Growing up around Didsbury I’ve always been familiar with Fletcher Moss, a famous Didsbury resident who lends his name to both a park and a pub in the village, but until recently I didn’t know all that much about him.

A well-known philanthropist, Moss worked as an alderman and was also a keen antiquarian and author, writing several books on nature and the history of Didsbury and its surroundings. His book on local folklore is essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. From 1864 until his death in 1919 Moss lived at The Old Parsonage.

Dating back to 1646 when it was known as the Ash House, the building is one of the oldest in Didsbury, second only to neighbouring St. James Church. The first mention of ghosts comes from the Reverend W. J. Kidd who lived in the house before Moss. The reverend constantly complained about ghosts for the ten years he lived there and no servant would stay in the house during this time. He eventually moved to another parish and apart from a few short-lived tenants the house stood abandoned to the ghosts until Moss moved in with his parents in 1865.

As soon as they moved in, the Moss family were subject to strange noises at night. These were quickly attributed to rats in the walls and other haunting occurrences such as a piercing scream emanating from his mother’s bedroom had similarly mundane explanations.

Moss did write however, “There is nothing real, and yet there is something. Probably hundreds of times I have been awakened out of sleep and heard some one coming upstairs, stealthily and quietly, step by step; heard the doors open and shut; have gone after them and found nothing. There may be something light, there may be a waft of chilled air, but there is nothing tangible.”

Moss’s beloved dogs seemed to sense a presence, often barking at empty spaces until, as Moss says, “we used to have them in the house until they became a greater nuisance than the ghosts themselves”.

Moss ends his reflection on the parsonages ghosts by saying “In the witching hour of night the ghosts still come and go. I know nothing about them as to whose they are, what they want, or whither they go. They will not hurt us, and we never heed them.”

Sources and Further Reading

• Moss, Fletcher. Fifty Years Public Work in Didsbury. Published by the author, Didsbury, 1915.
• Moss, Fletcher. Folk-lore: Old customs and Tales of My Neighbours. Published by the author, Didsbury, 1898.