Viral moment 'friendly ghost' haunts pub by 'throwing glasses and picture frame'
CCTV footage has gone viral as photo frames fall from the wall at the hands of the 'friendly ghost' that 'haunts' a pub in Derbyshire.
Yes, you did read that right.
Sian Smith, manager of The Fox & Hounds in Eckington, Derbyshire, can't explain the 'spooky' goings on at the establishment, and believes they're being haunted by their resident 'friendly ghost' - not Casper - Paul.
Not what I would call the ghost I was being haunted by, but each to their own.
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Staff at the pub are in agreement with Smith as footage shows Paul 'throwing glasses and a picture frame to the floor'.
Have a look for yourself:
Glasses definitely fell and a pictures definitely came off the wall, but are we really blaming Paul for that, or are we going with the opinion that someone isn't very good at hanging things up?
The manager of the boozer says it's not just glasses and frames that Paul clearly takes issue with, but that he's also been known to 'to bang on walls, throw beer mats and turn on the toilet hand dryers', even though the pub's owners switch them off.
Couldn't be that there's faulty wiring in the building that's been there since the 19th century, could it?
Clips that were shared to TikTok have gone viral with the hashtag 'friendlyghost', and have been viewed nearly 250,000 times.
As you can imagine, people online tried to offer alternative explanations:
One user said: "It's vibration from traffic."
Another wrote: "Imagine being a fully grown adult and thinking ghosts are real because of gravity."
However, Smith and the gang don't see it that way, as she said:
"We've called him [the ghost] Paul, because it makes us feel a bit better if he has a name.
"There's all sorts of stuff that happens but we're used to it so it doesn't scare any of us. It's become more of a running joke really.
"One of the glasses falling off was at 8.15am so there was nobody in the pub at all as the landlady was on the school run.
"The other one was in the afternoon because there were customers in but there were no staff near it. The glass just went flying.
"On the Friday night [Jan 17], myself and the landlord said 'oh we've not had any ghostly goings on for a bit - Paul's been quiet'.
"The next morning the picture frame went flying, as if to say 'don't worry, I'm still here'.
"We had customers in and they were quite reactive to it because they weren't used to it. It made them jump.
"We think he's a man because he's got a very close relationship with the hand dryer in the men's toilets.
"It doesn't matter what time of day it is or if there's nobody in the toilets, the hand dryers will just go and go and go.
"We took the fuses out because we thought it was an electrical fault but they still go off constantly.
"He's got a thing for throwing beer mats down the cellar stairs and around the pub too so we often come in and there's beer mats everywhere.
"Our cleaner comes in early and she says she constantly feels like there's someone watching her or she'll turn round and see a person but there's no one there."
Smith also insists that it's not just the current staff who have had run ins with Paul, as previous landladies and staff have experienced it too.
Well, I guess that settles that then.
Saskia Calliste