Who’s the thing of the castle?
Spooked staff blame ghost for creepy happenings at Upnor.
By John Plunkett.
A ghost is being blamed for some alarming disturbances at Upnor Castle. Spooked security guards can find no other explanation for a series of ghostly goings-on. Alarms keep going off for no apparent reason and locked doors are discovered mysteriously unlocked. During one night, security guards were called out three times in an hour.
The city council might be tempted to feel less than good-spirited about the mystery visitor. The council recently took over the castle and pays a call-out fee for every false alarm. Cllr. Mike Sage has suggested putting the spook on the payroll – as long as it leaves locked doors firmly shut. He said: “The security guards lock up the doors and reset the alarm, only for it to go off again after they have left. When they go back, there is never anyone there, but each time the door has been unlocked again. One time, it happened three times in an hour.”
Asked whether it is the work of a ghost, Cllr. Sage said: “I can’t see any other way in which it could have been unlocked. I have never heard of anything like it going on before and it is very eerie down there. I am keeping an open mind.” He suggested putting the ghost on the payroll at a city council meeting. “Perhaps we have rattled his cage somehow,” he joked.
One security guard commented: “You can’t say you believe in ghosts until you see one. But when you know someone has been in and locked it up, you don’t expect to go in and find it unlocked again, do you?”
Chatham Standard, 6th February 1996.