A viral video sparked ghost rumours in Manchester’s Castlefield House, revealing how even modern office blocks can become the stage for eerie tales — real or not
When people imagine ghosts, they often picture ruined castles, crumbling Victorian mansions, or the echoing halls of abandoned mental hospitals.
But as one case in Manchester suggests, hauntings do not always need dark history or gothic architecture.
Sometimes, even the bland glass-and-concrete walls of a modern office block can play host to a chilling mystery — at least if you believe the tale of Castlefield House.
Back on 23 November 2012, security staff watching CCTV screens inside Castlefield House, an office block on Liverpool Road in Manchester city centre, were confronted with scenes that seemed straight from a horror film.
Late one night, cameras inside the building picked up unexplained activity in an empty office suite.
Chairs slid smoothly across the floor as though pushed by invisible hands.
Filing cabinet drawers flew open and shut without anyone in sight.
A door handle rattled persistently for hours.
Shadows appeared to move across the walls, and in some moments, loose papers seemed to lift and swirl around the room.
Initially, staff suspected a prank.
But thorough inspections of the premises turned up no evidence of an intruder or mechanical fault that could explain the activity.
The Manchester Evening News reported at the time: “The ghost was caught on CCTV moving a chair across the room and rattling a door handle for hours.”
Clips of the footage soon found their way online.
Uploaded to YouTube and shared on social media, the video attracted thousands of views, prompting headlines that dubbed Castlefield House “Manchester’s most haunted office”.
Paranormal enthusiasts were eager to weigh in, speculating about poltergeists and restless spirits lingering in the city’s historic district.
It was the sort of haunting usually reserved for older places steeped in history.
Castlefield itself, after all, has Roman roots.
The ancient fort of Mamucium once stood nearby, guarding what would eventually become the heart of industrial Manchester.
Today, the district blends converted warehouses, canals, trendy bars, and modern office blocks like Castlefield House.
From the outside, the building looks entirely ordinary.
But for a while, its reputation suggested otherwise.
However, not everyone was convinced the haunting was real.
Scott Mackinnon, a veteran paranormal investigator from Manchester who runs Phoenix Paranormal Investigation, decided to look deeper into the footage.
Speaking to reporters, he said: “This video, though extremely well put together, is a fake. I did some digging into it and there’s a number of ways that you can tell it isn’t real. Some of the scenes have clearly been edited and there’s a few different signifiers of it that wouldn’t stand out to the untrained eye. But it is really well done.”
Scott, who has spent more than 20 years investigating haunted locations around Manchester, including the historic Albert Hall, explained that he leads a team combining psychics and scientific researchers to examine unexplained activity.
But in this instance, he said there was no real haunting to investigate.
He added: “I lead a team of psychics and those that concentrate more on the scientific aspects of the paranormal to try and discover the reason behind any unexplained occurrences or activity. If someone is being haunted then we go to them and work out how we can help. But in this case we obviously won’t be needed.”
His research traced the footage to a Manchester-based PPI claims company, Joshua Brookes Ltd, suggesting the video was produced as a clever viral marketing stunt rather than evidence of genuine paranormal activity.
Even so, the legend of the Castlefield House poltergeist continues to circulate online, kept alive by ghost enthusiasts who remain fascinated by the possibility of a haunting in such an unlikely place.
While the case may have been solved, it is a reminder that stories of the supernatural can surface anywhere — not only in centuries-old castles or abandoned asylums, but also behind the bright windows of an office block.
And in a city like Manchester, where history lurks around every corner, even the most modern buildings can find themselves swept into tales of things that go bump in the night.
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