31/10/2026
Ghost Story - Happy Halloween 🎃
A little ghost story for this special night.
The Lantern Man of Bridlington South Beach.
They say if you walk Bridlington South Beach late on Halloween night, when the tide is low and the wind drops, you'll see a light out on the sandbanks.
Old fishermen from the harbour still call him Tommy Crowe.
Back in the winter of 1923, Tommy was a coble fisherman. His boat was caught in a sudden sea-fret off Flamborough Head — thick as wool, couldn't see the bow from the stern. He knew those waters blind, but that night the sea went dead flat and silent. Too silent. No gulls, no waves.
He was trying to bring her home to Bridlington, using the old leading lights. Except there was an extra light. A lantern, swinging low over the water where no boat should be able to sit — right over the Smithic Sands that uncover at low tide.
Tommy thought it was another coble stranded, men waving for help. He turned toward it. His mate on the shore later said he heard Tommy shouting "I'm coming!"
They found his boat the next morning, perfectly intact, sitting upright on the wet sand as if it had been gently placed there. No damage. No Tommy. Just one set of boot prints leading away from the boat, toward the sea. And beside them, a second set — bare feet, much smaller, that hadn't been there before the tide went out.
They never found him.
Now, on stormy autumn nights, people walking the promenade toward Wilsthorpe claim they see it too. A warm yellow lantern, bobbing about 200 yards out, where the sand is still covered. If you watch it, it stops. And starts coming toward you. Slowly.
The old lifeboat lads will tell you — don't wave back. Don't call out. And whatever you do, don't walk out to meet it.
Because Tommy is still trying to rescue whoever is holding that light. And whoever holds it is still looking for someone to take their place.
One lad last year — walking his dog after the pubs shut on Halloween — swore he followed it. Dog wouldn't go. He went out to knee-depth in the dark water. Said when he got close, the lantern wasn't a lantern at all. It was glowing inside a shape of seaweed and bone. And it whispered his name in a voice full of seawater.
He ran. Didn't stop till he hit the Esplanade. Left his wellies stuck in the mud.
If you're down there tonight with the shop closed up, have a look. If you see a light that shouldn't be there over the bay.....just let it keep looking