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It was 1953, and Harry
Martindale then an apprentice plumber, he was working in the cellars of
York’s Treasurer's House. As he worked he heard the distinctive sound
of ‘a tinny trumpet call’. The horn continued to sound, each time
appearing to draw a little closer.
Suddenly Harry recalls “a smallish soldier wearing a kilt and carrying
a sort of a trumpet came out of that wall over there” a horse and rider
followed. Harry fell off his ladder in shock and, as he crouched on the
floor, he was able to see clearly that the horse was being ridden by a
dishevelled Roman soldier. He was slowly followed by 14 or 16 others,
according to Harry, they appeared to ignore him. They were dressed in
rough green tunics and plumed helmets, carrying short swords and
spears. They all looked down in a dejected manner as they continued
towards the Minster, Harry recalls “the oddest thing is they were all
marching knee deep in the floor only in one spot where someone had dug
away a part of the floor could I see their feet.” It appears that these
soldiers were walking at level of the old Roman road buried below the
surface.
Initially Harry’s account was dismissed; certain aspects of his
description didn’t fit the expected facts, for example Harry’s soldiers
carried round shields, not the typical rectangular Roman pattern.
Subsequently it was discovered auxiliary troops had be stationed in
York in the 4th Century and these soldiers had carried round shields.
Harry’s story includes
all the classic examples of a ‘simple haunting’
1. At no time did the apparition interact with the observer, as Harry
himself noted, the soldiers ignored him.
2. The apparition demonstrably followed the road as at had been in the
4th Century, walking through the modern world oblivious to it
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