Every meeting the ‘Ghosts’ attempt to come up with a simpler theory for what happened to the greater half of the Standedge Five. The Red Door sat in on a meeting and heard tales of aliens, spectres, poltergeists and (in a rather illustrious tale) space dogs being the reason the five students became figurative ghosts themselves.

One attendee, who wished to remain nameless, said that the tall tales were no more than ‘therapeutic’—‘It is important to remember that McConnell is being punished when there is no concrete evidence against him. We, as a group, firmly believe in the idea of “innocent until proven guilty”. We tell of fantasy theories that are actually more probable than the McConnell yarn the police have cooked up.’ The attendee added, ‘Although there is significant evidence that space dogs did it.’

The group as a whole are working on a substantial theory that would have the students teleport from inside the tunnel to a neighbouring county. They even claim to have amassed a bevy of evidence, including bizarre energy fluctuations on the date and time in question and a sighting of figures who fitted the description of the Claypath twins emerging from a hedge in Sussex.

Of course, the group has gained some traction with the ‘Standedge Monster’ theory. Locals will be aware of the legend of a homeless man living in the abandoned train tunnel alongside Standedge. There are numerous, rather shaky accounts of people seeing a ghostly face staring at them throughout their journey, popping up at each of the cut-throughs. Of course, this is totally unsubstantiated, and no police or members of the Canal & River Trust have ever actually laid eyes on this spectral hobo.

Overall, The Red Door saw the Ghosts of Marsden to be a mostly harmless group about hope—a hopeful future where maybe the five students are still alive. In every story, they seem to be living happily somewhere, albeit with the aliens, the spectres and the poltergeists. Even the Standedge Monster theory has them being whisked away by a man to a better, more exciting life. Although The Red Door wishes to keep many of the group’s identities secret, two noted attendees were Mary and James Sunderland—the parents of the missing Edmund Sunderland.

The Red Door attempted to talk to them, but they declined to comment.

“It appears our situations have aligned,” Sally said loudly, obviously trying to get Robin to jump out of his skin. He didn’t oblige. She stood next to him, with a tuft of long grass in her hand. “I need someone to boost the popularity of the site. If I could put your name in these articles, there’d no doubt be a renewed interest.”

Robin shook his head. “No one knows who I am—Without Her wasn’t exactly a commercial barn burner.”