We are the makers and sellers of the original and finest York Ghosts. We are the only ghost merchants still trading in the twenty-first century.
Our business follows the traditions imposed by The Sorrowful Guild of Master Ghost Makers. We adhere to traditional values and methods, our ghosts are always made by hand and the techniques that we use ensure that each York Ghost is a true original, complete with an embossed maker’s mark.
York Ghosts are individually packaged in exquisite travelling boxes featuring a hand drawn Ghost Merchants shop, to make the ghost feel at home on its journey from the Shambles to far away places. The Original York Ghost is wrapped in an 1852 map of York, and our Little York Ghost comes in the “Boo” box with oval gilt edged viewing aperture.
Our website gives the opportunity for those customers not able to visit the Ghost Merchants in York to purchase a York Ghost wherever they are in the world. We introduce small batches of ghosts onto our website approximately every two weeks, announcing launch dates on our homepage. We will also be selling some of our rare & unusual Black Box limited edition ghosts through our website. Please follow us on Instagram or visit the homepage for news of launch dates and times.
Good fortune & fortitude
What is a York Ghost ? …
The ancient city of York is well known for its ghosts. A turbulent and torturous past has given rise to a glut of ghostly happenings and locations that have become as much a part of York’s legacy as the Vikings and Romans themselves.
The York Ghost merchants are part of the legacy; we are makers and sellers of the original York Ghosts. Each ghost is handmade in our own workshops either above the shop on the Shambles or round the corner in our Georgian townhouse on St Saviourgate, combining the best of British materials with the sagacity and resource of Guild craftsmen and women. We do things the old fashioned way here, we only make in small batches using hand, eye, knowledge and skill to produce an object which is unique to The York Ghost Merchants.We follow a very traditional model of business manufacturing our wares in a workshop above our shop, generations of candlemakers & chandlers, cutlers & silversmiths and milliners & boot-makers would have worked this way 200 years ago on the Shambles, in this very shop, manufacturing and selling on a street potent with the sounds and smells of industry and trade.
York Ghosts are sculptural objects with their origin firmly rooted in the past, their shape and form derived from our personal collection of historic artefacts and images. A collectable souvenir quite unlike any other.
Every ghost is unique, “with a spirit all its own”
