Didsbury is a prosperous Victorian suburb on the southern edge of Manchester, its streets of red-brick villas and converted institutional buildings largely intact. The area developed rapidly in the second half of the nineteenth century as Manchester’s merchant class moved south, and several of its older properties have accumulated reputations that have persisted across multiple occupancies.

Its haunting accounts are among the better-documented in the Manchester archive. They include a former college, a Georgian parsonage, and a Victorian townhouse with a notably persistent reputation, each tied to specific named individuals or documented events rather than to general atmosphere.