Providence House in Barton-upon-Humber operated as a working orphanage during the early twentieth century, and local ghost stories, documented in Karen Maitland and Jeannie Bishop's 1999 book on the scandals and legends of the town, describe a small boy seen and heard on its own staircase, with light footsteps and the sound of a child crying reported consistently over the years, activity said to actually increase noticeably in the days leading up to Halloween each year.
Many residents connect the ghost directly to Sidney Conway, a six-year-old boy who lived at the orphanage and died on Halloween 1922 from injuries sustained after falling into a bath of genuinely scalding water, a tragic accident with a firm, documented date attached to it. When the building was later repurposed as the town library, staff reportedly left toys out at night specifically for the child to play with, a gesture of real, ongoing local affection for the boy's memory.
A photograph posted to a local Facebook group during the 2020s, apparently showing a boy on the staircase, revived genuine interest in the story and its connection to Sidney's death, though the identification, while widely and sincerely believed locally, remains an inference drawn from local history rather than something actually proven at the time of his original death in 1922.
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