GGR’s lifting equipment is often hired for working in old listed buildings such as chapels, cathedrals, cemeteries, castles and manors which are said to be haunted by ghosts from their dark history.  As its Halloween we thought we’d do some research into the paranormal goings on at some of these creepy lifting locations.

GGR’s UNIC URW-506 mini crane and team of operators have helped renovate the ruins of Astley Castle in Warwickshire, turning it into a new hotel. There are mysterious circumstances surrounding the fire which devastated Astley Castle in 1978 as remains of a secret room containing a circle of black lace, horror masks and voodoo dolls were uncovered after the blaze! The headless spirit of former resident Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk is also rumoured to roam the grounds. After taking part in the revolt against Queen Mary, the father of Lady Jane Grey was captured after going into hiding at Astley Castle and beheaded for treason.

We’ve discovered that Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, where our UNIC URW-706 crane removed steelwork for a refurbishment project, also has a sinister and violent history. The legend says that an apprentice who was murdered by his master still haunts the site and is even depicted in one of the stone carvings in the chapel. The mason returned from a trip to Rome to find that his young apprentice had created a magnificent carved pillar in his absence, so he murdered him in a jealous rage.

GGR’s mini cranes are often hired to work in confined areas at London’s Kings Cross Station, where buried underneath the platforms our team has worked on is the possible grave site of warrior queen Boudica. Kings Cross is said to be the site of her last battle where the Iceni tribe fought the Romans and some think she still haunts the station’s underground passages.

Unfortunately there has been no Halloween activity from Alan the GGR ghost, who seems to have stopped his haunting of our Scottish depot and taken his mischievous supernatural pranks elsewhere!