Plenty of spirits behind the bar! Landlord claims his 500-year-old pub is home to 14 ghosts including a friendly ghoul that PLAYS with his young daughter
A LANDLORD has claimed his 500-year-old pub is home to at least FOURTEEN ghosts including a friendly spirit that plays with his young daughter.
Sean Hutchinson, 44, says his family and punters at the Bate Hall in Macclesfield have come to know a range of eerie characters in the historic pub.
He claims that while the spirit of a young boy plays with his three-year-old daughter Mia, a 'man-hating' ghost named Richard has threatened to kill him.
Sean, who took over the pub two years ago with wife Georgie, has invited several paranormal investigators in to monitor the creepy goings on.
He explained: "The first day we opened I saw a figure walk past and I thought, right, we were told it was haunted before we moved in.
"Glasses have been thrown from the shelves while people have been in the pub and I've spoken to some of them.
"Another time my little girl seemed to be playing hide and seek so I asked her what she was doing and she said 'I'm playing with a boy called Billy'.
"One of the darts players even saw the figure of a little boy, he wasn't very happy to say the least."
The pub, which dates back to 1525, is believed to have been visited by Oliver Cromwell and its Jacobean staircase still has 'priest holes' where Catholic priests once hid.
The landlord also believes that a woman accused of being a witch, known in locally as the Grey Lady, was hanged in the same stairwell.
Sean said: "She is meant to have nursed a young boy back to good health using potions and people thought she was a witch.
"They chased her through the town, dragged her into the pub and hanged her from the banister of the stairs.
"There's still marks from where they did it.
"The rope, which I think was used to hang her, was found under a floor board by the people who were putting the fire alarms in."
The family also claim to have seen several other figures roaming the building, including a black cat which they say was not alive.
The landlord, who said female voices can sometimes be heard in the pub cellar, also said that his 18-week-old son Alfie stares at the ceiling like he has seen something.
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Although Sean said he does not fear the ghosts, he claims that one particular spirit has taken a disliking to him.
Sean said: "When my wife was pregnant with my son Alfie we kept getting these really loud bangs.
"They were frequent for about two or three months and they were so loud that people could hear them when they were watching the Europa League final.
"I had to say 'sorry it's only the ghosts'.
"The pub company came out to check the attic space and they couldn't find anything that would be making those noises.
"He said he was called Richard and when the investigators asked him if it was him making the noises he said 'obviously'.
"He's not a very nice man, he's said he wants to kill me and he just doesn't want me here.
"I think he was doing it when my wife was pregnant with my son because he doesn't like men - he doesn't like me anyway.
Local ghost enthusiasts, The Wythenshawe Paranormal Investigation Team, visited the pub with radio frequency and voice recording devices to check out Sean's claims.
Founding member Michelle Shaw said: "We went down with a little bit of equipment and found that the place is extremely active.
"You can feel the energy shift and it gives you chills, it's very eerie and there's so many characters in there.
"We had a spirit asking for Mia who identified himself as Billy and Sean told me later on that his daughter had been playing with a boy with that name.
"It's one of the most active buildings I've been in."
The group, who travel across the UK in search for paranormal activity, are due to return to the pub in October to conduct a second investigation.