Where is the best place in London to start seeing things?
How about the British Optical Association Museum in Craven Street? No we didn't know it was there either, but then again we're too busy keeping an eye out for weird red lines and, more importantly, weird confectionary to keep track of every museum in the capital. Thankfully the spirit world has brought it to our attention:
“One of the decorators saw a crouching figure of an old man on Monday,” said museum curator Neil Handley. “Yesterday (Wednesday) he saw another figure of a middle aged man. This figure spoke to him and said: ‘Where’s Mary? I can’t find Mary.’ "He has clearly described the figure as wearing a dark blue frock coat and a tricorn hat with white tassles, so we're obviously talking about quite an old one!" Neil is now going to look at the records of the building to see if he can unearth any clues as to the identity of the ghost. “These sightings have only just happened, so we haven’t really had time to investigate them,” he said, “but we’re going to have a look to see if we can find a reference to anyone called Mary in the records.” He is also keen to find out if there are any scientific groups who might be interested in investigating the ghostly sightings.
We're sure that even now Channel Five and Living TV are assembling a CRACK team of paranormal investigators. There's some interesting detail about the museum in the story - the building dates back to the 1730s but only relatively recently began to generate a rotting stench:
Two theories at the time put the smell down to the building’s proximity to the Thames embankment and the possibility of old oyster beds deep down in the building’s foundations. The building was also used for a number of years after WWII as a refuge for stray cats but the true cause of the smell remained a mystery and was eventually masked by sealing the floors.
Blitz kitts! Cool. We like a good ghost story as much as the next sceptic, but this one is kind of spoiled by the revelation that the guy who saw the ghost is one sequel short of a trilogy:
The decorator, whose grandmother was a medium, has apparently inherited some of her gifts and he also reported that he sensed the second ghost’s name was George.
Yeah we're sensing something too...
