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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Olivia Williams

Adelphi hotel spirit 'swears' at ghost hunters on recording and other spooky sightings

Strange happenings in Merseyside have been reported through the years and some even caught on camera and recordings.

One encounter last year was reported was when husband and wife Lee, 55 and Linzi Steer, 52, who created the 'Ghosts of Britain' Facebook page with more than 1.8 million followers, stayed at the Adelphi Hotel on Tuesday, June 22.

The couple, from Rotheram, said they had wanted to stay at the Ranelagh Street-based hotel for quite some time after it was named the most haunted hotel in the UK.

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The pair were left "shocked" when they used a machine to try and communicate with the spirits and heard "you b******" in response.

Linzi said: "We asked if there were any spirits present and didn't really get a response.

"But after I asked what their names were we heard somebody say you b****** to us.

"We've never heard anyone say anything like this to us before, most of the time they tell us or don't speak at all."

Husband and wife Lee and Linzi Steer from Rotherham (Ghosts of Britain)

And that's not all the only spooky sighting in Merseyside.

We have taken a look at eerie stories our readers have sent and shared with us, baffled, and a little frightened, about what they have captured on film.

Strange shadows in function room

A woman said she was 'amazed' by strange shadows that were recorded on her workplace's CCTV camera.

Stacey McGlynn, 40, from Wallasey, said she had the urge to check the CCTV footage from her work, Grosvenor Ballrooms, on Thursday, February 3 and was stunned at what she found.

When looking at the footage she spotted multiple shadows floating around in the annex building, and shared it on her social media pages.

Stacey, the manager at Grosvenor Ballrooms, said: "I got a thought to check the CCTV from home as it's on my phone, it was very random and that never really happens. That's when I found the footage.

"There's absolutely no bad energy from them at all (the 'spirits'), it's the complete opposite.

"I took over the building three years ago and people told me it was haunted but I didn't see anything at first."

Stacey explained how she used to be sceptical of ghosts until she had an experience of her own.

She previously told The ECHO : "There's been lots of mischievous things and unexplained things happening around the building. A TV fell off the wall in the office."

Soldier in the cemetery

A ghostly figure caught on camera in St James Cemetery, behind Liverpool Cathedral, could be that of a 17th century soldier, it was claimed in 2018.

The eerie shape seen hovering between headstones was captured by a ghost hunter while on a walk around the ‘haunted’ burial ground.

In the picture, taken by Louisa Farrell, the spooky sight appears to be wearing plate armour dating from the Civil War era.

A ghostly figure caught on camera in St James Cemetery (Handout)

The armour, which would cover the chest and arms and which had elbow protection, was widely used by most armies until the end of the 17th century, for both foot and mounted troops.

Many soldiers in the historic period would wear three-quarter suits of armour, with their legs uncovered and in the picture the chilling white shape seems to be in keeping with the tradition.

The outline of a face can also be made out and the shape is wearing what could be a helmet.

Keith Braithwaite has hosted ghost walks in St James' since 2002 and said it is “one of the most haunted cemeteries on Merseyside”.

Describing the chilling picture, the ghost hunter said: “It looks like battle dress back in the day.

“And I think it is a soldier from back when Prince Rupert came to Liverpool.”

In 1644, during the English Civil War Siege of Liverpool Prince Rupert of Germany arrived on Merseyside with 10,000 men and camped them along what is now known as Everton Brow.

A lock-up, known as Prince Rupert’s Tower or the Everton Lock-Up, wasbuilt and remains on Everton Brow to this day.

Louise, who captured the mysterious figure on March 7 last year, said: “It was my first ghost walk with Keith.

“And I was really excited to have seen something show up and the first thing I saw was a face on the right hand side.

“But then I noticed the figure on the left which I thought looked like some sort of priest.

“The picture has got loads of atmosphere in it.”

Keith added: “I have done walks since 2002 and I do one in St James once a mouth. It is a very active place and we always get a result but at the same time the people I take around have respect for the dead.

“It is one of the most haunted cemeteries on Merseyside plus there is lots of history to the people who are buried in there.

