GHOST hunters who use science to track down spirts have been searching for spooky goings on at a Duddon pub.
Phil Hayes, part of Paranormal Research UK based in Winsford took the opportunity to investigate reports of spooky activity at the Roman Bridges and Headless Woman in Duddon.
Mr Hayes said: “The legend of the Headless Woman goes back to the time of the Civil War when Oliver Cromwell visited the area, his mission to wipe out the royalists.Š A family loyal to the king living at the nearby Hockenhull Hall fled in fear of their lives, leaving their maid Grace Trigg to look after all of the estates wealth.
“Grace was captured by Cromwell’s men and tortured.”
“It is thought that Grace managed to escape her captors and attempted to run along the packhorse route known locally as “the Roman Bridges”. Somewhere along the Roman Bridges the soldiers recaptured her and it is said that this struggle resulted in her beheading.”
It is thought Grace haunts the Roman Bridges and the public house, now known as the Headless Woman.
Phil and his team took night vision CCTV cameras, Electro Magnetic Field( EMF) readers, remote voice recorders and even placed trigger objects in known hotspots to try and find some paranormal activity.
Phil said: “On playback, a gentle whistling was detected though both team members heard nothing at that time. During our time in the poolroom we asked out and received knocking responses from one corner of the room.
“ However we couldn’t get any ‘intelligent’ response.
“Whether or not this phenomena could be attributed to the tragic tale of the Headless Woman is doubtful as we cannot find any record of a woman named Grace Trigg living in the area or any solid evidence that a woman, headless or otherwise roams the pub after hours.
“The only evidence we do have are reports from passing motorists who have said that they thought they had run someone over, only to see nothing there.
“However, one of the motion detection cameras did take a strange picture - could it be the ghost of an inquisitive small child that had been heard only weeks earlier?
