R

ay Parker Junior famously sang "I ain’t afraid of no ghost.” But then, he never went on a ghost walk in Derby. With unnerving apparitions of a bald leather-clad executioner lurking around the city’s gaol and a murdered policeman haunting the fish market to contend with, it’s certainly not a stroll in the park.

The walk begins in typical hair-raising fashion at the Gaol in Friar Gate. With its history of imprisonment and death, it’s never going to be the cosiest of places.

In fact the Condemned and Debtor’s cells are about as inhospitable as it gets - visitors who pluck up the courage to enter are rewarded with feelings of sickness, even suffocation. This might have something to do with the men that occasionally appear inside hanging from a ceiling beam.

Nerves should be settled with a drink at the Tiger Bar before heading into the tunnels beneath the Guild Hall, reputedly haunted by a 12-year old boy. And if that doesn’t crank the fear factor there’s also the Shire Hall, where someone was pressed to death in 1665. An impressive way to die, then.

If after all that you fancy continuing your paranormal investigation you can spend the night at Derby Gaol. Or may be its better to book a comfortable hotel room for the night, turn all the lights on and cosy up with a teddy bear for company.