GHOSTS

It would seem every airfield is haunted and Burtonwood is no exception.  Some of the following tales have been told before, others are new.  If you are aware of others let me know.  Works of fiction are not required!

Dean Owen and a colleague of his are researching paranormal activities at RAF Burtonwood.  Dean would like to hear from anyone with first hand experience of unusual happenings at Burtonwood.  He can be contacted directly:-

deanstuartowen@blueyonder.co.uk

story one

Tech. site  late 1970īs
The RAFA Club.

I used to drop in there quite often of an evening, Fred Smith (name changed), an ex- store keeper was the steward at the time. This particular Thursday evening the bar was empty,  I think there was David Brown (name changed) from Prescot, myself and three or four whose names I do not remember, but I can see their faces clearly.

 It was about 9.30, Fred Smith was talking to those sitting at the bar, one of them, a chap from, I  think, Meeting Lane in Sankey, small, well built with glasses went out to the Gents, after a while I also went and passed him on his way back in the passageway,  he seemed flustered and said something to me like " you clever b******s"  or something similar,   I was a
bit shocked and thought it was the beer talking as I did not really know this man to speak to other than to nod .

When I returned to the bar, this man was seated at a table near the bar and was as white as a sheet and looked really ill, almost like he had seen a ghost you could say..

I asked Dave Brown what was up and he replied that the gentleman had reported that while he was at the gents stalls, he sensed somebody was behind him, turned round to see a large guy in full flying gear silently walk past. He did not think anything except somebody was playing a joke on the lads in the bar, but not on him.  When he  came back into the bar he said,  "Ok where is he?",  they asked who , " the comedian dressed in World War II flying gear ",   and they laughed , but  both sides quickly realised that this was no joke.  All windows had security grills on them, and the double locked key for the rear entrance were in the bar.  Nobody who was in the toilets could go anywhere except through the bar.

So what happened? Was there somebody or did the guy from Sankey just have a  mental surge or momentary loss of memory or something that we cannot explain?

Story supplied

story two

The exploding car. 1980

I was with Sq. Leader (name supplied) in his RAF black Austin-Morris  1800 and we drove to the hanger nearest to the Burtonwood Road,  the doors where partly open and the hanger was deserted, except for a  a nest of kestrels
high up in the metal girders, we drove into the hanger.  He and I got out to look at the birds  and he spoke about the future demolition of the hanger and some other negative things and suddenly there was a loud crack and the windscreen of the car literally blew out,  I saw it,  it was as if somebody had pushed it out from inside and at the same time hit it with a heavy
hammer. It was of course safety glass but it was shattered and only partly holding together.

There is no ghost connection to this one,  except that in he spot where the car was parked, they apparently stored coffins of dead airmen for a few hours prior to them being shipped back to the USA .  Who knows ?

Story Supplied

story three

Burtonwood Services

Shortly after it opened they used only one side at night, and the south side was closed, I hope that was right.  Well I knew the manager, I cannot remember his name now, but he was a pleasant chap in his early to mid thirties. He had a long day which ran into the nights almost every day.  He went home and then returned after 10.00pm to check everything.

The north side was working with a small staff and on the south side there was one or two women who were basically cleaners doing the restaurant, kitchens toilets, the lot, 4 hours on one side and six hours on the other side.

One night around 11.30pm one lady was on her own on the south side and locked in, she had the keys,  the lights were on where she was working only.  She was disturbed by a noise of some pans falling in the kitchen and looked through the serving hatch and saw nothing,  she went into the kitchen which
was L shaped and as she rounded the corner she was horrified to see a figure which she claimed had no head and walked through the wall !

Story Supplied

story four


The Mysterious MP in Burtonwood Road.


A chap I used to know in Ashton in Makerfield told me he was driving down Burtonwood road in the 1980īs in the early hours of the morning when he claims to have been flagged down by a soldier near to what is now the large roundabout at the north end.  His vivid description matched that of a USAF
MP down to the white spatts.  My friend slowed down and then suddenly there was nobody there.  Short but interesting, because I seem to remember that the concrete gatehouse at gate ?? was not fully demolished,  but rather the soil was piled on top of it and it stands I think in the middle of the
traffic roundabout !  He could not have known this and I did not tell him either as I was not 100% sure that the gatehouse is in the island,  but I know that the contractors did not do a good job and buried rather than removed the gatehouse. At the time I could see no other place where it could have been.

Story Supplied

story five

Phantom Whistler

There is a 24 hour security presence on A & E Sites and a number of strange events have occurred in recent years.  A guard on night patrol entered hangar 7 (adjacent Burtonwood Road) to check the vehicles stored inside.  He heard a loud whistle as if someone was trying to attract his attention, but there was no one there.  As he turned to walk away he was whistled again.  Two weeks later a person working in the offices in the hangar heard the same whistling sound.  Thinking someone was on the premises he armed himself with an iron bar and went in search of the intruder, but found no one.  The two men later exchanged stories but neither had an explanation for the phantom whistler.