Swindon and its THREE Haunted Co-ops

Just when I think I cannot be surprised by a Wiltshire haunting any longer (after encountering tales of phantom pigs, black dogs, haunted swimming pools, a mummified hand and a headless duke, to name but a few), along comes another to ruffle the feathers. We find ourselves back in Swindon.

This time, what has me raising my eyebrows is a haunted Co-op. Well, I say ‘a’ Co-op. Here’s where it gets weirder, because, of course, it always does in Wiltshire: there are THREE haunted Co-ops, and they are all in Swindon. Three! A haunted Co-op is quite strange in itself. You go to your local supermarket for a pint of milk, some bread, maybe a big bag of Giant Wotsits (or maybe that’s just me) and the last thing you would expect to encounter is ghostly activity. Chances are, if you go to Swindon Co-op for a bag of snacks, you could end up in a haunted one. Three in one town. What is going on there then? Is this a pattern? Could it be the same ghost – maybe he was a regional manager of the three Co-ops? Is it just a big coincidence? I couldn’t possibly leave this one uninvestigated – it needs to go down on paper (or for infinium on the worldwide interweb).

I need to add at this point that how this blog came to be has a bit of a coincidental coincidence to it. Awesome paranormal writer and investigator Dr Paul Lee got in touch with me – his books are really good by the way and you can find them here. He had some research to add to a blog about the Sign of the Angel, a pub in Lacock I have previously written about. We got chatting via email and he mentioned an anonymous story he had found on a forum about a haunted Co-op in Wiltshire, asking if I knew of it or had any further information to add. I didn’t at that time, but, like I said earlier, I can’t just turn the other cheek to a ghost story like that. I settled myself in front of the bookshelf at Weird Wiltshire HQ to see what I could uncover.

I couldn’t find much to add to Paul’s forum entry, but I did have three contacts in Swindon, fellow lovers of the strange and unusual who have sent me stories and bits of info in the past. One of these lovely people is Siân. She sent me three cracking Swindon ghost tales a couple of years ago (they are here). I took the opportunity to get in touch to say hi and see if she had heard of a haunted Co-op. Well, you could have blown me down with a feather – she was the anonymous forum writer! I took this as a sign we have to publish this story, whether it be by my hand or Paul’s.

As it turns out Dr Paul has a lot going on at the moment, so he kindly agreed I could get scribing for your reading pleasure. Hopefully, when he gets around to writing Haunted Shops, he can add this collection of haunted Co-ops in too.

Covingham Square Co Op

The first Co-op we will visit is at Covingham Square. It’s pretty unremarkable as far as buildings go but fairly typical for a Co-op shop. The building is a 1960s/70s type affair.Before it was a Co-op it was called Rusts and was apparently a very good, well-stocked local store.

Siân happened to be in her local Co-op one morning and told me how she stumbled upon this intriguing ghost story.

‘There was a supervisor lady in the Co-op and another behind the till who I’ve known for years and they were talking about a trolley rolling out the back. Then the word ‘ghost’ was mentioned and of course I said, ‘Have you really got a ghost here?’ Both nodded and said, ‘Oh yes.’ They are both very nice people and quite down-to-earth from the interactions I’ve had, age range about 50-60. The supervisor hasn’t been there that long, only about a year, but the other lady has been working there for at least eight years and calls the ghost ‘Percy’. The supervisor commented that she used to live in a haunted house, so when things happen at work, she never completely writes them off. She also said she’s not keen on being last there last thing at night. She’s seen an apparition walking around. She thinks it is a man – he is tall and male-shaped. The other week the lady was in the little canteen alone when ‘he’ tapped her on the shoulder. Things go missing or get moved. Sometimes the occurrences are down to other members of staff, but sometimes, when there’s only one person in the building and things move, you can’t blame the other staff for those events. I wondered aloud if it had been someone who worked there but neither woman knows who ‘Percy’ could have been in real life. The row of shops is as old as the local estate, so the building is perhaps only 50 years old. Prior to a shop being on the land it was just fields. Roman artefacts have been found about a mile away and there’s a Roman settlement nearby, found when they built the Swindon bypass.’

Siân obviously had this story on her mind as when she next popped in and saw the supervisor she took the opportunity to speak with her.

‘The woman behind the till has been working at the Coop about 10-12 years I think, and is very pleasant. She sometimes does the baking early – cookies, flapjacks, pastries. She has unlocked the door of the baking room and finds things all over the place, scattered, on top of shelves where they shouldn’t be.
I wondered if it was down to rats or mice, but she was firm in that it wasn’t as they have to be very careful with pests, (the shop has a five-star hygiene rating). No sign of rats, mice or anything else and due to having bakery goods they are very strict about food storage and hygiene. Each day the baker has to make sure all is tidy and spotless when they finish.
She also said that ‘Percy’ had taken G’s glasses recently. G is a chap who’s worked there probably longer than anyone, behind the tills. They’re prescription glasses so he’s miffed. Since Covid the tills have a plastic screen in front so a customer can’t cough and sneeze over the staff. This screen also means customers can’t reach over and take anything from behind the tills.
It’s not the first time that things have been moved or have just completely gone. Sometimes the things return and sometimes not. At times these things are being moved when there’s only one of the staff on site, whether they are shelf-stacking before and after opening or they’re locking up.’

