Richard Felix Shares A Collection Of Modern Ghost Stories For Halloween
Photo: © Richard Felix
This Halloween, former 'Most Haunted' star and owner of Derby's haunted old gaol, Richard Felix, took to YouTube by the warmth of a roaring fire to share some spine-tingling tales. Each story, or as he insists, each "account," reflects experiences people genuinely believe happened to them.
Richard, who's no stranger to sharing tales of ghostly encounters as the host of Derby's famous ghost walks, discussed one of his own chilling Halloween experience and offered two other modern-day ghost stories collected from Derby's recent history.
"It's Halloween, the night when the veil between the dead and the living is at its thinnest, when more ghostly goings on take place," Richard begins, setting the tone for his first tale. "But I was asked, had I got any Halloween ghost stories? In other words, events that happened actually on the 31st of October."
Richard recalled a personal encounter that took place at 23:20 on Halloween night two years ago. After leading ghost tours around Derby, he invited guests back to Derby Gaol to share a drink and listen to more ghost stories. But what happened next left him and his guests in shock.
"I had a glass of whisky, and I was sat at one of the wooden tables in Derby Gaol. The whisky glass started to slide across the table, unbeknownst to me and everyone else sitting there," he recounts, describing how the glass glided before launching itself off the table and smashing on the floor.
The incident was caught on camera by a guest, and Richard immediately began eliminating logical explanations. He checked if the table was wet, as a wet surface can sometimes make a glass slide. But "the table was dry, completely," he confirmed. He then tested for possible vibrations from passing traffic and even banged on the table himself, trying to recreate the movement. None of his efforts could replicate what had happened.
To Richard, the event was "poltergeist activity at its best," made even more eerie by the fact that it happened on Halloween night. Reflecting on the moment, he describes it as "the second best thing that's happened to me in Derby Gaol in the 23 years that I've been running it."
You can watch Richard tell these eerie tales in the full 20-minute ghost story video below...
After sharing his Halloween experience, Richard moved on to two other modern ghost stories. Before he began, he clarified why he prefers to call these experiences "accounts" instead of stories.
"I've stopped calling them stories. I now call them accounts. A story can be made up," he says. "These may be ghost stories for Halloween, but actually they're not. They're accounts. And the difference is that a story can be made up. An account is what you believe happened to you. You may not be able to prove it, but you believe it happened."
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The Ghosts Of The Eagle Centre
In the first shared account, Richard talked about the eerie events surrounding Derby's Eagle Centre shopping mall, built in the 1970s over a demolished residential area. According to local lore, the spirits of some of the former residents remain attached to their homes, disturbed by the destruction and rebuilding of their community. During the mall's construction, builders reported bizarre occurrences such as missing tools, strange sensations, and disturbances that frightened some so much they left the job entirely.
According to Richard, one shoe shop, Freeman, Hardy & Willis, became particularly well-known for its strange activity. Employees reported unsettling sounds, as if someone were trying to break in, yet no explanation could be found. One morning, the manager found a basket of shoes emptied onto the floor, each shoe placed neatly and upright around the basket.
The paranormal disturbances grew so severe that Derby Council took action, issuing an injunction to prevent the Derby Telegraph from publishing ghost stories related to the mall, fearing it might discourage tenants and frighten customers. The council even released a pamphlet titled 'Your Poltergeist, & How To Deal With It,' advising staff on managing such phenomena.
In response to the continuing disturbances, exorcisms were performed by the Bishop of Derby. Though some activity subsided, strange occurrences persisted, with reports of ghost sightings and noises continuing even years later.
The Lady On The Road
The second account Richard shares comes from an elderly woman who revealed her story on one of his ghost walks. Many years earlier, in the early days of mobile phones, she had been driving home from Derby to Wirksworth in Derbyshire. As she rounded a sharp bend, she saw a distressed woman standing on the side of the road, frantically waving her down. Concerned, the driver pulled over, and the woman ran over to her car, pleading for help.
The woman seemed desperate, urging her to call for emergency services, saying, "For God's sake, help. There's been a terrible accident. Please, get an ambulance, get the fire brigade, get anybody to help." Yet, as the driver looked around, she saw no vehicle or sign of a crash. Suddenly, the distressed woman ran away from the car, disappearing through a gap in the hedge by the roadside.
After making a call to 999, she got out of her car to investigate and noticed skid marks on the road leading to the gap in the hedge where the woman had vanished. Through the gap, she saw an overturned car at the bottom of a steep bank, with its wheels still faintly spinning. To her horror, she realised that the same woman who had waved her down strapped inside, seemingly lifeless.
Upon arrival, the police officer confirmed that the woman was deceased. The driver hadn't shared this encounter with anyone, fearing disbelief, but Richard's ghost walk encouraged her to finally tell the story.
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