Who were the ghostly twins of Chorlton Park?

Manchester is a city steeped in eerie legends and haunted histories, where mysterious figures and ghostly apparitions have long sent chills down the spines of locals.

From ancient alleyways to forgotten landmarks, its haunted spots are known to stir even the most hardened sceptics.

This Halloween, Chorlton Park may just be the place to be if you’re in search of a ghostly thrill.

The park has long been associated with eerie tales, but none as spine-chilling as that of Tracey Righton, a former model turned author, who claims to have witnessed something extraordinary back in 1979.

The Chorlton Park Ghost

Tracey, who was just a teenager at the time, recounts her unsettling experience of seeing two children in old-fashioned school uniforms who seemed to vanish into thin air.

“I can still remember it vividly,” says Tracey, reflecting on the eerie encounter.

“I was visiting my cousin Tanya in Chorlton after my family had moved to the area from Warrington.

“We were just out for a walk near Sandy Lane, a place we used to hang around all the time. It was late in the afternoon, maybe school time, and we decided to sit on a wall just to have a chat.”

What happened next would forever change Tracey’s perspective on the supernatural.

As she glanced towards the park gates, she noticed two children walking in her direction. “I remember thinking how strange they looked,” she recalled.

“They were dressed in old-fashioned school uniforms, but what struck me most was how ‘over neat’ they appeared.

“Their clothes seemed out of place, like something from another time.”

As the children approached, Tracey realised they were identical twins.

“They were holding hands and walking side by side. One of them was even whistling. The sound of their footsteps echoed off the tall Victorian houses lining the alleyway.

“It was like I was drawn into this eerie moment, and everything else faded into the background.”

A spooky atmosphere

According to Tracey, the park had always had a spooky atmosphere, with its wooded areas and the nearby river adding to the sense of unease.

“We used to play around there as kids, always scaring ourselves with ghost stories,” she said.

“But this felt different. I wasn’t just scared because of the place—it was those kids. Something about them just didn’t seem right.”

As the twins passed by, one of them smiled at Tracey, a detail she remembers with an unsettling clarity. “It wasn’t a normal smile,” she explains. “It felt… strange.

“And then, as they reached the railings that led into the park, one of them just walked right through. The other followed, and in an instant, they were gone. I started screaming.

“Tanya had no idea what was going on. She didn’t see what I saw, and when we both ran off in opposite directions, she was convinced I had just been scaring myself.”

When Tracey returned home, she recounted her experience to her family, but to her frustration, no one believed her.

“I was hysterical,” she admits. “But no one took me seriously. They just thought I was imagining things, and that made it even worse.”

The story might have ended there, buried in the fog of childhood memories, if not for Tracey’s lingering curiosity.

Searching for clues

“Years later, especially with the internet, I started looking into it, just to see if anyone else had seen something similar,” she said.

“I even wrote about it briefly on a website dedicated to the ghosts of Manchester. But nothing ever came of it—no one else seemed to have seen what I did.”

Over the years, Tracey has considered various explanations for what she witnessed that day. “I’ve thought about it a lot,” she said.

“Whether it was some sort of stone memory, a replay of something that happened long ago, or just an overactive imagination. But it wasn’t just what I saw—I heard them too. The whistling, the footsteps—those details were too real to be dismissed.”

Despite the passage of time, the memory of the ghostly twins remains vivid in her mind. “I can still see them,” she said quietly.

“Their cherubic faces, the felt caps they wore. They must have been about six or seven years old. I even remember their knobbly knees.”

“It’s strange how a memory like that, something so traumatic, stays with you. It gets stamped on your neural pathways, you know?”

For Tracey, the encounter was more than just a fleeting glimpse of something otherworldly—it was a moment that left her questioning the boundaries between reality and the supernatural.

“I’d love to know the truth behind it,” she admits. “If it was just my brain playing tricks on me, then that’s fascinating. But if it wasn’t… well, I guess that’s something I’ll never really know.”

Have you seen a ghost in Chortlon Park?

When asked what she would say to someone who doesn’t believe in ghosts, Tracey’s response is measured. “I understand scepticism,” she said.

“I’m not even sure what I believe myself. But I can’t deny what I saw. I wasn’t just some flighty teenager with an overactive imagination. I saw two real children walking towards me. I heard them. And then they were gone.”

As Halloween approaches, Tracey’s story serves as a chilling reminder that sometimes, the past isn’t as distant as we think.

For now, Tracey’s story remains one of the many mysteries that surround the park, a place where history and the supernatural seem to intertwine.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts, one thing is certain: Chorlton Park has a tale to tell, and on a dark, misty evening, it might just be waiting for you to listen.

Have you had a spooky encounter in Chorlton Park? Let us know! Email [email protected] and tell us all about it.