"Never go walking at night on your own especially across the Stray past the Tewit Well" said my over-anxious mother to me when I was in my early teens.

Of course these days no one is safe walking anywhere alone in broad daylight let alone after dark. You wouldn't dream of it but thirty years ago it seemed an unreasonable demand to make on a responsible fourteen year old girl.

I thought no more of my mother's warning until one foggy winter's evening, the memory of which will haunt me forever.

It was on 14th December, when returning from a friend's birthday party, I missed the bus back. This meant an hour's wait in freezing fog, a long walk to avoid the Stray or a quick run across. I decided on the last option.

I started to run at full pelt but soon was forced to walk slowly due to a sharp pain in my side because of all the party food I'd consumed.

The dense fog was bringing visibility down to just a few inches. You could only make out the lamp posts when you were practically on top of them and the dim light they gave out made ghostly looking shadows against the trees.

The silence was eerie too, it was total: I couldn't hear any traffic on the busy road behind me. My lively imagination didn't help either.

Suddenly out of the fog came a tall figure who would have walked into me had I not stopped abruptly.

She was young, about twenty, in a long black skirt and jacket. I couldn't see her face as it was obscured by a black net veil. (I instantly recalled my school project on the Victorians).

She was beckoning me towards the Tewit Well and I felt compelled to follow though my legs were like lead.

The Well was derelict now, graffiti scribbled on its walls; cigarette ends, empty crisp packets and toffee wrappers strewn on its floor.

As my eyes became accustomed to the darkness inside, I saw the woman sit down on a bench by the well-head which was partially covered by scaffolding.

She started to wail and put her head in her hands. Then slowly, turning to me she beckoned me forward to look ...

It was then that real panic and sheer terror set in. I started to scream and I knew I had to get away or I'd be the victim of a similar fate.

How I got home that night I'll never know but my mother's comment as I ran in was "You're as white as a sheet. Have you seen a ghost?"

The front page headline on the following day's Harrogate Advertiser read: 'GRIM DISCOVERY AT TEWIT WELL' and underneath "The tiny skeleton of a baby was uncovered yesterday while workmen were restoring the historic Tewit Well. Police inspectors have been called to the scene to investigate ..."

You can still visit the Tewit Well today but remember don't go alone on the night of 14th December.

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