MANCHESTER’S MOST HAUNTED: The story of the Westhoughton Poltergeist

While Manchester has had its fair share of ghostly happenings, the case of Wingates Grove could very well be the spookiest of them all.

It all started in 1993; The Bolton Evening News published a story that told of a terrified family’s anguish over ghostly going-ons in their new home down Wingates Grove in Westhoughton.

The family would claim to find mysterious pools of water and an ‘oil-like substance’ appearing on ceilings and walls, as well as objects ‘flying’ and moving around on their own.

At their wits ends, the family eventually called in a medium who performed an exorcism upon the property, as well as a local vicar to say some prayers around the house.

Following these rituals – the legitimacy of which can definitely be questioned – the spooky happenings died down, giving the family the much-needed respite they had been seeking.

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But this peace wasn’t to last because, five years later, a woman who had moved into the house two doors down from where the original hauntings had taken place began to experience similar paranormal activity.

Mother-of-three Elizabeth Hulton theorised that the spirit causing all the issues in the first house had moved down two doors to torment her family.

Elizabeth reported similar happenings around her home, such as finding a mysterious oil-like substance on the walls and the plumbing and heating breaking with no real explanation.

She even claimed to have found her toddler talking to a ‘little man’ in his room on a number of occasions.

Elizabeth told The Bolton News at the time: “The little man used to sit on his bed and tell stories and talk to him and used to wake him up and play with him.

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“He would see him on and off about five times a week. He didn’t seem all that bothered about it, it didn’t scare him.

“But my two elder children were afraid to go upstairs on their own.”

Elizabeth eventually contacted Bolton Council about the issues, but was told to get in touch with the medium who had performed the exorcism at the original house.

This is where things get really spooky – according to the medium, it was a poltergeist wreaking havoc down the street, and it had managed to attach itself to Elizabeth.

“The medium said that poltergeists don’t actually go away, they lie dormant for a few years and then try to re-attach themselves to something.

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“I am quite intelligent and rational. I didn’t believe it was a poltergeist at first.

“But it always felt like somebody was there when there wasn’t. I would go to sleep and then wake up and sit bolt upright expecting someone to be there.”

But fast forwarding to today, the poltergeist’s has seemingly gone back to the pits of Hell where it derived, because the home’s current owner is yet to experience any paranormal happenings.

In fact, she actually enjoys the property’s quirky past.

Caron Walton bought the home in 2006 and says she had to sign a disclaimer before she moved into the address.

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She was also told by the council that she was not allowed to move into the home if she had young children, and was not allowed to use a Ouija board or perform any sort of black magic.

Caron told the Manchester Evening News: “I had to sign a disclaimer saying I wouldn’t use a Ouija board or do black magic or anything dark.