Brimham Rocks have always been popular with climbers. In August 1977 Matt Latham and Denis Evans of Leeds were enjoying an afternoon's sport when disaster struck.

Denis explains : ' We weren't doing anything very tricky,' but it was a blazing hot day. I knew I was in trouble when I started to feel groggy.  Matt was 30 feet below. It was free climbing, so we weren't roped up. I pushed my body tight against the rock. I was swaying now. I tried to call down for help but the words stuck in my throat. There were flashing lights in front of my eyes. I could feel the pulse in my neck throbbing. I was desperately trying to hold on. Then I felt strong hands round my wrists and I was being pulled upwards. Suddenly I was on my knees but safe at the top of the crag. I looked up at the shape of a very tall man standing over me. All I can remember is a bushy beard and something rather odd. He had bare feet.  My head was spinning. I lay down on the rock and closed my eyes. I think I blacked out for a few seconds. Then someone was calling my name. It was Matt.'

Matt takes up the story. ' I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't noticed that Denis had a problem. But when I got to the top he was lying there alone on a flat rock. I couldn't get him down on my own, but we'd seen some people climbing on a adjacent crag. I started to scramble down the easy way. But help was already coming. Another climber had seen the rescue and had gone for reinforcements. Later there were lots of questions about the third man on the crag. How did he manage to vanish so fast? Why didn't he stay around to help? Where did he come from in the first place? Climbers are a fraternity. You'd expect someone to come up with a name. But not this time.

'Then we heard the story of the phantom climber. It seems that one of the greats - Conor O'Brian - practised here from time to time before the First World War. He was a tall man and immensely strong. And, he had the habit of climbing in bare feet. He claimed that this was much better than wearing boots because you could feel every tine crevice with the toes. Conor was a real adventurer of the old kind - a professional sailor who years later made a voyage around the world in a small boat. I don't know what happened to him after that.  He'd come to grief here sometime in 1912 or 1913. Nothing serious - just cuts and bruises. But he was immensely grateful to those who had helped. He said he'd like to repay that debt. But with the war and all I don't think he ever did.

' But years later kind of folklore built up after a Danish climber got tangled in his own rope and was helped out by a tall man in bare feet. It was treated as a bit of a joke at first. There's not much in the way of mountains in Denmark.  But there were similar rescues and the helper always disappeared straight away afterwards. This earned him the nickname - 'The Lone Ranger'. And yes, the bare feet were mentioned again.

'To be honest that's the only link to Conor O'Brian, so maybe it's wishful thinking. But I'm sure of two things. There was nobody on the crag when Denis and I started climbing, and there was nobody there when we reached the top. I've thought a lot about it since. I don't believe in ghosts, but is there any other explanation?'