Pub's search for spirits
SHADOWY figures and customers from beyond the grave are among the regulars creating spirits of a different kind at a Horbury Bridge pub.
Since Karen Wharton, 50, took over the Horse and Jockey five years ago she has been convinced the family pub is haunted.
She said: “Over the years we’ve seen a lot of strange things.
“My daughter Laura was in the kitchen once when she saw the shadowy figure of a man in the doorway.
“We think he must have been an undertaker because we later found out that an undertaker used to live down here.
“He was holding a baby in his arms which was quite scary.”
A former cleaner at the pub said she felt the presence of a figure in the kitchen – a man without legs.
The pub’s dog has also sniffed out spooky apparitions.
Mrs Wharton said: “He sits down and his head tilts from side to side like he’s looking at someone or something that none of us can see.
“Sometimes the television will turn itself onto a different channel without any explanation and it always seems to find a programme about animals.
The pub, which used to be an old coach house, is believed to have been built in the 18th century and thought to have been used by legendary highwayman Dick Turpin.
Mrs Wharton said: “Unfortunately we can’t find any record of when exactly it was built but we think it definitely goes back to Dick Turpin times.
“It’s actually an old coach house. Outside the pub there is still somewhere where you can tether your horse and further down the road there used to be a stables.”
Now Mrs Wharton wants to find definite evidence of the spectres at the pub.
She has called in paranormal investigators, Spiritual Roots, to visit the Bridge Road pub.
They will use specialist ghost hunting equipment including crystals and a device similar to a ouija board to sniff out the ghouls.
The event is being held to raise cash for the Fleur-De-Lys majorette group, of which Mrs Wharton’s 15-year-old daughter Laura is a member.
Investigators from Spiritual Roots are visiting to the pub today to carry out an initial investigation, before the event on Friday, March 19.
For more information contact Bev Dibb from Spiritual Roots on 0777 1754258.
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Weather for Wakefield
Saturday 19 May 2012
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