Spooky Halloween spots in Sefton for a haunted night out

If you’re looking for ghostly encounters and eerie tales, Sefton has plenty of haunted sites to explore this Halloween season.

From a legendary ghostly vicar in a centuries-old church to a phantom hitchhiker on a coastal road, here are some of the spookiest destinations to visit this Halloween in Sefton.

The Scotch Piper pub and Lydiate 

Reputedly the oldest pub in Merseyside – and Lancashire – it’s no surprise that the Scotch Piper is shrouded in tales of hauntings.

It dates from 1320 when it was called the Royal Oak, its name taken from a tree, the trunk of which can still be seen.

A highland soldier was stranded in the area on his way home from an abandoned Jacobite rebellion in 1745. He found himself at the inn, fell in love with the inn-keepers daughter and so the Scotch Piper was born.

There is said to be a ghost with no name and even a ghostly dog in the pub, but few people report making sightings.

Any legends – true or false – of apparitions and ghostly presences, are enhanced by the rumoured medieval tunnel link from the pub to neighbouring St Catherine’s Chapel, known locally as Lydiate Abbey, which was ruined in time of Henry VIII. 

Whatever the truth, this ancient pub with its whitewashed walls and thatched roof has all the makings of a spooky atmosphere for Halloween. It serves a great pint too.

The Punchbowl pub and St Helen’s Church, Sefton

Just a few miles away, a ghost is said to haunt a cupboard in The Punchbowl pub.

In 2013, paranormal website Spooky Isles sent an investigator to village to investigate.

He was told by a member of staff that she was used to the ghost, and even said good night to him, with a knock coming back from the cupboard as a reply.

Others in the pub said they’d seen the ghost, dressed in blue. The investigator wasn’t lucky enough to make contact with the spirit though.

He also visited St Helen’s church next door. It was here that a ghost was said to be captured in a photograph in 1999, thought to be the spirit of a vicar who served in the church many years ago.

The ghost of Sir Nicholas Blundell, who died in 1737 and was lord of the manor of Little Crosby, has also supposedly been spotted outside the pub.

Phantom hitchhikers on the Halsall Moss and coastal road

Rob Gandy is a Visiting Professor in the Liverpool Business School, Faculty of Business and Law, Liverpool John Moores University. 

In his spare time, he collects and presents stories about all sorts of ghosts and phantoms.

One tells of the experiences of a driver on the coastal road between Ainsdale and Southport in 1983. He spotted a man thumbing a lift so pulled over as it was raining heavily. The man was wearing a parka-type coat and was soaking wet but didn’t have any bags. 

He appeared troubled and then asked if his girlfriend could also have a lift but then suddenly disappeared. That side of the road was at a point when it was surrounded by high sandhills and there was nowhere they could have gone so quickly. The phantom hitchhiker had simply disappeared.

Dr Gandy has also written of reported sightings of road ghosts on the stretch of country lanes between Formby and Ormskirk known as the Halsall Moss. So watch out if you’re taking that particular spooky route. 

The phantom black dog of Formby dunes

Formby woods and sand dunes certainly have a spooky feel around dusk but there are tales of phantom sightings that only add to the creepy atmosphere.

In the 1970s, so legend goes, a young girl found herself on Formby beach after an argument with her parents.

A rapid incoming tide saw her scared and stranded but she was led to safety by a large lack doglike beast who disappeared once she was away from danger.

The dog was also said to have been spotted on the site of the burial of a mysterious and possibly cursed wooden cross.

So watch out next time you’re walking your dogs in Formby if they start chasing a big black dog in the distance.

For more on Halloween around Liverpool click here.