Under the Pennines, between Marsden in West Yorkshire and Diggle in Greater Manchester, runs a three-and-a-half-mile canal tunnel that took 17 years of hand digging to complete. Standedge Tunnel, finished in 1811 and counted among the seven wonders of Britain's waterways, is the country's deepest, longest and highest canal tunnel — and, according to the charity that runs it, quite possibly its most haunted.

The Canal & River Trust is marking 25 years since the tunnel reopened after what it calls "the impossible restoration" with a programme of Halloween events. On October 30 and 31, the charity is running special boat trips into the tunnel's darkness for spook-spotting, alongside family ghost-busting activities organised with the Huddersfield Canal Society and the Friends of Standedge.

The supernatural angle isn't just seasonal marketing. Staff and visitors have reported strange lights and unexplained noises, and there are rumours of a robed figure lurking in the passage. Paranormal investigation groups have explored the tunnel too.

There's a practical reason behind the anniversary push. The trip boat that has carried thousands of visitors, school groups and families through the tunnel since the canal reopened in 2001 has reached the end of its working life. The Trust has launched a crowdfunding appeal to pay for a purpose-built replacement, warning that without one, future visitors may not get the chance to travel beneath the Pennines at all.

Tickets for the Halloween trips can be booked in advance through canalrivertrust.org.uk, or bought on the day from the Trust's tunnel office in Marsden. The crowdfunder is live at crowdfunder.co.uk/p/keep-standedge-tunnel-open-for-all.

Why should this be on your radar? Standedge is a genuinely unusual day out — a boat ride into the longest canal tunnel in the UK, guided through the dark on a route that took navvies nearly two decades to cut by hand. The Halloween events add a fun twist, but the tunnel runs trips at other times of year too, and the area around Marsden makes for good walking country. If you've never heard of Standedge, this 25th anniversary is a decent excuse to put it on the list — and the crowdfunder is a way to help keep the boat running for the next generation of travellers. Thanks to The Independent Travel for the original report.