A letter written to the local paper by P. O’Shaughnessy, 36 Compton Row, Leeds 9.

The “White Lady of Richmond Hill” haunted the top of the rise of that name on which to-day is built Mt. St. Mary’s Church. People who lived in the district in the middle of the last century said that the “White Lady” was the ghost of a devout young woman who died in tragic circumstances on her 20th birthday.

Some years ago I met a man who had actually seen the “White Lady,” during the course of his duties as night watchman of a textile mill in Mill Street.

“It was a pitch black night,” he said. “T’ Town Hall clock had just struck two, so I thought l’d have a scout round. At the bottom o’ Tab Street I happened to look towards t’ church. There, standing plumb in t’ middle o’ t’ steps, was a young woman dressed all i’ white, her arms folded across her breast, and seeming to be looking right across Leeds. Next minute she’d disappeared. But it were t’ ‘White Lady’ alright, an’ l’Il never forget seein’ her.”

The “Cholera Ghosts,” some of whose gravestones are supposed to be among those strewing the railway embankment opposite Leeds Parish Church, also augment the ghost stories of Leeds.

Unlike most ghosts they were alleged to have made their presence felt by uttering unearthly yowls of protestation against their earthly sufferings. Nobody has ever seen these ghosts, but many an old inhabitant has sworn he or she has heard their groans in the silent watches of the night.