Offerton is a largely residential suburb on the southern edge of Stockport, sitting above the River Goyt on ground that shows evidence of much earlier settlement. Its modern character conceals a landscape that was occupied from at least the Roman period, and excavations in the area have turned up evidence of activity that long predates the Victorian and twentieth-century development that now dominates it.

For an unassuming suburb, Offerton has produced a disproportionate number of haunting accounts. These include a Romano-British apparition reported persistently over several decades and a poltergeist case in the 1970s that attracted significant press attention and involved multiple witnesses across an extended period. Both accounts repay closer examination than they have generally received.