Chilling story revealed of how a ghostly monk suddenly appeared in the back seat of a police car on Sheffield's Stocksbridge Bypass

The Stocksbridge bypass opened in 1988. Once building work started, reports of unusual occurrences began to surface and the road soon became famous for its paranormal activity.

During the time the road was under construction, it was reported that two security guards witnessed young children playing in the middle of the site. As they got closer, the children began to disappear with no footprint evidence left in the trail behind them.

Over the years some motorists have even claimed to have ghostly apparitions appear in their cars next to them while they are driving.

The bypass also has a longstanding reputation as an accident blackspot because of the number of fatalities and casualties recorded there.

Frances Tivey got in touch with The Star after reading that Stocksbridge Bypass was named the second most haunted road in all of the UK.

She is a member of the ‘Writing for Pleasure' group, which meets, when not in lockdown, at Stocksbridge Library, once a month.

When the group was formed in February 2018 one of the first things they wrote about was creating a new local myth or legend or relate an old one in a new form and writer Sue Booker wrote about the hauntings of the Stocksbridge Bypass.

Frances said: “The story behind Sue's poem is that she was told, first hand, by one of the policemen who, at the time, was tasked with a colleague, to patrol the Bypass before it was officially opened.

"One night, driving along it, both were extremely unnerved when they became aware of a presence in the back seat of the car, whom they took to be a monk in a musty-smelling habit.”

Read A Ghostly By-pass by Sue Booker below.

The message of this story is

Next time you drive o’er Pearoyd Bridge

And you think the air grows cold

Look behind you! You’re not alone!

A monk’s returned from days of old!

Who knows for how long he’s lain

Underground in peaceful sleep

Through sun and wind and snow and rain,

Five hundred or a thousand years

Until the diggers came?

He gave his life to solemn prayer

And silent contemplation.

Awoken! Now he is aware

And vents his indignation.

Angry is his restless spirit

Through trees and fences gliding,

Musty smells his habit

If in your car he’s riding.

His face is hidden ‘neath his hood,

He leaves no prints behind,

Just he against man’s progress stood

But now he feels resigned.

And sssh, you’ll also hear the sound

Of children dancing round and round.

Drifting in and out of sight

Ghostly spirits rule the night.

What do you think to the bypass being haunted? Have you ever seen a ghostly apparition anywhere in the city? Share your memories, views and pictures on Spooky Sheffield and South Yorkshire with [email protected]