{"id":737,"date":"2019-02-09T18:10:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T18:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=737"},"modified":"2025-07-15T15:37:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:37:23","slug":"most-haunted-fake-ghost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/09\/most-haunted-fake-ghost\/","title":{"rendered":"Most Haunted fake ghost: debunked by research"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Most Haunted fake ghost didn\u2019t take much to debunk, thanks to some basic research of the facts…<\/p>\n

With nowt else on, I happened to watch an episode of Most Haunted on Friday night, exploring Hodroyd Hall, in Yorkshire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Someone has reviewed the episode here.\u00a0<\/a>And there are official Most Haunted visits to Hodroyd Hall here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who was the Most Haunted fake ghost?<\/h2>\n

I wasn\u2019t fully paying attention to the programme, but I did see one part where presenter Yvette Fielding got a \u2018ghost\u2019 to use yes\/no taps to help her spell out his name, age, and date of death on a laptop keyboard.<\/p>\n

(\u201cIs the first letter in this row?\u201d Etc).<\/p>\n

This results in name and date of a \u2018ghost\u2019 called Henry Harries, who \u2018told\u2019 Most Haunted that he died in May 1901, aged 55.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fred, from the Most Haunted crew produced a sheet of paper about a Henry Harries, groom, falling off a bike and being killed. Which information, of course, no one had seen in advance!!<\/p>\n

Cue much surprise and delight from the Most Haunted crew, and a lot of effort to talk to Henry Harries\u2019 ghost.<\/p>\n

Which was rather a waste of time, as Henry Harries of Hodroyd Hall never existed.<\/p>\n

Most Haunted fake ghost: their source<\/h2>\n

It took me just a minute (thank you BNA\u00a0 <\/span>https:\/\/www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk<\/a>) to find the source of their printed information: a nib in the Sheffield Evening Telegraph<\/em>. It reported the death of Henry Harries, groom and gardener to Mrs Spencer, Hodroyd Hall,\u00a0 <\/span>in May 1901.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However.<\/p>\n

I then checked FreeBMD . The only Henry Harries who died in 1901 was in May quarter, aged 52: but registered in the Llanelly (sic) district in Wales.<\/p>\n

So, why was there no death registered in Yorkshire?! (Not even as Harris).<\/p>\n

And my sources\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Next check into the Most Haunted fake ghost. If Henry Harries died in May 1901, he\u2019d have been recorded on the 1901 census, which was taken in March that year. But, he isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The next bit took a bit of digging\u2026 Hodroyd Hall in 1901 was tenanted by the Dove family. Who didn\u2019t have a live-in groom\/gardener at all.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And BNA articles have Major Dove at Hodroyd Hall still in 1902, so it\u2019s not like they moved out and a family called Spencer moved in between March-May 1901.<\/p>\n

Back to the BNA.<\/p>\n

Inquest at Barnsley Town Hall. Sheffield Daily Telegraph. May 14, 1901. Still a puzzle about Hodroyd Hall, BUT:<\/p>\n

Henry HAINES. Verdict \u2018death from over-exertion while riding a bicycle\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Poor Henry was cycling up Racecommon Road, Barnsley. slowly, when the machine stopped and fell over. Mr Wright Shaw, and Mr Farnsworth, ran to him and carried him to the footpath, but he was beyond help.<\/p>\n

And back to FreeBMD\u2019s index.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

June 1\/4 1901, Henry Haines, Barnsley dist, aged 64.<\/p>\n

And going back then to thegenealogist.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>I HAVE found the census entry for 1901.<\/p>\n

Henry Haines, aged 56, gardener and domestic, is part of the household of Mr Frank Spencer. Of ROB ROYD<\/strong>, Worsbrough, West Riding.<\/p>\n

Most Haunted fake ghost revealed<\/h2>\n

So, the \u2018ghost\u2019 who tapped out a message for Yvette Fielding at Hodroyd Hall was:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Henry HAINES, not Harris.<\/li>\n
  • Aged 56 (census) or 64 (death registration). Not 55.<\/li>\n
  • Died while cycling in Barnsley.<\/li>\n
  • Was a groom at ROD ROYD, which looks to be about 7 miles from Hodroyd Hall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Easy enough for the Sheffield Telegraph,<\/em> in the days of hot metal, to have Harries rather than Haines in the intial nib. And the Rod Royd\/Hodroyd mix-up is an easy one.<\/p>\n

    In fact, the Most Haunted fake \u2018Hodroyd Hall ghost\u2019 nicely matched all the errors in the original news reports of his death, but none of the facts \u2013 including the 1901 census returns.<\/p>\n

    Even if Henry Haines\u2019 ghost found it hard to get his details across to Yvette Fielding via taps and knocks, you\u2019ve got to wonder why he would be haunting a house several miles from where he lived\/worked, and several miles from where he died.<\/p>\n