Who the ghost, Percy, may be is a mystery, but Siân remembers an older chap who might have been the manager or assistant manager from years back. He was always there, very rarely off work. He was the definition of ‘spry’; slim, active and very friendly. He was certainly always there. Siân said she sometimes wonders if he has something to do with the supposed haunting. Maybe he didn’t want to leave his job?

Next time I’m in Swindon, I will pop into the Co op and see if anything else has happened lately.

Cheney Manor Co-op

Let’s head up to the Cheney Manor Co-op on the north side of Swindon. What was interesting to me, apart from finding yet another haunted Co-op, is that the phantom at this supermarket has also been given a name. This one is called Fred.

This is another modern building, and infact, I call it a Co-op but I think it is now a Tesco Express. The reports of ghostly activity date from its Co-op days, but the activity goes back a few years. It’s worth bearing in mind that there has been human occupation on this land since the 13th century, when it was a tiny hamlet named Rodbourne Cheney. Rodbourne derives from the Old English’ Hreod Burna’ (don’t ask me how you say that!) It means reedy bourn and refers to the brook which runs north of the manor house. The name Cheney dates back to 1242 when Ralph Chany owned the manor. The reason I mention a bit of the history is that the ghostly activity may come from the land rather than from someone associated with this lacklustre modern building.

The following accounts come from Haunted Swindon by Dave Wood and Nicky Sewell. This story dates back to 2007.

Numerous staff in the Cheney Manor store reported strange occurrences over the last few decades. Most incidents seem to centre around the store room, which sits in an older part of the building. In the 1990s, the store was expanded and today looks completely different to how it was a few decades back.

One employee who had worked at the store for over 20 years told Dave and Nicky of her experiences.

‘Everything that has happened to me has always been in the daytime. Just before Christmas 2007, before the store was open, another staff member and myself were walking through the warehouse and we thought someone had left the store music on because we could hear quite loud voices. We discovered no one had left music on and we couldn’t really make out what they were saying, like they were mumbling.’

Another employee tells of strange things going on in the staff area and warehouse.

‘Frequently I would walk out of the staff room and the kettle would seem to turn itself on. People would always blame me for setting the kettle off as it always happened when I was around. We did wonder if it was the kettle, so we got a new one and the same thing happened. On other occasions I’ve got a chill and felt as if someone is standing behind me. Sometimes there’s a voice like a whisper and when I turn around to find out who was talking to me there was no one there. It seems to happen to new staff members. Almost as though ‘Fred’ is letting them know he is around. Sometimes, when I am locking up at night I hurry to get out of there. I feel as if someone is still there.’

Plenty of staff have had experiences there. One man had a screwed-up piece of paper thrown at his head. Another reports, when the warehouse is definitely empty, he has heard the door between the staff room corridor and warehouse slam shut, unaccountably so. Stock would fall off the shelves on the shop floor, randomly and without explanation. A female staff member said she had been tapped on the shoulder when of course there was no one there.

On the shop floor, one woman was being touched on the back of her neck. When she turned around, no one was there. Later that day, she felt as if she had been touched again; this time, on the head.

A female staff member who works there, along with her daughter, heard ‘mum’ called in the warehouse. She turned to answer her and she wasn’t there. Her daughter was actually over the other side of the store.

I’d say, with all these different types of activity, this ghostly Co-op inhabitant was probably trying to get someone’s attention. I wonder if there is still stuff going on here – I guess I have two supermarkets I need to call in on now.

Old Town Co op

Our last haunted Co-op story today takes us back into the centre of Swindon to the Old Town. There isn’t a lot of information about this particular haunting, but it still deserves a place on this blog. In this building, there is an apparition seen gliding around in the staff rooms on the top floor. He has been seen by several members of staff. One team member assumed it was her manager, but when she went back to the ground floor and found her manager there, she was obviously pretty spooked. No one else was on duty at that time.

That’s all of the Co-op ghosts in Swindon. For now! There could be more and that would make it all even stranger.

With thanks to Siân for her account and a pointer to the Old Town ghost from Gary Sherman.

It goes without saying, you are local and you know of any other haunted supermarkets, make sure you get in touch! In fact, if you have any kind of ghost story for me, big or small, personal or Wiltshire-based, please email me: hello@weird-wiltshire.co.uk.

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