Art critic ghost is in the frame for a spirited scam to sell paintings.
Here’s one saleman who really IS whiter than white.
Exclusive by James Clench.
Ghostly goings-on are sending shivers down the spine in Hythe Hight Street. It seems that Taboo Tea Rooms is home to a rather cultured spook – who has taken it upon himself to promote a former Brockhill teacher’s paintings. Frank and Sue Vinall took over the teashop six months ago and had heard rumours they would be sharing their premises with a spiritual lodger. However, they were surprised to find quite how forcefully the ghost was making itself at home.
One woman quietly enjoying her cup of coffee was shocked when one of the paintings on the wall, a waterclour of Summerhouse Hill near Beechborough Crossroads, suddenly fell off in front of her. However, although she was surprised, the start made her realise she liked the picture, painted by retired Brockhill teacher Ken Martin, so much she wanted to buy it. Days later, a man was seated at the same table when a replacement picture, a scene of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway by the same artist, dropped off the wall and landed in his lap. Overcoming his surprise, he was equally taken with the watercolour and promptly bought it.
Bizarrely, the nail from which the pictures hung is still firmly fixed in the wall and neither Frank or Sue can understand what is going on. Frank said: “People had warned us the place was haunted, but I didn’t really think about it too much. But if you go into the corner where the pictures have fallen off it’s eerily cold. There’s definitely some sort of strange presence.” He added tables had been mysteriously moved round and he still had no explanation for the pictures falling off.
Mr Martin, 81, whose luck is obviously in where the ghost is concerned, said he did not usually believe in ghosts. He said: “I found it quite humorous, but I suppose it really is very ghostlike. It’s quite something when you have to get a ghost onside before you can sell any pictures!”
Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate and Cheriton Herald, 6th May 1999.