Make mine a Manhattan: One reader’s terrifying ghost hunt

Make mine a Manhattan

Sammy Rawlinson, 32, from Stockton-on-tees

The man on the other end of the phone line sounded scared. ‘I’ve had enough of all the ghostly goings-on at my pub,’ he told me. ‘Will you come and investigate?’

The pub in question was Manhattan’s, in Stocktonon-tees. It’s got quite a reputation for being haunted – it’s been a hospital, children’s home and a morgue in its time, and seen more than its share of suspicious deaths. Rumour is that at least 100 bodies have been found here over the years.

I’m a paranormal investigator, so this stuff is exciting for me! Our team headed off to Manhattan’s to investigate.

Light smash

Upstairs, the floors above the bar in Manhattan’s are deserted and derelict. We’d no sooner begun our investigation when a large light fell from the ceiling, narrowly missing one of our mediums. Not a great omen! It looked as if the spirits definitely didn’t want us there.

The first room we looked in had a swastika daubed on the walls and a headless pigeon on the floor.

‘Looks like some kind of Satanic ritual,’ I shuddered.

The atmosphere was creepy but as we climbed to the top floor, it grew positively hostile. I was picking up on the pain and misery of all the people who’d suffered and died up there. Our machinery was going absolutely beserk, and one of the mediums started crying.

‘You will not take my boy away from me,’ I heard an angry voice say behind me.

I turned around – and there, trundling across the floor on an old-fashioned trike, was the ghost of a small boy.

‘Sammy? Sammy, what are you staring at?’ I tore my eyes away from the spirit to find my team staring at me. As I told them what I’d seen, I heard the angry women’s voice again.

‘You won’t take my Joshua away! Get out, get out!’

We decided to do as she told us and left as fast as our legs could carry us!