who fought the Roundhead army of Lord Leven and Oliver Cromwell on Marston Moor on 2nd July 1644. Rupert was marching north with some 18,000 men to relieve the garrison of York when he met the 28,000 strong Parliamentarian force. The battle began with great success for Prince Rupert but ended in crushing defeat after a brilliantly executed Roundhead cavalry charge swept the field. Prince Rupert managed to rally most of his troops and beat a hasty retreat. About 6,000 men died that day and many more were injured. The phantom cavaliers gallop and wheel across the fields north of Long Marston reliving the battle of long ago. That fateful day has left its spectral mark in York city itself, indeed in King's Manor.
Similar phantoms haunt the Olde Starre Inn, just off Stonegate. During the siege and in the wake of the battle sawn off while they were still, conscious. Their terrible screams of agony are occasionally still heard. The scene was made all the more gruesome by the fact that Roundhead troopers were drinking and eating their fill in the kitchen overhead.
Shrill screams are heard from time to time in the Old Starre Inne. The Olde Starre Inn is not only disturbing to human visitors. It can also be an uncomfortable place to take a pet dog. There is something in the bar which is always invisible to humans but can be seen by dogs. Whatever this something may be, dogs do not like it.
The animals snarl and bristle with hostility as their eyes follow an invisible visitor around the room. On occasion a dog has been brave enough to attack the intruder. One bold dog knocked itself unconscious when it suddenly and unaccountably leaped forward and slammed into a wall.
The invisible intruder at the Olde Starre Inn may be related to the two phantom black cats which scamper playfully through the pub at times. Nobody knows when these cats lived at the Olde Starre but they have been present in spectral form for as long as anyone can recall. Nor can anyone identify the old lady who climbs the stairs. She is seen infrequently and then usually by young children who can give only a vague description of her.
