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In brief
What is it about this attractive but ordinary street in the north-east of England that keeps its long-departed townsfolk walking amongst the living? Do they long to share something yet unrevealed about the brutality and sorrow that wrenched them from this world?
Category
About
Blackwell Lane, situated on the edge of the prestigious west end of Darlington, consists of attractive and well-maintained, mostly detached and semi-detached houses. It’s comfortable and pleasant atmosphere however hides past tragedies and a long-established reputation as a very haunted location.
Ghostly activity
- Pedestrians walking along the lane late at night have been left terrified after being confronted by the ghostly figure of a man some witnesses describe as having no head. Some accounts state that the figure appears agitated and tries to stop them advancing towards the old Blackwell Hall, now demolished.
- Could the apparition seen by many be the ghost of tragic Thomas Akers, whose body was found on Blackwell Lane in 1896? He was discovered around 500 yards from what was the Woodside mansion, which was on the same area of the lane as the hall. It appears that poor Mr. Akers had taken his own life by shooting himself in the chest shortly after purchasing a firearm earlier that day (see newspaper report of his suicide above). Is Mr. Akers’ sad spirit somehow locked in time, trying to protect passersby from discovering his suicide, which was known to have distressed those who found him in 1896?
- The ghost of a man described as dressed in garb from medieval times and wearing a red nightcap is frequently spotted drifting around on Blackwell Lane. The spooky figure has been named Old Pinkney by locals. Perhaps Pinkney was a common name for the area, as it was a Frank Pinkney who heard the shot and helped move the body of Thomas Akers following his suicide in 1896.
- A ghostly young woman is also regularly seen by unsuspecting travellers on Blackwell Lane. Was she the one brutally murdered and buried on the lane and whose skeletal remains were discovered by a council digger in 1935? (See newspaper report.) Local legend tells the story that the unfortunate woman was a young seamstress named Cicely Kirby who was killed and rapidly buried by her jealous soldier lover, who then fled to Scotland to fight in the 1746 Battle of Culloden. Unfortunately, no further inquest records or reports could be found following the discovery of the remains.
- Is there another ghostly woman who haunts the spot of her own tragic death on Blackwell Lane? Researchers into the haunting discovered an entry for a Beatrix Harrison in Darlington parish registers who was recorded to have suffered a violent death on Blackwell Lane in 1683. Are witnesses seeing the ghosts of both Cicely and Beatrix, who each met a brutal end on the notorious roadway? Or does only one of these stricken souls refuse to leave the site where her life was so tragically cut short?
Location
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Blackwell Lane, Darlington DL3 8QF, UK
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