GhostFamous
The Kidsgrove Boggart
In the tunnel, no light, and a woman without a head.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Brick canal tunnel portals on the Trent and Mersey
- Legend from
- Boatmen's tale, recorded 1843
- Tone
- Chilling
Deep in the tunnel the boatmen saw her: a woman in white, with no head.
The Kidsgrove Boggart, or Kitcrew Boggart, haunts the Harecastle canal tunnels and the hill above. Most often it is a headless woman, said to have been murdered. In one version told in the Sentinel, a man murdered a woman and dragged her body into a colliery working that joined the tunnel, and her spirit was heard by boatmen and miners. The Sentinel shows the tale has been confused with the real 1839 murder of Christina Collins at Rugeley, and an 1879 Sentinel piece puts the boggart at Ranscliff decades earlier. Haden notes boatmen knew the lore by 1843.