Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe.….
Sometimes.. it pays not to know the hauntings of a place….
On a sultry Saturday afternoon in August I was lucky enough to gain customer access into The Shakespeare… Durham’s “most haunted pub..”.. Now I’ve been in that establishment of renown before and admittedly, didn’t get much of a haunted experience on that earlier visit, (just the Autumn prior, actually), though the landlord then was claiming many incidents of eeriness whilst pulling me a pint.. the gruesome details of which he wouldn’t fully elucidate apart from advising me to heed the shadows…” things here lurk in the shadows “.. I assumed the hauntings would merely consist of cellar creepiness and the occasional disembodied glass sliding along bar type of stuff… Anyway I returned because the place and people came across as very friendly…. gave my track and trace details… {this being the age of Covid} …then was lucky enough to find the small nook at the very back of the pub empty…. (place had been ram jam full last year)!
So I was sat enjoying a refreshing pint of Hobgoblin … not exactly a summery ale I’ll admit, I desired something gothic… absorbing the classic old ‘town pub’ atmosphere whilst Facebook messaging friend Sarah about some ‘astral projection’ experiment we were dabbling with… Could have been the effects of the rich ruby ale taking hold of me, but I suddenly thought there was a slight shift of vibe in the small snug.. you know when you get that ‘feeling’ of ‘anxiety’ … mild vexation… and you don’t really know why?
Instantly there was one hell of a commotion the “other” side of the pub wall.. t’other side of fire exit door, presumably in the alleyway outside? Sounds of argument, yawping, shouting, a woman crying out intent to break into the middle of a scuffle?
I sat listening to this potential riot thinking ..”Flipping Heck.. even in classy Durham there are yobs..” The cacophony went on loudly for a good minute or more.. before going totally quiet.. Relieved that a possibly nasty scenario had alleviated itself I jokingly posted Sarah to ask if… “she had astrally traveled and sorted out the louts outside…?”
So I chanced another half of ‘Hobgoblin’ (I had an investigation later that night, needed stay soberish).. and mentioned the exterior rumpus to the barman… he looked at me a bit funny.. “hadn’t heard anything himself… ” so I didn’t pay much more attention to the incident myself.. did hear a couple of sets of feet apparently running presumably. along the alley and slaps and knocks on the fast shut firedoor alongside, though no more shouts… no shadowy glimpses neither, so, the curtain came down on my little scene at The Shakespeare… my attention was turning to pressing needs, I have to take my bow and wander off to my hotel for the night… a fair walk further up to a part of the city called Gilesgate …
(That invest went well, a story for another time..another publication… )
So I’m back home Monday night, and finally get around to google searching the hauntings of the pub, The Shakespeare which had been serving ale since 1109 under many names.. ‘Ostler and Groom’ and ‘Lord Nelson’ amongst them.. becoming eventually ‘The Shakespeare’ when a historic theatre was opened behind the pub…. and these were the paranormal happenings that were recorded …. by the then licensee, George…
“There’s footsteps that are sometimes running up and down the stairs but there is no one there.
“There are sudden gusts of wind where they shouldn’t be, as if there should be a window open but no window will be open.
“There’s a lot of things that you can’t explain going on. “There is a sewing machine out the back and the pedal seems to want to start working itself because it makes this distinctive squeak every now and again. “It is just an eerie feeling.” Although he’s unsure quite what it is, George believes there is at least one or two ghosts walking the corridors.
“I think there is something in the cellar because I went down, someone was down there and it felt like someone touched the back of my shirt – even though the door was shut behind me.
“I turned round straight away and said ‘Who was that?’ and they said no one.”
George, the licensee continued: “There’s all sorts from people being shushed on stairways, to shirts being tugged, dark figures being there, then disappear……
“Now and then you get the odd screaming and shouting like a mêlée taking place… and there will be nothing there. ….. “.
Had I read that last claim and gone deliberately looking for that particular phenomena … I wouldn’t have picked up on a thing… guaranteed!
Had I experienced clairaudient hallucination.. or was there some paranormal act in occurrence that Saturday at The Shakespeare?
Hubert Hobux 