Case Study: Roman Soldiers under York

Sepia-toned illustration of a brick-vaulted cellar in which a man in modern clothes stands on the left watching as a column of Roman soldiers in plumed helmets and tunics, carrying spears and a standard, march through the wall. A Roman officer on horseback leads or follows on the right.
Artist's impression of the Roman soldiers seen by apprentice plumber Harry Martindale in the cellars of the Treasurer's House, York, 1953. They appeared to be marching along the line of a buried Roman road.

A classic simple haunting.

It was 1953, and Harry Martindale, then an apprentice plumber, 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 the level of the old Roman road buried below the modern floor.

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 been 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 it had been in the 4th Century, walking through the modern world oblivious to it.
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