Let’s be honest, uni is a spooky experience. Between Thursday 9ams, the queue to the club on a Wednesday, and the existential dread of graduating, every student has lots to fear. However (and this is only partially me being biased), York students know this better than any other. Being a student is scary, but when both your city and your uni are rumoured to be haunted it reaches a whole new level. Who needs a ghost tour when your lectures are two minutes away from a cemetery? Not York students, apparently. Here are just a couple of the spooky facts about York that you didn’t know – and will now regret learning!
1. The University of York is the fifth most haunted uni in the UK
I thought that this one would be self-explanatory, but not really. We’re a relatively young uni, established in 1963 compared to Oxford in 1096. Campus West must just look a lot more run-down than it is, because even the brutalist style of Derwent is only about 50 years old! However, this doesn’t stop us from being apparently super haunted.
In 2023, the Knowledge Academy declared us the fifth most haunted UK university. Their criteria is also solid, not based upon rumours and ghost stories. The University of York has 1,200 listed buildings and 60 cemeteries within 2 miles. We had a total spooky score of 7.98! This makes a lot of sense considering I can think of 2 cemeteries within a 5 minute walk of my house.
But look on the bright side, at least we’ve gone down two places since 2022…
2. York is built on top of its Roman ruins
While the Uni of York is young, the city is not. It was conquered by Romans in 71 AD, by Vikings in 866 AD, and has experienced violent damage from civil wars, plagues, and global wars in the centuries since. Modern York is essentially built upon old ruins, buildings and streets. Visit York claims that a tiny 2% of Roman archaeological ruins have been discovered, so York is essentially one big spooky mystery. For example, the Treasurer’s House is said to be haunted by the ghosts of Roman armies because it is built upon one of the major roads in “Eboracum”, the Roman York.
I actually think this is cooler than it is spooky, but I’d also not want to bump into any ghostly Roman soldiers on a night out, TBH.
3. People used to be executed by York Racecourse
Nowadays the only dangers at the races are alcohol poisoning, getting your shoes muddy, and hitting the limit of your overdraft. It’s relatively harmless, but it didn’t use to be. The execution site of Tyburn was built on Knavesmire, the fields where the Racecourse is located. In fact, race meetings were scheduled to coincide with court and executions so that visitors could see both in one trip. This was even the execution site of Dick Turpin in 1739 – who ironically was sentenced to death for stealing horses. It’s basically fate that students now go knowing nothing about the actual horse races.
4. Our pubs are haunted
Okay, you probably do know this one, but there’s no way I could miss it out. After all, who wouldn’t want a pint with a ghost? The Golden Fleece is York’s most haunted pub, built in 1503. There are records of 15 ghosts experienced here, including Lady Alice Peckett, who was the wife of the York Mayor and owner of the pub. Alice is often spotted walking up and down the staircases. Overall, she seems pretty chill – I would make a guess that the prices are the scariest part of having a drink at York’s haunted pubs.
5. The Minster is haunted by an arsonist (and a dog?)
The Minster is every York student’s favourite part of the city. With the new light event that is on until November 2, we now have the chance to learn more about its history. Although ghosts aren’t mentioned in the retelling of its 1984 fire, the Minster has plenty of ghost stories. And fires, apparently – it caught fire in 1753, 1829, and 1840. One of the Minster’s most famous ghosts is arsonist Jonathan Martin, who is reportedly seen trying to finish what he started in 1829 after being sentenced to an asylum.
On a sadder note, people have also claimed to hear a dog locked up in the Minster, crying and barking. Supposedly the dog was trapped as revenge against its owner – but I think it was one step too far. Human ghosts are one thing, but dog ghosts are just too sad to deal with.
6. We walk on ‘The Great Flesh Shambles’
The Shambles today is some hybrid mix of Harry Potter and medieval town. It’s a tourist favourite in York, and locals and students alike know that the true modern horror story is trying to get through it and ending up in someone’s next Instagram post. If you want something more horrific than that, look no further. The Shambles is a shortened version of its 1426 name, “The Great Flesh Shambles”. Butchers would hang their meat up on hooks that are still visible today, and blood would run down the centre channel from the slaughterhouses on the road. While the story itself isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever heard, the name is not a catchy one. Never again will I be able to just call it “Shambles”.
Whether or not you’re a believer, there’s definitely something about the history of York that makes it the slightest bit spooky today. Maybe it’s that we’re walking around on centuries of dead places and people – or maybe that you’ll never be able to Instagram the Shambles again without thinking of its fleshy history. Either way, spooky season at York is now a year round event. Good excuse for my house still having last year’s Halloween decorations up at least.
