Rivelin Valley ghost Sheffield: Mystery figure in coat and hat sparks spook alert

Michael Parker believes he saw a supernatural figure in countryside between Crosspool and Rivelin, and now wants to know if anyone else has seen the same ‘apparition’.

Mr Parker’s sighting dates back from the late 1960s – but he was reminded of it after reading in The Star about a similar sighting of what a man believed to be a ghost in City Road cemetery this month. Michael thinks his own sighting was near Long Lane, but is not sure.

Mr Parker, from Deepcar, said: “In my mid-teens during the late 1960s, my elder neighbour Alan invited me to accompany him and his young daughters one evening on a trip to gather blackberries. We finished up parked in a rough surfaced lay-by aside a road running atop the valley that bordered Crosspool and Rivelin.

“Aside the lay-by was a thick hedge of tall brambles with blackberries which was in front of a dense wooded area with a steep, rough surfaced path leading down the hillside between the wooded area and the boundary of a field, which at this point in the right corner was a large wooden five bar gate.

"But hanging down the embankment wall over the gate was a tangle of bramble bushes with big, succulent blackberries on them. So having had a good look around and seeing no one, I said to Alan that I was going over the gate to gather berries while he and his daughters busied themselves collecting said from the lay-by hedge.

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“However, as I climbed to the top of the gate, I looked into the large field ahead and saw an elderly chap in the middle of it walking towards me. He was dressed in a navy blue beret flat on his head, and a full length olive coloured gabardine raincoat secured around the waist with a wide olive coloured belt.

"He also had heavy black framed spectacles on and carried a black coloured walking stick in his right hand and bag made up of multi coloured squares in his left, wore black boots, was about 5ft 6in tall but walked with a stoop and was of thinnish build. I also recall him looking directly at me. He also appeared to me as being as real and solid as anyone else alive would.

“I turned to Alan saying that I would refrain from entering the field a while due to the presence of the bloke who may be connected with the owner, which took me a few seconds to state; and as I was speaking Alan had turned round and was looking to my rear out across the field in question.

"And then said: ‘what bloke?’. In response to which I turned round and was surprised to be looking at an empty field. Having convinced Alan of my sincerity, we both went over the gate and across the field to the spot where I had seen the gent but the ground was dry and there were no footprints other than old ones from livestock.”

He said the figure could not have left the field in the short period between glances.

He added: “It would be interesting to know if anyone else had the same or similar experience in that Rivelin – Crosspool area, and if anyone can shed light concerning where the area I’m describing actually is.”

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