York Medical Society, 23 Stonegate, York – 7 June 2024 **Exclusive to PRY**

As he walked down the dark and narrow Stonegate, he felt a cold hand grab his shoulder and whisper in his ear: “You shouldn’t have come here.”  Welcome to your Ghost Hunt at York Medical Society

Ghostly Sightings

You are the first paranormal investigators to enter this historic building that was built in the 16th century. This place has witnessed many events and changes over the years, some of them documented, some of them not. There are many secrets and stories that are waiting to be revealed. Will you be the ones to reveal them?

Our initial investigations have given us some evidence that we are not alone.  We have had direct responses to questions, names given, with both male and female spirits making themselves known.  There is a definite feeling of being watched as you walk through the building…

There are reports the building is haunted by a poltergeist and two other spirits.  Footsteps have been heard in the rooms on the ground floor and the apparition of an injured WW2 soldier has been seen in the room which was once the kitchen.  Other reports have been the smell of cigar smoke in the old kitchen.

The walls seem to whisper secrets of the past, and the creaking floorboards echo with the footsteps of those who have long since passed away. The air is thick with an eerie silence that seems to linger long after you’ve left.

The History

This building was a private residence, a medical practice and private meeting place.  It incorporates the remains of several earlier structures on the site, and has had associations with the medical profession since the early 19th-Century, when it was owned by the Anderson family, and in the later part of the century it was home to Tempest Anderson – a volcanologist, explorer, Sheriff of the City of York and surgeon to York Castle Prison, where he treated inmates with eye diseases and injuries. He also conducted some research on the effects of prison life.  York Prison was located in York Castle, which was also the site of many public executions from the 14th to the 19th century and the prison surgeon had various duties at hangings, such as examining the condemned prisoner before and after the execution, certifying the death, and sometimes performing an autopsy. The doctor also had to deal with the emotional and physical stress of witnessing the execution and coping with the reactions of the prisoner and the executioner.

Parts of the North East wing of the building were the ancient kitchen of Barley Hall, where dark secrets simmered for centuries. Even though the building was renovated in the 1830s, it still retained its old and eerie atmosphere.

The house has a long history, and the ground floor rooms were used as a dispensary and medical consulting rooms. The panelled room, with Jacobean, Elizabethan and Victorian history, was once the building’s kitchen and is the earliest part of the house. It incorporates timber from the Plumbers Arms in Skeldergate, a building demolished in 1965. But what secrets does it hold?  Throughout the building there are displays of historical medical instruments and it is still used today to share medical and scientific knowledge.

Stonegate

The building stands on Stonegate, which is one of the most historic streets in York and lies above the former ‘Via Praetoria’, York’s main street during the Roman era.  Artefacts from this era were discovered here.  What spirits from this time line still reside within the building?  Stonegate is well known to be one of the most haunted places in York, with many spooky stories and legends associated with it, where there have been sightings of ghostly children, apparitions and strange noises.  Perhaps some of these spirits wander into 23 Stonegate from time to time, or maybe there are some hidden in the dark corners of the house.  Romans, Vikings and Normans lived on Stonegate and Guy Fawkes is believed to have been born here.   What will you uncover on your investigation?