Bluecoat School, Liverpool: The Charity Children

The Bluecoat building, constructed in 1717, is the oldest surviving building in Liverpool city center. For over 200 years, it operated as a charity school for the children of the poor, modeled on London’s Christ’s Hospital. The school moved to new premises in 1906, and the building became an arts center, but the ghosts of the Blue Coat children never left. These orphaned and destitute children, dressed in their distinctive blue coats, still haunt the building that was their home, school, and for many, their place of death.

Liverpool was a city of extremes—enormous wealth from trade and shipping, and desperate poverty in the slums. The Bluecoat School was founded by merchant Bryan Blundell to save poor children from the streets. While the school offered education and opportunity, conditions were harsh, discipline was severe, and mortality was high. The building, now a hub of arts and culture, still resonates with the suffering of the children who lived and died there.

The Hauntings

The Blue Coat Children

The most common apparitions:

• Children aged 7-14 in the traditional uniform
• Long blue coats, white neck bands, yellow stockings
• Both boys and girls appear (the school was co-educational from the start)
• Often seen in corridors and on staircases
• They appear sad and frightened
• Some are crying silently
• They vanish when approached or spoken to

The Schoolroom Ghosts

In what were once the classrooms:

• Children sitting at invisible desks
• The sound of lessons being recited
• A stern master with a cane
• The smell of chalk and old books
• The phantom sound of children chanting their lessons
• Education was by rote and enforced with corporal punishment
• The fear and tedium of those lessons remains

The Chapel

The school’s religious instruction was central:

• Children in blue coats attending phantom services
• The sound of hymn singing when the building is empty
• A chaplain in Georgian dress leading prayers
• Attendance was compulsory and discipline strict
• The chapel witnessed both devotion and suffering
• Now an art gallery, but the religious atmosphere persists

The Dormitory Areas

Where the children slept:

• Particularly haunted floors where dormitories once stood
• The sound of children crying at night
• Small figures huddled in corners
• The smell of sickness and unwashed bodies
• Before modern sanitation, conditions were grim
• Disease spread rapidly in crowded dormitories
• Many children died of fever, tuberculosis, and cholera

The Founding Master

Bryan Blundell’s ghost:

• The merchant philanthropist who founded the school
• Seen inspecting the building as if checking on his investment
• A figure in early 18th-century dress
• He appears benevolent but concerned
• Some staff report feeling watched by a paternal presence
• Blundell’s portrait hangs in the building—some say his eyes follow you

The Punishment Room

Where discipline was administered:

• The most oppressively haunted area
• The sound of caning and children screaming
• Cold spots and overwhelming dread
• A master who was notorious for brutality still appears there
• Witnesses report feeling sudden pain, as if being struck
• The room is avoided by staff, even during the day

The Epidemic Victims

Yellow fever and cholera outbreaks:

• Liverpool’s port brought exotic diseases
• The school suffered multiple epidemics in the 18th and 19th centuries
• Dozens of children died within days
• Their mass graves were on the school grounds
• Figures with the ravages of disease—fever, dehydration, lesions
• The smell of sickness precedes these apparitions
• They appear in groups, as if re-living the outbreaks

The Building Today

Now the Bluecoat arts center:

• Artists and staff report regular paranormal activity
• The sound of children when galleries are empty
• Small figures running through exhibitions
• Strange occurrences during performances and events
• Some artists have incorporated the hauntings into their work
• The contrast between vibrant modern art and tragic child ghosts is stark

Modern Investigations

The Bluecoat is one of Liverpool’s most investigated hauntings:

• Multiple paranormal teams have documented activity
• EVP recordings of children’s voices
• Photographs showing blue-coated figures
• Staff have detailed logs of experiences
• The building’s age and tragic history make it a focus for researchers
• Liverpool Ghost Walks include the Bluecoat as a key location

The Blue Coat Connection

The uniform links past and present:

• The distinctive dress makes the ghosts unmistakable
• The same uniform was worn for over 200 years
• Links to Christ’s Hospital in London (similar hauntings)
• The uniform represented both charity and social marking
• Poor children were instantly identifiable
• Perhaps the ghosts still wear it because they wore nothing else

---

The Bluecoat in Liverpool has stood for over 300 years. For most of that time, it housed charity children—orphans, the destitute, the unwanted. Many never left. Now an arts center bustling with creativity and life, the building is still haunted by Blue Coat children in their distinctive uniforms, forever trapped in the institution that was both their salvation and their prison. Liverpool’s oldest building holds its youngest ghosts.