Ghosts of Our Past

As part of Heritage Open Days weekend, Friends of Cleethorpes Heritage held its Ghosts of Our Past event on Saturday 14th September. We chose to approach our ghostly theme from two angles. Firstly we looked at the physical buildings, landmarks and material objects, which were once a part of our local landscape, but are now only the stuff of memories and old photographs. Secondly we looked at the ghosts of the spirit world, who are said to haunt the local area.Visitors were able to view a wide variety of displays, packed with pictures and information about the changing landscape and much loved and missed buildings, such as the Winter Gardens, Clee Park and Darleys Hotel. There were also tales-a-plenty of ghostly goings on, foul murders and tragic deaths.

Live entertainment came courtesy of the Dixieland Jazz Band, Emmerson’s Organ, The Earthbound Misfits and local psychic medium Adrian Fuller, who entertained people with the story of how he discovered his gift and eventually came to terms with it. He also talked about his experiences on ghost hunts, particularly his recent investigations at the Imperial public house.

As always, our supporters were able to enjoy delicious homemade cake with their tea and coffee, served up by our splendidly attired waiters and waitresses. Meanwhile the ghost of Mary Leffley, wrongly hanged for the poisoning of her husband in 1884, wandered the hall offering Mr Leffley’s last meal of rice pudding to the masses and the likes of Miss Havisham and Anne Boylen (head intact) were also on hand.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make the event a success, including our friends from the Caxton Theatre and all those who provided us with items and materials for our displays.