Ghostly Shadows of the Past: Echoes of Highflyer, Hooves and Horns

Dr Alyson Cunningham is at Lincoln Central Library on Saturday 31 October for Ghostly Shadows of the Past: Echoes of Highflyer, Hooves and Horns, a talk that looks at the dramatic end of the coaching era and the eerie legends it left behind. It's a bit of local history with a spooky edge, and it fits right into the half-term Halloween programme the city's been putting together.

If you've never thought about the coaching era, it's easy to forget how much of the city's old movement revolved around horses and coaches before the railways took over. Cunningham focuses on that transition — the moment when the coaching trade collapsed and the horses and drivers who once ran the roads were left behind. The 'ghostly' part comes in with the legends that grew around that decline, the stories that lingered long after the coaches stopped running.

It's part of a wider Halloween push across the city, so there's plenty more going on around it if you're making a day of it. Giant inflatable monsters are taking over the streets, and the half-term programme brings together ghost walks, murder mysteries and fireworks. The city's longest-running ghost walk has been following the Cathedral Quarter since 1996, filling 70 minutes with spooky stories and gruesome tales from Lincoln's past.

Cunningham's session runs from 2pm to 3pm at Lincoln Central Library, and it costs £1.50.