York at Halloween - readers share ghost stories from York

As Halloween approaches, we asked readers to share their ghost stories.

Below are three tales which just might give you the chills.

One centres on a popular York pub and a creepy encounter in its toilets; a second recounts a frightening experience in a York hotel, just days ago, and the final story takes us to Dalby Forest and a village near York where the weirdest events remain unexplained.

'Ghostly eyes stared at me in toilet of York pub'

Andrea Horner shared this chilling tale from a visit to a York pub:

"During our early 20s my partner and I frequented the Cock & Bottle pub in Skeldergate.

One evening we were sat chatting to the landlord when I popped to the toilets.

I had just sat down in the cubicle when I had the distinct feeling of being watched.

I turned to face the tiled wall and could clearly see a pair of dark, lecherous eyes staring back at me.

The Cock & Bottle in Skeldergate

I think my mind was trying to make sense of what I was seeing so I continued to stare.

Eventually I turned to look away for a brief moment and when I looked back, the eyes had gone.

When I returned to the bar the landlord was still chatting to my partner. I told them what I'd seen and the landlord smiled knowingly and simply asked me if I was a natural blonde!

He would say no more.

We never discussed this with anyone else and after many, many, years, I began to forget about the experience, until the day my sister in law told me she had just been on a ghost walk and the guide had told them about the ghost that appeared in the ladies toilets of the Cock & Bottle.

He was thought to be the ghost of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, an alchemist and a man who it was thought the poem 'Georgy Porgy pudding and pie, kissed the girls and made them cry' was written about.

A few years ago we went for a drink at the Cock & Bottle and I went to the same toilet and looked and waited. Nothing! I'm probably far too old for George to bother turning up to see now!"

Frightening experience at York hotel

Michelle Hayward shared this story from a recent visit to York:

"On staying at the Ibis York this October, I had a very frightening experience that I’ve never had before or hope to again.

Around 3am I felt movement in my bed as if someone was jumping around it. Then I felt something on top of me so heavy I couldn’t move.

Frightening experience in the night. Picture posed by a model

I felt it creep up me and touch my nose. After around a minute, I managed to move on to my side but I was terrified and still feeling the jumping on the bed around me for a while.

I looked up sleep paralysis - but as I know my eyes were open and this lasted for quite a few minutes I can’t believe it was that.

I’ve never in my life experienced anything like this."

'Weird events that have just no explanation'

Eunice Birch recounts several weird events that defy explanation:

"One morning we went to Dalby Forest. Unusually the car park was completely empty. The path we took was completely straight with a lovely view to the side.

Walking along we met an old lady with her two dogs. She was dressed in old fashioned black clothes with a hat surrounded with flowers and with her were two little grey dogs. "They won't hurt you," she said quietly.

And strangely our dogs didn't seem to see them - usually they would have gone to check them out as dogs do.

We walked on for a few seconds, turned around and the lady and her dogs had disappeared.

An unexplainable experience!

What did Eunice see in the woods?

"Another time, we were living in a village just outside York. When we moved in a neighbour said "you won't stay there long it's an unlucky house".

Of course we laughed it off.

We worked, so another neighbour kindly looked after our dogs. In those days there was no worry leaving a door unlocked so that the dogs could go out as necessary.

When we arrived home everyone's slippers were missing. They were lined up in the garden, each with the toes buried a couple of inches in the soil and exactly inches apart. Explanation?

I don't know but there is an unpleasant history in the village.

Anyway, we decided to move. As the door was locked for the last time, three black cloaked beings disappeared up the stairs. Another unexplainable experience."