Review of ‘More Ghost Walks in Derbyshire’, by Barbara Wadd

This review is by Julie Bunting, and was published originally in The Peak Advertiser, the Peak District's local free newspaper, on 23rd April 2007, and is reproduced with Julie's kind permission.

Rarely can a ghost hunter have walked as many miles as Barbara Wadd and then come home to put each journey to paper. Her Ghost Walks in the Peak District has proved a best-seller and now she has personally covered another 400 miles on foot to compile More Ghost Walks in Derbyshire.

The author combines her own research with that of experienced ghost hunters, describing phenomena to make your hair curl: a mist keeping pace with observers, objects moved by unseen hands, houses full of unsettled phantoms, and a kissing ghost.

Much of the paranormal activity has been reported in the past few years, so something might just turn up to add a frisson to any of these walks! A man dressed in soldier's uniform recently appeared and disappeared on a section of old railway near Bakewell. Elsewhere, a phantom horse and rider materialised before the same observer in broad daylight - three times. The churchyard spirit of a weeping girl, which had already caused women to faint, even put in an appearance before a newspaper photographer.

Ghosts aside, each walk is worthwhile in its own right and rich in historical detail, from the Derbyshire village where a rebel hid during England's 'last revolution' to a legendary man-eating family whose moorland hunting grounds lie south of the Peak Park. Back in the land of the living, Barbara Wadd provides occasional nature notes on where to keep an eye open for the likes of woodpeckers and kingfishers, ostriches and llamas.

Review by Julie Bunting