I may have told this story before
Years ago,I used to live in York (born and bred)
Anyway I used to take toddler dd (she's 19 next week) to meet my father in town every friday,we would go do his banking (he's old school) get some flowers for my mother,go for a coffee and we might go to m&s for a few jars of jam
This Friday she insisted on taking her 'new' (charity shop) toy dog teddy (this thing was as tall as she was) with us to show grandad and he mentioned that he needed to go to a shop that was near York minster (neither of these things had happened before-he hates shopping)
We wandered up and the shop had steep steps up to the doorway,so I said I'd wait with dd (and this dog) outside while he got what he wanted
My attention was taken by her 'woofing' at me through the dog,when she suddenly dropped the dog and started waving at a little girl aged about 4/5 who was at a nearby (very old building) window,looking at us and was sobbing her heart out
My father (who couldn't be less woo if he tried) came out of the shop and back to us
He saw the little girl too,so I said id go over and let her parents know their child was at the window and upset
I left dd with grandad and knocked on the door
A lady answered and I explained
'Oh you've seen her too?'
'What do you mean?'
Turns out during the black death (which hit york hard),they would lock familes in a room and put a red cross on the door for 40 days (anyone left alive would be let out)
This little girl must have been locked in and died-shes often seen,crying her eyes out at the same window
I had to go back and explain-my father was that freaked out,he refused to admit he'd seen her and almost sprinted to get away (very impressive for my father as he suffers with a bad back and arthritis)
I spoke to dd about it the other day,and she remembers waving at her in a vague sort of way but did describe her as a 'little dark haired girl,with ringlets and a white 'old' nighty' which is what I'd seen too