Bristol’s haunted and hidden walking tour: Why is the city so scary?

National World - LocalTV

The haunted and hidden walking tour shows locals and visitors some of the scary parts of the city including the ghostly highwayman, a church and its ghostly monk and bristols famous haunted cinema.

Transcript

00:00We've been blessed a thousand years old, which people don't realise how old it is.

00:04It's got a lot of classic old buildings, but most of the ones that seem to be haunted in

00:08many buildings like the UK are cinemas, theatres, or where buildings have changed the way they

00:13used to be.

00:14Like the cathedral next door to where we are now, the cafe in the far corner, if you go

00:18down in there, the far corner there's actually a doorway bricked over, which has been filled

00:22in for 400 years.

00:24The Virgin, who's now retired, when he worked here, one occasion actually saw a figure walking

00:28through the cafe, and they walked through the old doorway.

00:31Because back in the day you could walk from the cathedral into a prairie next door called

00:35St Augustine's.

00:36So when you see things, it's as the building used to be, not maybe as it is now.

00:41All over the city, there are many haunted and hidden gems for locals to discover this

00:47Halloween.

00:48Let's find out more about what you can expect when walking around the city.

00:53This is the legendary pub by the bus station called the White Hart, run by a lovely couple.

00:57It used to be a prairie, and that's why the area's called the Horse Fair, because the

01:01longest church fair in British history was there.

01:04The White Hart, I've met four landlords, each one's got a different story about the pub.

01:09It's haunted by a poltergeist.

01:11Because in 1706, two brothers running out in a massive row, the bigger brother punched

01:15the other brother and threw his body in the cellar and killed him.

01:19So every owner I've met has got a weird story about the White Hart by the bus station.

01:23The cellar is haunted, even the food lift will go up and down at night during the early

01:27hours as well.

01:28Why do you think people are so interested in the haunted areas of the city?

01:32I think, thanks to Most Haunted, which I worked with 20 years ago, it's raised the profile

01:37a little bit.

01:38I think a lot of people want it as an entertainment thing.

01:41I try and make it factual, so everything I tell is on people I've met.

01:44When I wrote it 22 years ago, I was kind of sceptical.

01:47But by the people I've met, policemen, firemen, priests and exorcisms, it's changed me from

01:52a sceptic to a believer.

01:54I think mainly because what I'm especially old and new.

01:57Cathedral's been here since 1140, which people don't realise.

02:00The Hatchet Pub, 1500.

02:03The Land Dogger, 1660.

02:05You forget how old the city is and the history with the slave trade, the pirate issues and

02:10stuff like that.

02:12It's a lot older than people realise.

02:14The Route of Bristol's haunted and hidden walking tour takes locals through some of

02:19the darker and spooky areas in the city.

02:23Let's find out what areas of the city are said to be haunted and why they are so spooky.

02:31It started 21 years ago.

02:34I did a walking tour in New York with my mum and I thought we'd try something in Bristol,

02:38a bit quirkier.

02:39And it's lasted all that time.

02:42What we do is we do seven or eight haunted buildings and as well as that the TV location

02:47as well.

02:48A lot of it's polar art, being human, skin, Sherlock.

02:51Just to put that in between the gaps between the haunted buildings as well.

02:53We go mainly to the old city, St Nicholas Market, the Odeon Cinema, which is probably

02:58the most haunted cinema in Great Britain.

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