Ripon Workhouse Ghost Hunt - Ripon, North Yorkshire
The last resort for many of the poor. Ripon Workhouse is a paranormal hotspot!

Ripon Workhouse is a Grade II listed 18th Century building standing on the site since 1776. The workhouse was rebuilt in 1855 due to the change in the Poor Law Act and this is the building that still stands today.

Numerous spirits have been reportedly seen at Ripon Workhouse, mainly former residents who spent their last days at the workhouse before leaving in a coffin due to the dreadful conditions resulting in illness and ultimately death.

The building is now a museum which shows how the people who were housed there lived and worked during a difficult time whereby workhouses were a last resort for the poor and hopeless who had nowhere else to go.

By 1832 there were 33 inmates at the workhouse, including 11 men, 11 boys, 9 women and 2 girls, those considered able-bodied spent a gruelling eight hours each day breaking stones used to repair roads.

This is a very foreboding building which has a gloomy atmosphere that can be felt as soon as you walk through its doors. The feeling of being watched and followed is a regular occurrence as well as dark figures being seen, and unexplained noises and groans heard in areas that are empty.

Poltergeist activity has also been reported in a number of the classrooms along with the ghostly figures of children, are the children still waiting for their lessons to start or are they just being mischievous.

One of the main sightings in the workhouse is that of a former resident known as Stan, who has been seen on countless occasions wandering the corridors around the cells making his way to the nurse’s room.