14 ghosts make our pub UK’s ‘most haunted’
ALANDLORD claims his pub is one of the most haunted in Britain – and some of its ‘14 ghosts’ are not so friendly.
Sean Hutchinson, who runs the Bate Hall on Chestergate, says he and his young family have been plagued by spirits – of the paranormal kind – ever since moving in to the town’s oldest pub two years ago.
But while three-yearold daughter Mia is happy to play ‘ hide and seek’ with a young boy ghost, another ghost called Richard has told him he wants to kill him.
Sean, 44, says his claims are backed up by paranormal investigators who visited the building.
He said: “I’ve been told by the Wythenshawe Paranormal Investigation team that there are at least 14 spirits upstairs.
“There’s one ghost called Richard who wants to kill me – I know because he told me. He said ‘kill you’.
“I’ve never seen him but hear his voice and we hear really loud bangs like a truck hitting the pub when he’s there.
“It got really bad when my wife was pregnant and when I asked if it was him he replied: ‘obviously’.
“I intend to put myself in harm’s way for him when the investigators come.”
He added: “I’ve heard a woman screaming. We also have a small boy that plays hide and seek with my three-year-old daughter, Mia – one of my darts players saw him and it scared him half to death.”
The pub, which dates back to 1525, is believed to have once had Oliver Cromwell as a guest, has a Jacobean staircase and priest holes that served as hiding places for Catholic priests.
The staircase is also reported to have marks at the top which Sean says are from when the Witch of Macclesfield, the Grey Lady, was hanged.
He also unearthed an old rope which he believes was used to hang her.
But Sean says he and wife Georgie are not scared of the ghosts and have experienced paranormal activity before.
He said: “I’m used to ghosts, but the scariest thing is speaking to them through the investigators’ machines. I was shocked to hear so many voices.”
Sean, who is also dad to Alfie, has now arranged for a second team of paranormal investigators to assess the building.
Andrew Elson from the Haunted Company, who visited the pub in June, said: “This is one of the most haunted public houses we’ve been to.
“When I held the rope that Sean found when he was doing building work I felt like I was being strangled.”