I’ll truly miss the haunting beauty of 35 Stonegate—its atmospheric, misshaped rooms, the stories shared, & the souls drawn to such an unforgettable experience.
Louise Jeffrey - Founder
Destruction and Rebirth
In 1682, a bookseller named Francis Hildyard opened his shop at 35 Stonegate under the sign of the Bible. For the next two centuries, this building would stand at the heart of York’s reputation as the intellectual capital of the North.
The bookshop passed through several hands. By the 1750s, it was operated by John Hinxman, and it was here, in December 1759, that he sold the first two hundred copies of a book that would change English literature forever. Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman exploded onto the literary scene like nothing before it. Wildly experimental, bawdy, and profound, it redefined what a novel could be. The book was an instant sensation, and Sterne became the most celebrated writer in England overnight.
A York Civic Trust plaque on the building commemorates this moment. Stand beneath it and you stand where modern English literature was born.
From 1762 until 1811, the premises operated as John Todd’s Library and Bookshop, one of the earliest circulating libraries in England. For a subscription fee, readers could borrow books they could never afford to buy, a revolutionary step towards democratising access to literature.
A Royal Visit
In September 1835, a sixteen-year-old princess came to York. Victoria of Kent, just two years from her accession to the throne, was on a tour of Yorkshire with her mother. She wrote in her journal that the streets were “very narrow and the crowd was immense, but very good-humoured and extremely friendly.”
During her stay, the young princess visited the bookshop at 35 Stonegate and took tea in the back parlour. The proprietors were honoured with the title “Printsellers by Royal Appointment”. Two years later, Victoria would become Queen, and her visit to this modest York shop would become part of its legend.
The Knowles Years
By the 1870s, the last of the printsellers had died and the building’s future looked uncertain. In 1872, it was purchased by John Ward Knowles, a rising star in the world of stained-glass restoration. He was thirty-four years old and had already established himself as one of York’s leading craftsmen.
Knowles threw himself into renovating the building, transforming it into both a family home and a working studio. The 1874 facade we see today was his creation, a confection of Victorian Tudor ornament that, apart from the original jettying and the gable facing Stonegate, bore little relation to the medieval structure beneath.
Inside, Knowles installed his own stained glass throughout the building. The oriel window on the first floor, the upper panels in the ground-floor shopfront, the pieces throughout the rooms, all are his work, and all remain in excellent condition to this day. The building also retains much of its earlier character: seventeenth and eighteenth century panelling, the fine staircase of about 1700, and an eighteenth century fireplace on the first floor.
J.W. Knowles & Sons became York’s leading firm of glass painters and restorers. Their most prestigious commission came in the 1880s and 1890s, when they undertook major conservation work on the St Cuthbert and St William windows at York Minster itself. Knowles photographed every panel before restoration, creating an invaluable historical record.
John Ward Knowles lived and worked at 35 Stonegate until his death in 1931 at the age of ninety-three. His sons continued the business, and the family remained in the building for one hundred and twenty years.
The stained glass workshop finally closed in 1953, but the Knowles family continued to live here until the late 1990s.
Haunted
In 1999, the building was purchased by the astrologer Jonathan Cainer, who initially used it to sell horoscopes. In 2004, he partnered with Uri Geller to launch it as the Museum of Psychic Experience.
Then Cainer began renovating the old building. This involved digging into the foundations. What happened next became the stuff of York legend.
“Initially, after buying the building, he was aware only of a handful of ghosts,” Cainer told the local press. “A couple in one of the back rooms and a distraught lady who used to hang around in the kitchen. And there was a male presence that one or two people had seen.”
Then the workmen must have disturbed something.
“Suddenly we couldn’t move for spectral figures,” Cainer said. “It was like Piccadilly Circus.”
In January 2006, the television medium Derek Acorah brought his Ghost Towns Live programme to 35 Stonegate for a three-night investigation. During the broadcast, Acorah was apparently strangled and tipped over the back of a chair by a lively spirit. The footage became one of the most dramatic moments in British paranormal television.
The following year, in 2007, the building was relaunched as Haunted, York’s premier real ghost attraction. Fright Nights began organising overnight ghost hunts and paranormal events at the location, and we were continually impressed by the level of activity.
The attraction operated until 2014, when the building was sold and converted to retail use. But the ghosts, as far as anyone can tell, remain.
The Ghosts of 35 Stonegate
To date, mediums, psychics, and event attendees have reported over fourteen distinct apparitions at this location. A building that has stood for five centuries, on a site with over two thousand years of history, was bound to accumulate restless spirits.
Tom of the Séance Room
The most famous ghost is the entity known simply as Tom. He is said to linger in the Séance Room on the second floor, a wood-panelled chamber whose walls bear delicate carvings of flowers and, more disturbingly, two demons.
It was in this room that Derek Acorah experienced his dramatic encounter during the 2006 broadcast. The possession that followed remains one of the most striking events ever captured on paranormal television.
Fright Nights medium Ian Doherty described Tom in detail: “A tall man who was attired totally in black and wears a hat. He was running a knotted leather cord between his hands. There was a lot of secrecy surrounding this man and a connection with the number thirteen.”
During one investigation, the atmosphere in the room changed so dramatically that a member of the group insisted that the lights be turned on. They were too frightened to continue in darkness.
The Stick Man
An elderly resident of the eighteenth century, the Stick Man lived in constant dread of nighttime burglaries. His paranoia led him to develop a ritual: whenever the bells of York Minster rang, he would whack his stick against the wall as if to warn off intruders.
Death has not broken the habit. Even now, when the Minster bells sound in the dead of night, the sharp crack of the Stick Man’s staff against the wall can still be heard echoing through the building.
The Balding Monk
In the Lantern Room, visitors have encountered the apparition of a balding monk. York was once a city of monasteries, and the site at Stonegate was owned by the Prebend of Bramham from the early fourteenth century. The monastic connection runs deep, and this robed figure may be its lingering manifestation.
The Georgian Lady
An elegant woman in Georgian dress has been seen in the Dining Room. Her identity remains unknown, but her bearing suggests someone of refinement and status. Perhaps she once took tea here, like Princess Victoria, and has never wished to leave.
The Little Girl
A child who fell to her death from the back of the building has been seen by multiple witnesses. Her small form and obvious distress have touched many investigators. The circumstances of her death are unknown, but her presence is unmistakable.
Poltergeist Activity
The Séance Room has been a particular focus of poltergeist phenomena. Six separate accounts of violent activity have been documented there, along with two full manifestations.
Throughout the building, doors open and close of their own accord, accompanied by bangs and creaks when no living person is present.
Visitors have felt the icy touch of invisible fingers. Eerie screeching from the attic has sent investigators fleeing.
The foundations, so dramatically disturbed during Cainer’s renovations, seem to have released something that refuses to settle.
Television Appearances
35 Stonegate has featured in several paranormal television programmes:
Derek Acorah’s Ghost Towns Live (LivingTV, January 2006): The three-night investigation that produced the dramatic footage of Acorah’s encounter with Tom.
Ghost Hunting with the Dingles (ITV2, filmed 18 September 2007): The celebrity ghost hunting series visited Haunted during its first year of operation.
The building’s combination of genuine historical atmosphere and documented paranormal activity made it irresistible to television producers seeking authentic locations.
Visitor Information
Note: Haunted closed in 2014. The building is now in commercial use and is not accessible for ghost hunting events.
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