“All my walks are free of charge. Members do have a little whip round some times and that all goes towards Halloween nights I have for the kids of the members of the group.

“And I now nearly have 8,000 Facebook members on the group world wide.”

Exploding pint glass

In 2017, a pub landlord thought he could be dealing in spirits of a different kind after a pint glass was caught randomly exploding on CCTV.

Dave McGinn, who runs the Derby Arms in Prescot, struggled to believe a punter’s claim his pint of Carling shattered without him touching it on a Wednesday afternoon.

But after the 48-year-old checked the CCTV footage he started to suspect ghostly goings-on - and not just a drunken customer as he first thought.

He said: “The customer is a regular in the pub and he comes in most Wednesdays. He ordered two pints of Carling and went and sat down and next minute he says it’s just randomly exploded.

“I thought he might have knocked it or something without realising so I checked the CCTV and you can see that he’s just sat texting. He doesn’t touch it.”

Dave, who has run the Derby Arms for over a decade, said he’s often heard stories that his pub is haunted - but remains on the fence when it comes to potential paranormal activity.

He added: “Over the years a few cleaners have said they’ve seen people walking past or felt things moving. And we’ve had the odd glass fall off the shelf but we’ve never caught it on video.

Ghost in Garlands

In August 2017, owners of the former Garlands shared eerie footage of supernatural goings on at the site.

The team provided the ECHO with video footage from January 2017 which showed a cleaner reacting to a mysterious object hitting her.

Prior to her reaction, papers can be seen falling from a nearby stool.

Other phenomena included footprints in black paint left on the dance floor despite no decorating work taking place there, toilets flushing, lights flickering and taps running.

Newsham Park Hospital

No list of spooky ghost sightings on Merseyside can be complete without mentioning Newsham Park Hospital.

The building was once an orphanage dating back to the Victorian era, then it was a medical hospital and a mental asylum before closing in 1997.

Since then it has fallen into disrepair with many people reporting strange events at the abandoned building.

Newsham Park Hospital (Toc66)

One of the most spine-chilling accounts came from a former employee at the hospital.

John Gray told the ECHO in 2017 that people should stay away from the property as it was "pure evil".

He said: "I remember going down into the basement one night to get a blanket to keep myself warm.

"As I walked in I saw a man, in a white coat with no head walk past and straight through the wall. I flew out of the room, it was terrifying.

"There were so many stories, so many people saw things. Staff were terrified of going to parts of the hospital because of the paranormal activity.

"On the old C Ward there was an old, cast-iron staircase that no one would go up because it led to a corridor that had lines of cupboards where the children were put if they were naughty. You would hear banging from the cupboards."

His words of caution came after a picture of a 'ghost girl' was captured by a paranormal investigations group.

Experienced investigator, Phillip Barron from Haunted Happenings, said he has taken hundreds of photos over the years but has never seen one so vivid.

He told how the ‘ghost-girl of Newsham Park’ has caused a stir on Facebook as none of the other people in the image recognise the figure.

He said: "We always begin our ghost hunts with a picture of the group, I have done this many times and this is exactly what I did. I took the picture on my phone and just put it in my pocket, I didn’t even look at it.

"It wasn’t until the next morning, after it had been posted to Facebook with other pictures from the night, that I saw it."

The 'jogging ghost'

Heather Size's photo of 'the ghost' jogging past Newsham Park Hospital (Heather Size)

A woman claimed to have captured a “jogging ghost" outside the former Newsham Park Hospital in 2017.

Heather Size, from Kirkby, captured what appears to be a paranormal apparition on a visit to the former asylum to take part in an ‘ghost hunt’ tour.

The 20-year-old caught the spooky sight after taking a photo for her friend, to show her the creepy building they were about to enter.

But when she looked back at the picture she saw what appeared to be a ghost jogging past the entrance.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it when I looked back and there was what looked like someone running past. I already believed in ghosts but now I believe even more so, and I’m really scared."

The picture shows a blurred figure, appearing to dash past the gates of The Grade II listed building.

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