Ghostly goings-on down in the crypt ...
Restaurant boss spots spook beneath church ... but curate insists HE’S the spectre!
THE Keys restaurant owner Paul Wood had a fright when a ghostly figure appeared on CCTV during closing hours.
Paul was relaxing at home when his phone bleeped to alert him someone – or something – had set off the cameras in the Byram Street restaurant, which is in the underground crypt of Huddersfield Parish Church.
Thinking it was a burglar, he glanced at his phone – and was shocked to see the bright white apparition on the screen.
He said: “If something sets the camera off when the restaurant is closed we get pictures sent to my phone, so I can be sitting at home watching the burglar and ringing the police.
“The alarm went off and I saw a ghostly figure walk past.
“I have just come out of hospital with a bit of a heart problem so it made me miss a beat!
“I went down and tested the camera and it was working fine.
“The restaurant (pictured below) is a very spooky place – there’s something about it but you can’t put your finger on what it is. You get a bit of a tingle down your spine. The floor is made of gravestones. There’s been a church there for about 1,000 years so there’s a bit of scope!
“The church does have access and a couple of days later I found out the curate had let himself in that day. A defect with the camera must have made him look like a ghost, but it’s never happened before.
“But you can see the counter where his legs should be – and strangely, it didn’t pick him up leaving...”
Parish church curate Simon Crook is convinced the figure is him. He said: “I went down into the crypt to do some photocopying that day and I must have set the alarm off as I went down.
“The camera just caught me and sent a picture to Paul’s phone. He thought a ghost had set the CCTV off. It’s not really spooky, but it’s a crypt and it’s where they used to bury people.
“Lots of people come to church looking for help, saying they have seen a ghost or have evidence of it, but there’s nearly always a very straightforward explanation and nothing sinister whatsoever.”