Ghost History at the Hall

History of the Ghosts

Crowley Hall, situated in the north of England, was built in the late 19th century. It had originally been built as a hospital and served that purpose until the 1920's, when it was reformed and renamed as 'The Crowley Home for the Criminally Insane'. Run by head practitioner Dr. Bernard Leys and his wife Beatrice, it was one of the key centres for mental illness and criminal behavioural studies in the north of England.

Newspaper Cutting detailing the Opening of Crowley Hall

From the 1920's through to the 1930's, Leys was considered one of the highest authorities on mental and behavioural illnesses. He had been noted in the medical community as being an instigator of many new theories regarding the treatment of mental illness.

Leys ran Crowley Hall for 32 years, before dying in mysterious circumstances during an examination on one of the more seriously deranged inmates at the asylum. It had been claimed that Leys died after being attacked by the inmate whilst carrying out an operation. The inmate had apparently not been fully anaesthetised, and woke during the procedure. In the ensuing chaos, the inmate stabbed Leys in the neck. Official records state however that Leys died of a heart attack while during the operation.

During Leys' time at the hall, rumours of serious malpractice were rife. Stories spread of experimentation on some of the most violent inmates, including beatings and starvation. Upon Leys' death, an investigation into the rumours was conducted. However, the findings were inconclusive, as many records of the time had been destroyed when a fire broke out during the investigation.

The rumours failed to go away, and as there was nobody to continue Leys' work, the hall was closed down. The inmates were either moved to other institutions, or in some cases set free.

The hall lay empty for nearly 18 years. During this time, there were stories from local residents about screams and loud noises coming from within the abandoned hall. Nobody ever dared venture inside to investigate.

In 1970 the building was renovated and re-opened as 'Crowley Hall Children's Hospital'. During this period, there were stories of noises, sightings of strange ghostly figures, and even more shocking, actual accounts of attacks on not only the nurses but also the children.

Due to the amount of occurrences that were happening at the time, it is rumoured that a spiritual medium was called in to cleanse the hall of evil spirits. This was supposedly carried out over many months before the hall was considered free of malevolent spirits and paranormal activity. None of this has ever been verified.

The hall continued to function with no more reported incidents, until finally in 1997, after a bigger more modern hospital was opened half a mile away, Crowley Hall was closed.

It lay empty until 2005, when it was purchased by a local property developer who intended to turn it into housing.

It was during renovation work in early 2006, that bones were found hidden in one of the walls behind a fireplace. Upon further investigation, enough bones were found to conclude that at least four bodies bad been buried there. The room was left alone while work continued in the rest of the hall. It is not known who these bones belonged to, but it is known that some of the bones were that of a small child.

It was after the discovery that paranormal activity apparently resumed again. Screaming has been heard and ghostly figures have been seen walking around the hallways. Building work has ceased at the hall after an accident involving scaffolding collapsed and nearly injured workmen.

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