With approximately 140 ghosts within its city walls alone, York is amongst the most densely haunted cities in England and it is just the type of city people would expect to be haunted.
The centuries old Minster, Bootham Bar and Micklegate bar tower over narrow streets lined by shops no less old. Between them are narrow walkways where the sunlight little reaches.

Oddities such as the Red Devil that looks down into the Coffee yard off Stonegate seems to emphasize the atmosphere of York. It is in these ancient streets and pathways that the ghosts of York interpose in the world of the living.

Surprisingly the oldest and best known ghosts of York are to be found in the cellar of a house comparatively modern by York standards. The Treasurer's House was built in 1648 on the site of the former home of the Minster's treasurer, an office abolished a century earlier. In this building the ghosts are far older than either the house or the Minster.

In 1953 a teenage plumbing apprentice named Harry Martindale was working in the cellar. He heard a distant trumpet blast, repeated a few seconds later but much closer. Looking around, Harry saw a horse's head emerge from the solid wall of the cellar. This was followed by the rest of the horse with rider. Harry was so shocked that he dropped the hammer he was using and ran to a far corner of the cellar, terrified by what he was seeing.
As Harry stared at the rider, men that were on foot followed. They marched rather dejectedly across the room and followed the rider towards the far wall. The sixteen or so men were grimy, unshaven and dressed in uniforms with kilt like skirts. Each wore a helmet and carried a spear or sword, often both. They all appeared to be dispirited. Most peculiar of all, the men seemed to have no legs below their knees. Not until they marched across a hole dug in the cellar floor did Harry see their shins and feet. As soon as the men had marched through the cellar wall opposite, Harry ran as quick as he could. His tale staggered his workmates who doubted his story. But not the curator; strange happenings in the cellar were nothing new to him.
Rather more interested were the local archaeologists, for the Treasurer's House lies on the route of the old roman road out of York. Later excavation found the remains of the road a foot or so below the cellar floor. If the ghostly soldiers were marching along this road they would indeed appear only from the knees upwards. The costumes, as described by Harry Martindale, caused problems at the time because apart from the helmets they were so unlike the Roman uniforms of the period as to cast doubt on the story. But harry still stood by his story. Not until some years later was it found that auxiliary troops wearing very similar uniforms had indeed been stationed in York towards the end of the Roman period.

Another strange fact is that the 9th Legion when called to return to Rome never arrived, it is still not known exactly what happened to them. Like the ghosts they became they just seemed to disappear. Were the cellar ghosts a shattered patrol which perished at the hands of the Picts in the collapse of Roman Britain? Or after so many years garrisoned in York had it become their home, taking wives and having families here. If so they would not have wanted to leave. We shall probably never know. But the ghosts continue to march along the buried road, terrifying those unwary enough to venture into the Treasurer's cellar.

During the Middle Ages York was England's second most important city and the seat of one of only two archbishop. It is, therefore, scarcely surprising that the city has several ghosts dating back to its time of glory as the great city of the north.
The most whimsical of these is the Minster ghost which appeared in the late 1960's when extensive repairs and renovations were taking place.

A woman visitor was watching the work on one of the most intricate carvings by the West door when she noticed a scruffy workman wearing a hat standing beside her. "I carved that," he said. "Do you like it?" The woman looked back to were he had been standing to reply but before she could do, he vanished. Perhaps the stonemason had crossed the centuries to make sure modern craftsmen were caring for his work.

More disturbing, is the canine Barguist which roams the snickleways, the narrow alleys which snake between the streets and are often so narrow that two people have trouble in passing. The huge black dog with glowing red eyes which stalks these snickleways in search of human prey is very rarely seen.

Similar black dogs are reported from many areas of England and known by various names; Shucks in Suffolk, or Strikers in Lancashire. They are often sighted near ancient ruins or on prehistoric trackways. It is only in York though that the dog roams the city streets and only in York are there dark, narrow snickleways with no hiding places.

The majority of the ghosts of York, however, were caused by human tragedy and none can be more tragic than the following story concerning Clifford's Tower.

Visitors, most often young girls, have reported seeing blood pouring down the walls of this medieval fortification. Visible to everyone are the reddish stains on the gatehouse. It is said locally to be 'Jews blood' and said with good reason and shame from all York people.

In 1190 AD an anti-Jewish riot raged in York. Many Jews fled to the tower to find refuge from the mobs. The rioters were led by a man named Richard Malebisse and an unknown friar who set fire to the tower. Rather than surrender, the Jews committed mass suicide in a scene reminiscent of the siege of Masada in 70 AD. When the tower was rebuilt this time with stone from Tadcaster, the red stains quickly appeared starting the guilty local whispers of "its the Jews blood". In recent years it has been said the stains are due to iron oxide being present in small quantities in the stone. The twist of the tale though is that no other stone from the Tadcaster quarry either past or present, contains such minerals. So the mystery remains.