999! There’s a ghost in our ambulance.
Spook back at old haunt.
By Gordon Hughes.
White-faced ambulancemen are ringing alarm bells… because they are being spooked by the ghost of an old comrade. They say mischievous Herbert Ratcliffe – who died nine years ago aged 73 – has returned to his old haunt. Some have seen his eerie spectre wandering around their station. And other reckon he has moved ambulances outside a locked garage, made lights explode above startled men, emptied filing cabinets and upturned chairs.
Widower Herbert was an ambulanceman for 40 years before retiring from the station in Cadishead, Greater Manchester. His ex-partner Don Gregory said yesterday: “He was a cantankerous bugger when he was alive and he’s no different now he’s dead. All he does is cause trouble and break things.” Don added: “As ambulancemen we’ve seen most things and it takes a lot to frighten us. But Herbert’s ghost has really got us scared.”
The spook has appeared as a short, stocky man in uniform. Ambulanceman Graham Barton said: “That’s Herbert all right. We’ve all felt his presence. The whole station will suddenly become freezing cold and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Things go missing and banging noises can be heard from locked rooms. It’s as if he’s bored in the other wrold.”
Graham said some women officers are so scared of Herbert they are refusing to do overnight shifts. But for now there are no plans to exorcise the spirit. Graham said: “Better the miserable old devil you know. If we get rid of Herbert we might get someone even worse.”
Daily Mirror, 17th December 1991.
Cadishead ambulance lads haunted by troublesome things that go bump in the night!
By Dave Barton.
White-faced Cadishead ambulancemen reckon things are going bump in the night at their station. But the lads don’t scream in terror at the Liverpool Road Station – because they reckon it is only Herbert Radcliffe patrolling his old haunt. Herbert died nine years ago, aged 73, but his ex-partner Don Gregory is convinced he walks abroad in the Cadishead station.
Widower Herbert, an ambulanceman for 40 years, is said to whistle, move things around and some of the ‘living’ say they have actually seen his large ghostly frame! Don said: “He always was a cantankerous old man and I don’t think he’s changed much.” Don added that Herbert’s ghost had even driven one of the ambulances out of the yard and parked it on the other side of the road! And he said only last week one of the ambulancemen was hoovering up and Herbert lifted the electric cable about two feet in the air.
“He bangs around a lot but the main thing is the whistling,” said Don. But he said he had no idea why Herbert, who died three years before he was due to retire, had come back to haunt them. “I haven’t a clue unless he is a troubled spirit,” said Don, aged 52. But the ambulancemen have no plans to exorcise their ex-partner. “We are very light-hearted about it. Nobody is scared. It is more humorous than anything else,” added Don.
Salford City Reporter, 2nd January 1992.