Ilkley Moor

[thedaytodayyesterday]

I've heard loads of spooky stories about Ilkley Moor over the years and wondered if anyone on here possibly had one they'd like to share? There's so much strange stuff up there, the Swastika Stone, the Hanging Stone, the badger stone etc, anyone had any strange experiences up there? I, disappointingly, have not...

[Sitdowncupoftea]

All moors have strange tail plus strange stones. The moors were ancient burial grounds that's why.

[SallyCinnamon3009]

No strange stories but i hate the place! Everyone i know seems to love going for a walk up there but i find it the creepiest place ever and refuse to go

[Sitdowncupoftea]

@SallyCinnamon3009 I love the moors. I spend many hours walking them. I've not been to Ilkley Moor it was on my list but lockdown happened in March.

[Coffeecak3]

I've lived in Devon and Ilkley.
Dartmoor is far spookier to me but perhaps that's because I was a child and we read stories about the hairy hand!

[thedaytodayyesterday]

@Coffeecak3 ooh can we hear a story about the Hairy Hand? I've never heard of that!

[CaraDuneRedux]

I've met the Ilkley Moor naturist/flasher on a couple of occasions (once in a thick fog, but I was with a male friend so it was more surreal/creepy than spooky).

[littlemsattitude]

The headless horseman of the north york moors scared me more.

[LoveNote]

i have never been!!

[hypochondriaceveywhere]

I love walking on Ilkley Moor but you'd never get me climbing up the cow and calf.

[Bananalanacake]

Is it near Otley Chevin

[thedaytodayyesterday]

@hypochondriaceveywhere the cow and calf is bloody dangerous! So many people have died after being blown off the edge by the wind.

[CaraDuneRedux]

I love walking on Ilkley Moor but you'd never get me climbing up the cow and calf.

Ah, happy student days! (Though I preferred Almscliffe, and Rylestone was better than either).

It's about 20 minutes, half an hour further on the bus, Banana. (I also used to cycle out to the Chevin after lectures to go bouldering.)

[iklboo]

@hypochondriaceveywhere - I hope you don't go bar t'at?

[thedaytodayyesterday]

@littlemsattitude I would like to hear more about this headless horseman please

[thedaytodayyesterday]

I've never had a weird experience up there and I find it very beautiful and calming, just to be clear. But every so often when we have a spooky thread there's usually a tale or two about the place.

[MorrisZapp]

What makes a moor a moor? As opposed to... outside?

[littlemsattitude]

[quote thedaytodayyesterday]@littlemsattitude I would like to hear more about this headless horseman please[/quote]
I can't really tell you much, I was at primary school and used to spend time on the NYM with a friend and we'd scare each other silly with tales about it when we were up there at weekends, he used to ride down the path where we were with his head under his arm.

[Lemonnhoney]

No strange experiences but my DH told me about the retired police man who was walking up there and then was abducted by aliens.. A flashing light came down and took him, he doesn't remember much apparently but then ended up back on the Moor.
He took a picture of the alien...

I'm not sure how convinced I am myself 😂

[thedaytodayyesterday]

@MorrisZapp interesting question. Altitude? Prevelance of bracken/heather? That sort of lark?

[Lemonnhoney]

I do love Ilkley moor though and have some lovely memories up there.

Me and my now DH picked some magic mushrooms over on the silsden side of Rombalds Moor then made a brew and got the bus to Ilkley...

We headed up to the moors and they were incredible, it was autumn and the orange bracken was swirling in phycadellic shapes, we kept going passing rocks and kept climbing on the big flat rocks and getting stuck on them (all in our heads of course)

Somehow, whilst being completly off our heads we made it to the stone circle and I preceded to walk around it several times..

We must have looked like nutters hysterically laughing on the moors..

It was a magical trip though me and MY DH had the exact same trip and very in sync.. The weird thing was that as soon as we stepped onto the track to get off the Moor (we walked over from Ilkley towards Riddlesden on the other side) we sobered up. It was like the trip was on the Moor and when we left it was back to normality.

[thedaytodayyesterday]

www.liveabout.com/the-ilkley-moor-alien-photograph-3293364

@lemonnhoney I found an article about this very story!

[SallyCinnamon3009]

OH took me wild camping up there when we first got together and I think it's that that put me off. It's very strange on a night. I don't know if it's my imagination but noise always seems to travel differently at night and kept hearing random bits of music/ talking. May have just been cars passing on the road near the pub but it was just creepy. We ended up walking on the moor quite late at night and I remember seeing a fresh bouquet of flowers on a stone and it just didn't feel right.

Appreciate these feelings may have come from drinking copious amounts of alcohol and then walking round a moor in the dark in the middle of the night but since then I've always hated the place.

Love Otley chevin though which is around the corner

[SallyCinnamon3009]

I had a simillar feeling in the nature reserve that's next to golden acre park. Literally had to walk straight back out I hated it. Could be that I'm not really a countryside person though 😂

[CaraDuneRedux]

Thinking back, the one place I've been that really gave me the creeps was the garden of a Chateau in France. I've never had that weirded-out feeling about anywhere else, before or since. But it got even weirder when I got home and was telling my mum about my holiday - she said "Yes, it really gave me the creeps too when I went there 30 years ago!" Really bizarre (and slightly freaky) coincidence.