Ghostbusters get measure of spirits

Feb 25 2004 By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A TEAM of `ghostbusters' has discovered a host of spooky spirits at an Elland pub.

Supernatural investigators spent the night at The Great House in Elland to investigate reports of one ghost at the site.

And to their surprise they discovered seven restless spirits at the 17th century pub, formerly known as The Fleece.

The team contacted the pub's licensees Neil and Cassandra Monkman, after hearing that it was haunted by the ghost of a murdered traveller.

Cassandra, 39, said she and her husband were told the pub was haunted, but were shocked to hear seven ghosts could be wandering the halls.

She said: "I expected one or two maybe, but not seven.

"I have an open mind about these things, especially when the pub is so old. Things happen that make you wonder."

The murdered traveller was reputedly killed at the inn during the 1800s.

As he was carried downstairs, he left a bloody handprint, which would re-appear no matter how many times it was washed away.

It was finally removed during the 20th century, when the wood on the stairs was burned.

The six new ghosts include a stable boy, who was beaten to death by his master, a young pregnant prostitute who was killed outside the pub with an axe and the ghost of an old man, who sits with a newspaper in a corner of the pub.

Another murder victim haunts the site of his death by the pub's front bar.

Local folklore also mentions another ghost at the pub, known as the Leatherly Colt. He is said to be a headless coachman, who drives a carriage pulled by headless horses near the back door of the inn.

The ghostbusters, from a local interest group, diagnosed the spectres with the aid of cameras and monitors.

Cassandra and Neil, 34, took over the pub in January and have already witnessed strange happenings themselves. Cassandra saw a spectre in one of the corridors and Neil saw glasses lifted as if by an invisible force.