GIN, vodka, whisky and rum aren’t the only spirits to be found in John Sutton’s pub.
Several ghosts have been making their presence felt at the Rose & Crown in Bulford.
John is hoping a medium or a paranormal investigation group will help him get to the bottom of the strange goings-on.
“I reckon there are five or six different ghosts,” said John, who took on the pub 14 weeks ago.
For starters there’s a dog upstairs – and it’s not John’s pet, Taffy the Staffie. “From the back it looks like a labrador,” said John. “It vanishes into thin air. We regularly hear a sound like a dog gnawing at a bone.
“In the evenings Taffy often sits staring into space, and you can see he’s watching something moving.
“We’ve also heard someone running up and down the passageways upstairs. It sounds like a child. My daughter’s jewellery has been moved in her bedroom.
“My wife Lisa and I have seen shadowy figures moving along the corridors.
“I always lock up last thing, but several mornings I’ve come down and found the bar door wide open.
“The kitchen door shuts when we’ve propped it open with a fire extinguisher. We find the extinguisher’s moved.
Other staff at the pub have witnessed strange occurrences and a ghostly presence in the cellar, where Taffy won’t venture, has been fondly nicknamed Billy.
The gas taps on the barrels switch themselves off, and once when John was alone in there, he says a plastic bag was thrown at him.
“There’s another walled-up cellar behind it that was part of an older pub that was demolished. Maybe it’s something to do with that,” he said.
“One of my regulars, Eric, who’s 78, doesn’t believe in spooks but he will tell you how a paintbrush flipped off the top of a paint can and a screwdriver moved across the cellar.”
Another regular, ‘Pops’ Fitton, says the pub’s restaurant has a ghost he calls Fred - “a rascal” who switches off the vacuum cleaner and lights, and moves chairs.
John is adamant that his eerie tales are not just a publicity stunt. He said: “I think these ghosts are just winding us up. I’m not scared. But I’d love a medium to come and tell us what’s actually going on.”
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