U.K. Neighborhood So Haunted You Have to Sign a Waiver to Live There
The street of Wingates Grove in Westhoughton, U.K. is apparently so haunted, some folks have had to sign a waiver just to move into the neighborhood.
Wingates Grove is reportedly haunted by a poltergeist that dates back to the early '90s. According to Manchester Evening News, a malevolent spirit attached itself to numerous houses and has tormented the families who live on the street.
The year 1993 marked the first encounter, in which a toddler allegedly would speak with an invisible "little man" who resided in one house, while an oil-like residue manifested on the wall of the home. Maintenance investigated and couldn't find a cause for the latter.
The alleged haunting became so bad that the local Bolton Council had to intervene. Despite their best efforts, none of the staff could come up with a plausible explanation for what was happening. They even performed an exorcism on the street which was said to have slowed the ghostly forces for a while.
Another alleged haunting took place in 1999, just two houses down from the original haunted house. Laura, just 12 at the time, felt something was off in her home. The same oil-like substance appeared in her room, and maintenance workers refused to examine it because of the haunted tales.
“I begged my mum not to move in," she told the outlet. “I didn’t like the feel of it. I didn’t feel comfortable but when we got our stuff in, it faded a bit. When things started happening, my mum would say it was the ghost of my granddad. But I said it wasn’t."
Laura's first encounter took place the year that they moved in. She and her brother were going to play a prank on their friend and when they raced up the stairs, her brother cut his foot open on a picture frame that was allegedly standing up by itself on one of the stairs.
“We had literally just walked on the stairs and if it fell it wouldn’t stand up,” Laura alleged. “If he stood on it, it would have slipped. It was like a force was holding it in place."
That wasn't even the scariest instance, however. At one point, dozens of deceased cows allegedly showed up on their property. Later, Laura's nephew began talking to a ghost named "Big Guy" that would reportedly visit him.
Her family later decided to move out of the house. “I’ve suffered with anxiety since to the point where the whole thing about the street is on my doctor’s note," she shared. “The last five months we lived there I slept in a bed with my mum and dad because I was that scared."
In 2006, Caron Walton purchased the home Laura previously lived in. She even had to sign a waiver to purchase the property. It stipulated that she could not use any black magic or Ouija boards in addition to not allowing children to live on-site.
“I understand there was something going on there,” Caron said. “It used to jump from there, to the house next door to here. I’ve heard tales that there’s meant to be an old man walking around on the landing, but we’re quite happy here.
Caron believes that the home's past was a "selling point" and revealed that she has not experienced a paranormal encounter since moving in. While she's not a disbeliever, she says she will "believe it when she sees it."