Meet Bristol's infamous ghostly inhabitants this Halloween

With Halloween almost upon us there are no doubt plenty of ghoulish souls out there relishing the thought of venturing out after dark to try and spot a few spooks.

So Bristol Times has come up with a few allegedly haunted spots in Bristol and beyond where you might, just might, come face to face with a ghostly apparition.

First port of call has to be the half- timbered Llandoger Trow in King Street which dates back to the 17th century and is alleged to have at least 15 ghosts.

One story linked to the pub – which once featured on TV's Most Haunted – concerns the ghost of a young boy said to haunt the top floor.

The boy, who is believed to have worn leg braces and so walked with a limp, can be heard going up and down the stairs in the middle of the night.

His ghost has also been seen in the yard from which he used to fetch water, and also near a wall in what's presumed to have been his bedroom.

The pub's Jacobean Room, as well as the snug and the cellar, are where the hostelry's many other spirits would appear to manifest themselves.

Upstairs, it's said, the lights go on and off for no particular reason.

The White Hart – the ancient pub by the bus station which stands next to the graveyard of medieval St James Priory – has the ghost of a former bar worker (pot man) haunting in its cellar as well as poltergeist activity with objects being mysteriously thrown around.

Our third haunted hostelry is the much re-vamped Rummer in All Saints Lane, parts of which, including the cellar, date back to medieval times, when it was known as The Green Lattis.

This pub is reputedly haunted by a young woman, dressed in an old fashioned frilly white dress – some say a nightdress – who walks through the hallway.

A small man, with long black hair and a dark complexion has also mysteriously appeared – and then disappeared – in the pub's cellars, parts of which were found to be blocked off to form a small room.

Ancient mansions, like centuries- old Ashton Court, which dates back to medieval times, are well known for their ghostly happenings.

In 1960, after the court had been bought by the council, the electricians who had arrived to do some rewiring had an extraordinary experience.

The Long Gallery was strewn with wires and cables, when the workman, sitting in a side room, heard what sounded like a whirlwind.

When they went to investigate, they found that the cables had been neatly rolled back on to their reels and all the wires rolled into balls.

After that the electricians refused to ever work alone in the mansion again, a situation that was, apparently, accepted by their bosses.

A headless horseman has also been seen riding on the estate, which belonged to the Smyth family for 400 years.

Vassal's Park in Fishponds, as well as nearby Stoke Park, are said to be haunted by the ghost of the Duchess of Beaufort, who can been seen at midnight riding a phantom stallion.

The sound of bottles clicking, loud laughter and raucous voices, heard on Troopers' Hill, in St George, over the years, are said to be the ghosts of the Roundhead soldiers who camped there during the Civil War.

The ghost of another soldier, an 18th-century drummer boy called Jim Falkner, is said to haunt Brandon Hill.

After deserting his post Jim was captured, marched to the hill from the old Guard House in Wine Street and shot by his old comrades.

On misty winter nights locals would swear that they could hear the muffled sound of a drum.

The spooky figure of a monk has been seen by quite a few people roaming the Central Library, an Edwardian building which stands on the site of the old Deanery.

Another monk – or perhaps the same one – has also been seen in the cathedral itself, once an Augustinian monastery.

For many centuries College Green, where there was once a chapel, was where the monks were buried.

Up in Clifton, both Berkeley Square and Royal York Crescent are said to be haunted, as is Hope Chapel Hill where a beautiful woman in a white 18th-century dress has been seen from time to time.

Where Pembroke Road (once known as Gallows Lane) meets The Downs, is the spot where the unwary are likely to meet up with a ghostly dwarf called Jenkins Protheroe – a robber and murderer who was hanged there in 1783 and whose body was left in chains to rot.

Arnos Vale, it's said, is haunted by a nun who, after taking her own life on becoming pregnant, was bricked up in a wall by her distraught sisters.

Pre-war the Court, now a hotel, was a nunnery. The manifestation is said to have started after the war when workmen came across a skeleton and, to avoid any delay by having to call in the authorities, hid the bones elsewhere.

Ever since then, a female figure, dressed in brown, has been seen from time to time, with some people hearing a voice calling them by name.

A woman in black has also been seen in the nearby cemetery at Arnos Vale, crying over the death of her husband who lost his life during the First World War.

Another woman who haunts the area was, it's said, accidentally buried alive – a mistake not realised until the body was exhumed many years later.

The Black Castle pub, over the road, once called The Devil's Cathedral, is also said to be haunted by a nun.

Outside of the city ghostly apparitions have been seen on the A38, near Barrow Tanks, where a woman in white suddenly appears in the middle of the road, and on the Clevedon Road at Failand, by the Beggar Bush Lane crossroads, where a witch-like apparition has frightened passing motorists during daylight hours.

Happy ghost hunting.