Highwayman pub calls in the ghostbusters (From Oxford Mail)

Highwayman pub calls in the ghostbusters

5:05pm Thursday 3rd December 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(8)

CRACK paranormal investigators are hoping to uncover spooky goings-on in a 300-year-old pub.

Members of the Thames Valley Paranormal Group are setting up shop in the Highwayman Hotel, Kidlington, tonight armed with cameras and accompanied by two people who believe they have psychic powers in an attempt to find out if the pub is home to anything out of the ordinary.

Landlord Nick Duval, who took over the pub with his wife, Sharon, six months ago, said he was approached by the group because they were focusing on highwaymen this year.

The pub was previously known as The Wise Alderman.

He said: “They said that because this pub was more than 300 years old, something must have happened in that time – like it or not, you will have some kind of presence.

“They reckon they can pick up on all sorts of things.”

While he admitted neither he nor his wife had experienced anything unusual since they took over, plenty of stories had emerged.

Former landlords, customers and employees had reported seeing a ghostly female figure disappearing upstairs.

Mr Duval said: “We can’t corroborate any of this and how much truth is in it I don’t know.

“I’m a great believer in the paranormal – not things which go bump in the night, but I do think there are things we don’t know about and there is another dimension out there.”

Cameras will be set up in the pub and in the former barn, now a hotel, to see if anything unexpected happens.

Two “sensitives” – people who claim to possess psychic powers – will try to correspond with people connected with the pub who have died.

Mr Duval is also hoping they may be able to shed some light on a gravestone, dated 1650, inscribed with the name of infamous highwayman Claude Du Vall – a distant ancestor.

He acquired the marker stone about 10 years ago and has installed it in the pub fireplace.

The team is due to arrive between 8pm and 9pm and anyone is welcome to attend.