The most notorious spirit at Scarborough Castle is Piers Gaveston, a favourite of King Edward II, who was captured here in 1312. Legend has it his headless ghost wanders the ramparts, occasionally luring unsuspecting visitors toward the edge of the battlements.

Often seen near the castle’s ancient walls, the Grey Lady is said to be the mourning spirit of a woman who died of starvation while imprisoned, forever searching for her lost love.

Beneath the town, a network of medieval tunnels once used by 18th-century smugglers like George 'Snooker' Fagg still whispers of illicit trades and hidden treasure.

Local lore credits the giant Wade and his wife Bell with building the Roman road known as Wade’s Causeway. The massive crater known as the Hole of Horcum (or the Devil's Punchbowl) was allegedly formed when Wade scooped up a handful of earth to throw at Bell during an argument. This earth created nearby Blakey Topping.

Every moorland dale was once believed to have its own Hob—helpful but easily offended spirits similar to hobgoblins. The Hob of Hob Hole, a cave near Goathland, would help farmers with chores in exchange for a jug of cream, but woe betide anyone who forgot to thank them. Hobs have been described as small, hairy, wizened men. One famous hob lived near Runswick Bay in a hobhole; this hob was believed to be able to cure young children of whooping cough.  Parents would bring their ailing young to the hob's cave dwelling and recite the following: Hobhole Hob! Ma' bairn's gotten 't kink cough, Tak't off ! tak't off!

Watch the shadows on lonely moorland roads for the Barguest, a spectral black dog with saucer-sized red eyes. Hearing its howl is said to be a harbinger of doom.

Running through the Yorkshire Wolds, known as the "Waters of Woe," this intermittent stream rises from the ground regardless of the weather. It is traditionally seen as a sign of impending national disaster, famously flowing just before the Great Plague, the execution of Charles I, and the start of both World Wars.

Standing in a churchyard, this is the tallest standing stone in the UK. Legend says the Devil threw it there, and it still holds a strange, paranormal energy for those who visit. Part of the Wold Newton Triangle.

Local tales tell of two mermaids washed ashore in the fishing village of Staithes after a violent storm.

The long, narrow peninsula of Filey Brigg is said to be the skeletal remains of a dragon that was tricked into the sea and drowned by the local townspeople.

The most popular tale tells of a dishevelled, "hairy" man named Bob who carved the cave as a silent sanctuary. Local lore says he was so "henpecked" by his wife’s constant nagging that he retreated to the cliffs, spending his days carving the rock and selling "Yellowstone" (sandstone) door-to-door to clean doorsteps.

On a stormy afternoon in December 1795, a 56lb meteorite slammed into a field near the village of Wold Newton in the Yorkshire Wolds. While the impact itself was a scientific breakthrough—helping prove that rocks actually fell from space—the folklore that grew around it is even more "out of this world". The "Wold Newton Family": According to a famous literary myth started by science fiction author Philip José Farmer, the meteorite was radioactive. He proposed that two passing stagecoaches were caught in the "ionising radiation" of the falling star. A Genetic Legacy: The legend suggests that the radiation caused a sudden genetic mutation in the passengers, endowing their descendants with superhuman intelligence and strength.

In the heart of the Yorkshire Wolds, near Wold Newton, lies a massive Neolithic burial mound known as Willy Howe.

Off the coast of the Yorkshire Wolds and Spurn Point once stood a thriving medieval seaport called Ravenser Odd. Founded around 1235, it quickly became a powerhouse of trade, even rivaling Hull and Grimsby.

Deep in the North York Moors, the village of Danby is the setting for the dark tale of Old Nan, a woman believed to be a powerful "shapeshifting" moorland witch.