The intriguing tale of the Ryhope ghost which drew crowds at midnight

One of the most intriguing ghost stories ever to emerge from Wearside is 100 years old this year.

The Sunderland Echo reported in 1926 on the spectre of Ryhope village green. The spirit would come out at midnight with a pick axe and a candle and start digging his own grave.

Legend had it that the ghost was an old soldier who would only rest in peace when his name was inscribed on the village memorial.

The Sunderland Echo report clearly struck a nerve with the people of Ryhope. The next night, on Halloween, there was a huge crowd of people who turned up with spades and shovels, and they were hoping to help the spirit to get back in the ground even quicker by digging with him.

The inquisitive midnight crowd began shouting to try and mock the spirit. They cried ‘come out and we’ll dig marrows with you’.

But even though they waited for two hours for the soldier ghost to make an appearance, he never showed up. And at 2am, the crowds dispersed.

The story does not end there, though. A young Sunderland man was walking home from a dance at 3.15am when he was ‘almost scared out of his wits’ as he passed the Green, said the Echo.

The ghost was standing there with his pack and a candle which would not go out even if the weather was terrible.

“Without warning,” said the Sunderland Echo, “the young man fled back along the Ryhope road and, sooner than risk another encounter, he went home along the railway line.”

The ghost only made an appearance once every 25 years, according to one report but there were many other versions.

Another version described the ghost as a man who was wearing a steel helmet and the light was really an electric torch.

Another alternative came from a 70 year old Ryhope woman who said the ghost leapt from the roof of a house before disappearing without trace.

We want to know if you have seen the ghost of Ryhope green and what it looked like. Tell us more by emailing [email protected]

Watch out for more Halloween stories, coming to you in the October instalment of the Wearside Echoes newsletter which goes out to members of our Wearside Echoes Facebook page who sign up to receive it.

If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so by visiting https://www.sunderlandecho.com/newsletter