The beauty spot is much-loved by families and dog walkers in the day, but it becomes spooky after-dark
The moment ghost hunter Mark Ponting reacts as he is hit by a stone from an unknown source at Snuff Mills Bridge in north east Bristol(Image: Tony Ferguson)
A group of ghosthunters said they heard a child’s eerie voice and even had stones thrown at them on a famously haunted bridge in a Bristol beauty spot. The group filmed what happened in the early hours of the morning on the bridge across the River Frome at Snuff Mills in north east Bristol, and said they were ‘shocked’ by how much unexplained activity they had within minutes of arriving.
The group included ghost hunter Tony Ferguson and Mark Ponting from the YouTube channel Haunted The Truth, who set up fixed cameras on the bridge after 1am, and began waiting.
“From the minute we entered the woods we were not disappointed,” Tony told Bristol Live. “The atmosphere is heavy and we felt like we were being watched and followed with every step we took. We set up our locked off cameras on the bridge and immediately we heard a child’s voice.
“Mark and I positioned ourselves in the middle of the bridge as this seems to be when activity happens, it’s almost like something doesn’t like or want anyone on the bridge,” he added.
“Mark and I heard footsteps rushing towards us, which we caught on camera, yet there was nothing there. Later in the evening more footsteps were captured whilst Mark and I were on the bridge yet still nothing there.
“Mark and I were on the bridge calling out and we had what sounded like two stones thrown at us which landed in the water. I tried to debunk this as maybe being fish, but one of the stones can be heard clunking like stone on stone, which would rule out a fish,” he added.
They visited in the early hours of Tuesday, July 17. At one point in the video, Mark leapt up in shock as a ‘thud’ could be heard beside him, and – amid a stream of expletives – said he had been touched or hit on the back by a stone.
READ MORE: Bristol pub ranked among UK’s most haunted locationsREAD MORE: This is the real reason Snuff Mills got its name
“Whilst Mark was on the bridge with Sue, you can hear a thud beside him and then he was touched in the back causing him to run off the bridge as this shocked him as he has never been touched before in all of his previous visits,” said Tony.
“Later that evening as Mark was walking back onto the bridge another stone can be heard landing heavily beside Bev [another ghosthunter] who was on the end of the bridge recording. It would appear that this was also aimed at Mark.
“On previous visits Mark has had stones thrown at him with other people so this is not the first time. There are claims from other investigators of stones being thrown and unexplained things happening,” he added.
“We captured many disembodied voices, a child was heard a couple of times, a male’s creepy voice was caught right beside the camera yet the two males Mark and Tony were both on the bridge,” he added.
The Halfpenny Bridge, also known as Snuff Mills Bridge, is a footbridge over the River Frome
There have been ghost stories told about the bridge and the footpath along the river in the Snuff Mills area of Bristol for decades, probably centuries. The area, which is officially known as Stapleton Glen, is a forested riverside park that connects Oldbury Court with Eastville Park. It is named after a millworker called Snuffy Jack who always had so much snuff his shirt was covered in it.
He is supposed to haunt the area, as is a Catholic monk who held mass in the woods in secret and, legend has it, starved to death because he got trapped in a priest’s hole while he was hiding.
Other legends of Snuff Mills include the ghosts of children who drowned in the river, and the woods are also supposed to be the scene of a 16th century witches’ coven.
Tony said he was ‘shocked’ at the amount of activity they experienced. “As an investigator that has documented most of the UKs haunted locations I was shocked by the amount of activity in such a short time.
Tony Ferguson’s video of the evening on the bridge at Snuff Mills – warning, contains expletives
Content cannot be displayed without consent
“I tend to stay away from outdoor locations because of contamination but was glad that I actually went to Snuff Mills after hearing of the reports as I had to see it to believe it and document the activity for myself. It’s a place that I will be returning to, to document more evidence in the future.
“I think the more you visit these places you build a connection with the place and what resides there. Mark has visited this location so many times that he has a strong connection with the place and what is there,” he added.
“I would put this in my top 20 locations in the UK for paranormal activity and I have visited a hell of a lot of locations,” he added.