York’s Plague House and The Crying Girl

YORK is believed to be the most haunted City in the World and there are any number of stories about the ghosts that are thought to haunt its streets and buildings. Few of the stories though, could be sadder than that of The Plague House and the ghost of the little girl who haunts it.

The Plague House is situated not far from York Minster and throughout the years people who have lived in the house, or visited it, have often noticed a feeling of sadness within its walls. Some have even heard the sound of a child crying on the upper floor, even when there were no children in the house.

At one time, however, when there were some children were living in the house, their nanny would often rush upstairs to check on them because she believed that she could hear them crying. When she opened the door though, she invariably found the children fast asleep. Then one day, when the children were a little older, they asked the nanny if she would do something to stop the little girl from sitting on their bed because they didn’t like her crying all of the time. By this time though, the nanny knew all about the little girl because she had seen her herself.

In time, a seance was organized, attempts were made to contact the spirit, and the sad story of the little girl’s fate was revealed. She had been locked in the top bedroom and left there to die and City records back this up. 

In the seventeenth Century the plague claimed the lives of 3,512 York citizens. Things got so bad that the area around York Minster was closed off entirely for a year and the little girl’s parents were numbered amongst the plague victims. When the servants left the house they believed that the girl was also dead and so they locked her in. The girl was not dead though, she was sleeping, and when she woke up she found herself locked in with her dead parents and starved to death.

In another version of the story the girl was sent out to bring back bread for her family, who were afraid to leave the house in case they caught the plague. Obviously they saw their daughter as a  necessary sacrifice. Then when they got a chance to leave the City they did so, leaving their daughter behind and locking her in the top bedroom to prevent her from following them. After all she had been outside and so might be infected. Better they leave her behind and save their own skins than risk possible infection from her. Those who believe this version of the story say that the girl still waits, crying in that little room, and watching from the window for her parents to return for her.  This version of the story is probably the saddest and it is worth noting that nobody passing by and seeing her at the window would have tried to help her because the door of the house would have been painted with the mark of the plague as a warning against entry.

To this very day people still knock on the door of the house and tell the present owner their child is crying in the top window. The present owners can only shake their heads and say that they do not have any children.