We take a look at the Christmas ghosts of Birmingham New Street

It may have changed beyond recognition, the landscape now dominated by Ozzy the bull, but the spirits of Birmingham New Street Station remain.

And long after the last Christmas shoppers have departed, one wonders what apparitions have gazed into the burning eyes of the Commonwealth Games mascot.

This is the time of ghost stories and the Birmingham station is reputedly at the very centre of paranormal activity. So many supernatural tales swirl around the station, 13 years ago a séance was set to be staged in the labyrinth of tunnels, but scrapped on safety grounds.

From the days of steam, the undead walk the platforms. And it is Platform 4 where the unholy sound of things that go bump in the night can be heard most clearly. Some roam in protest after a Jewish Cemetery was dug-up to make way for New Street’s development in 1848.

Some are from “The Froggary”, the locals’ name for Little Colmore Street, a hotbed of crime and poverty before being bulldozed to accommodate the station.

Walter Hartles, who shot himself in the chest in 1936, is regularly seen. Described in newspaper reports of the time as “separated from his wife for some time”, Walter, from Gloucester, was last seen sitting solemnly in the waiting room. It was there where his lifeless body was discovered, an inquest later recording the retired engine driver committed suicide “while of unsound mind”.

Website hauntedrooms.co.uk states: “Since the day of his death, Walter Hartles has been spotted by countless travellers passing through New Street Station in the evening. He is said to sit alone, still clad in uniform, reliving the moments before his suicide.”

The site adds New Street has been the setting for many tragedies: “A 1921 collision of two trains at the station left over two dozen people injured and claimed the lives of three passengers. Along with this, the station’s platform four has seen four suicides.”

In the wee hours, when commuters have long gone, Walter is rumoured to share the strip with Claude, a dapper Victorian spirit who sports a top hat. He is said to have taken poison.

He has appeared to travellers, staring vacantly at the track before disappearing.

So be warned. Next time you see an individual sitting expressionless in the early hours in New Street he may not have merely indulge to excess in the Christmas spirit and missed his train.He may be one of the many Christmas spirits.