By Phil Coleman
Last updated at 13:18, Tuesday, 01 February 2011
There was a distinct chill in the air as Tony Goddard recalled recent events in his new workplace...
Hidden behind the ancient walls of Carlisle Castle, this 80-year-old building once provided a canteen and library rooms for soldiers of the King’s Own Royal Border Regiment.
But since 1960, it has provided storage space for the county’s archive service.
The building is now being prepared for yet another role – as the new HQ for the Castle’s Border Regiment Museum.
But since beginning work there, says Mr Goddard, the museum’s assistant curator, he has been shocked by a catalogue of ghostly happenings.
They have included:
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Shadowy figures lurking in doorways and rooms;
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Unexplained bangs and footsteps hurrying away;
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Small objects flying through the air;
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Lights turning themselves on overnight;
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The sound of a ghostly piano coming from the empty upper floors.
Mr Goddard, who has long been fascinated by the paranormal, said: “The building is called Alma block, and we’ve been working here since January 10, and there have been lots of strange things.
“One of the strangest was when three of us were sitting in the staff room, and I know there was nobody else in the building because there’s only one way in.
“But we heard the sound of somebody banging on the internal door.
“When we opened it, there was nobody there, but we heard footsteps running up the steps to the first floor.
“Last week, I was working on some shelving and I had the feeling I was being watched. So I turned round. Through the window to the room next door I could see the figure of a man, just standing there, looking at me. I just said ‘you don’t frighten me’ and I turned round.”
At other times, said Tony, washers have been thrown at him from above – when nobody else was in the room and another time he heard the sound of a piano, though there is not one anywhere near.
One of the most disturbing stories has been about the image of a boy seen standing near the entrance to the old caretaker’s flat on the building’s upper floor.
The gloomy doorway is known to be markedly colder than nearby rooms.
It is not the first time that Carlisle Castle has generated ghost stories.
In 2009, the castle was investigated by Most Haunted team from Living TV.
Among the stories that brought them there was that of a ghostly woman who reputedly stalks the corridors. It is claimed that in 1823, the apparition frightened a soldier so badly that he bayoneted the spook, impaling the wall behind it. He is alleged to have then fainted and died of shock the following day.
First published at 11:43, Tuesday, 01 February 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk
