The haunting
Sara’s full of spirit!
By Elizabeth Taylor.
The owners of a new craft shop in Waterfoot have taken on something they did not bargain for – the ghost of Sara! For David Howarth and Hewitt Dodgson of Lightcatchers in Waterfoot Arcade on Burnley Road East say the shop has been “visited” several times already.
Their friend, Tony Winstanley, once looked after the shop for a couple of minutes. He said: “I was in the back of the shop, when a pair of pliers were flung straight off a pair of stepladders and out to the desk in the front of the shop – and there was nobody anywhere near them.” It is the desk which they believe has something to do with it. It had been in the back of the shop for many years and Tony helped pull it out. On one occasion he was leaning on the desk when he felt himself pulled back sharply by an unseen hand.
Mr Howarth said: “Sometimes you can feel its presence in the shop. I have also heard a woman’s feet walking across the floor.” They believe the ghost could date back to 1899 before the arcade was built and there was a market on the site. It is said a woman called Sara murdered either her husband or boyfriend and was then locked in a cellar. One former occupant of a flat above the arcade is said to have seen a female ghost wearing a white gown.
Rossendale Free Press, 5th November 1988.
‘Sara’ makes a hair-raising return.
by Elizabeth Taylor.
The ghost of Sara has put in another appearance in the Waterfoot shop where the first ‘sighting’ was made about a year ago. At the time, the shop in the Arcade, Lightcatchers, was owned by David Howarth and Hewitt Dodgson. A pair of pliers was flung across the room and the couple heard what they believe was a woman’s feet walking in the room. There was no one there.
Now the shop is leased by the MENCAP charity and Neville Grimshaw, a full-time voluntary worker there, says the ghost has visited them. He was in the shop at 9am recently with three other people when there was a loud and distinct knocking on the door. There was no one there. Mr Grimshaw was standing near the window and would have been able to see anybody coming and going. He said: “I thought it was someone playing a practical joke or some kids playing, but there was nobody there.”
Two days later there was another strange happening. Bird tables that had been stored upright in the cellar had all been knocked over. Mr Grimshaw said: “There was no chance they could have fallen down. You just get that feeling.”
The previous owners of the shop believed the ghost dated back to pre 1899 – before the Arcade was built and there was a market on the site. It is said a woman called Sara murdered either her husband or her boyfriend and was locked in the cellar.
Rossendale Free Press, 23rd December 1989.