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BBC
South Yorkshire's
Greedy Cow reports... |
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It's
the season of long, dark evenings, full moon and frosts - and what
better way to fill the time than to curl up by a log fire and tell
ghost stories?
Of
course, at some pubs in our area, it might not just be the punters
who are listening... after all, if you were a spook, what better
place to linger?
Most
haunted
Phil
Skelton of Carbrook Hall, reputedly Sheffield's most haunted pub,
took time out from his pint-pulling to tell me about his ghoulish
set of locals.
"There
are four ghosts that we know of here," he said.
"I
was sceptical at first, but over time, little things - like seeing
things move that really shouldn't be moving - persuaded me.
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Phil
braves the haunted stairs...
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"Our
main ghost - the one we're most famous for - appears at the top
of the stairs. I saw him on a busy night, when I'd just popped upstairs
to get something.
"I
was climbing the stairs when I saw him at the top.
"It
was a short, stocky man with long brown hair and wearing heavy,
dark 17th century clothing. That was eight years ago.
"Then
last summer, a man came into the pub and told me that he used to
hold band practices upstairs, before I took over the pub 14 years
ago. One day they were practising, then the ghost appeared. The
band ran out, terrified. It was the first time he'd dared to come
back."
Colonel
John Bright
Phil
believes he knows the identity of his spooky guest. "We think
it's the ghost of Colonel John Bright, who fought in Oliver Cromwell's
army in the civil war," he told me. "He used to plan military
manoeuvres with Cromwell in the Oak Room."
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The
Carbrook: Only scary on the inside...
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The
other ghosts at Carbrook take quite different forms.
Phil
explained, "There is a man who seems to move from the pub's
main entrance to what was the old kitchen.
"You
don't see him if you're looking directly - it's something you can
only see out of the corner of your eye."
Phil
thought he was imagining the ghost at first. "I thought I was
seeing things until our barman said he'd seen it too," he said.
One
of the Hall's ghosts is a shy spirit. "The third ghost was
seen by the last landlord - an old lady in a mop cap sitting in
a rocking chair. I've never seen her, though."
Phil
doesn't seem bothered by the ghosts - there's only one who is a
problem, and it's been barred from the pub - to an extent...
"It's
our only mischievous ghost. It's been banished into a wall behind
the main bar - though we don't know who did that - but it still
manages to cause trouble.
Poltergeist
attacks
"It
likes to throw things around a bit. Sometimes I'll be serving a
customer and a bottle will just fly over my shoulder. It's quite
shocking for the customers."
more
spooky pub stories from the Boardwalk, the Point and the Ball Inn
>>
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