Phantom menace

Apr 30 2004 By Jessica Shaughnessy, Chester Chronicle

Unsure publican is still a spectre cynic

SPOOKY goings-on at the Greyhound pub are the stuff of legend in Saughall - but landlord Carl Jones is still waiting to be convinced.

He admits that some things are difficult to explain but says he needs hard evidence before he accepts he shares his property with evil spirits.

'I think I am still a cynic, but I am open-minded,' he said.

'It does cause a lot of interest among the locals and it hasn't put any customers off, but one or two of my barmaids are terrified of working alone.'

Carl and his wife Helen took over the pub two years ago and almost immediately realised it could be haunted.

He said: 'Once, one of the cleaners was working in the passageway near to the men's toilets when she was grabbed. She felt a hand on her shoulder, but when she turned round nothing was there.

'On another occasion, a second cleaner was behind the bar polishing glasses when a tall figure in black stepped behind the bar and moved as though to get a drink.

'She shouted for him to go away as she ran from the bar and the man disappeared.' Carl also spoke of a time when he and two staff members were sitting by the bar after closing time and he heard stools being moved.

He said: 'I am very security conscious so I thought somebody had got back in or was still there. I went to the other side of the pub and the stools were stacked in a very strange way.

'It sounds silly, but there was no reasonable explanation for it. There was nobody else in the building.'

Carl and Helen were baffled when she visited a psychic for fun with a friend and the medium said a man in a black cloak had come along.

'She told Helen that he was not from the pub he was from 'the clock', which we assume is the clock tower at the institute. Apparently, the man was not happy with our broken window.

'One of our windows was broken, it had been smashed the day before.'

It was after Helen went to Argos in Chester and told an assistant, a member of the Supernatural Encounters Association, she was from the Greyhound that the investigation was organised.

Carl said: 'The girl asked if she had any ghosts and Helen said 'yes actually'. They contacted us shortly afterwards and we told them to come along.

'I just went to bed and let them get on with it. 'I have not received a report from them yet, but they did say there was an evil spirit and they would have to come back to get rid of it.

'I will need to see the evidence first to decide if there is anything to be got rid of.'