Ghosthunters check out rural pub

Things have been going bump in the night, and the daytime, at a rural Norfolk pub.

Gravy boats, trays and chocolate boxes have flown off shelves, unexplained glasses of wine left in the kitchen and staff and customers have seen a figure by a corner wine cabinet on a number of occasions.

Julie Gallop, landlady at the Butchers Arms pub in East Ruston near North Walsham, has experienced these things for herself, but a self-confessed cynic, she wanted to prove that she is not just seeing things.

So who's she gonna call? The ghosthunters.

When a friend suggested enlisting the services of the paranormal investigators, she jumped at the opportunity.

At the weekend, a team of three, from the East Anglian-based organisation, Paranormal Dimensions, set up video and heat sensitive cameras, sound monitoring equipment and thermometers - all in a bid to see if there really is anybody out there.

Julie Fellowes, who founded the group seven-years-ago, said the organisation took a scientific approach.

She said: “We monitor everything that can be monitored.

“We have never come across anything that we could say is paranormal. We have had a couple of things that we couldn't explain.

“We certainly believe that something is happening out there. People are experiencing things. What it is they are experiencing is what we want to find out.”

The group, who describe themselves as a national research and investigation team, arrived at the dead of night as the pub was closing on Saturday and took 15 hours of film, and hundreds of readings until the light came up on Sunday morning .

Things were fairly quiet, but the team will now analyse the film and go back another night to try again.

Ms Gallop, said it was a shame they did not pick anything up.

She said that these things happened so regularly that the ghost, who was thought to be an old landlady, had really become part of the fixtures and fittings.

“It happens particularly when we are talking about saucy things. If we are having a laugh in the kitchen, she'll throw things off the shelf to shut us up”, she said.

The investigators had heard noises, added Ms Gallop, but the chilling sounds may have been nothing more sinister than the ice machine in the cellar.