http://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2012/04/29/ghostbusters-sought-to-find-bedsit-spirit-in-wylde-green-66331-30860273/

Ghostbusters sought to find bedsit spirit in Wylde Green

Apr 29 2012 by Mike Lockley, Sunday Mercury

CALLING all ghostbusters.

Paranormal expert Mike Coutts is hoping to track down the spirit of an old doctor he saw in a bedsit he rented in Wylde Green, Birmingham, 45 years ago.

The 69-year-old writer, who now lives in London, said the ghost appeared before him in the converted attic after a strange chill filled the air.

“I suddenly awoke at 2am one night after living there for two weeks. In the centre of the room, I saw an old man with a walking stick,” he said.

“He began to walk slowly round the armchair. He was about 80 years old, very smartly dressed in a grey three-piece suite with a winged shirt collar and silk, striped tie.

“He was wearing black shoes, partially covered by spats. I feared that if he headed towards my bed I might die of fright. So I dashed for the light switch at the side of the door. The ghost disappeared.”

Mike said he took some time to rationalise the situation.

“Could it have been my imagination?” he said. “Across the half-open window was a white lace curtain quivering in the night breeze.

Tricks

“Outside there was a fluorescent street lamp – a perfect setting for tricks of mind. But why an old man in such detail? I told the landlord. He said that the house was earlier owned by a retired doctor who had hanged himself in the attic after his wife had died.

“From time to time, a tap-tap-tapping could be heard on the uncarpeted steps leading to the attic, like the sound of a walking stick.”

Mike has just finished writing a book on paranormal experiences and believes the Wylde Green ghost story could form a fitting epilogue.

He said: “The geography of the area has changed a lot over so many years. And I only lived there a short time, so it is difficult to locate the property.

“Meeting the ghost again or meeting the people in the house will make the perfect epilogue for my book.

“I am nearly certain the house is on the right-hand side going down Highbridge Road. The other possibility is in Green Lanes, again on the right-hand side, going down from Birmingham Road.”

Mike has spent 18 years in Australia and the South Pacific islands since living in Birmingham and can remember a lot of other details about the property he is seeking.

“It was owned by a young Irish couple with two young children,” he said. “Besides the bed, the only other furniture in the room was a wooden table and two wooden chairs and a large armchair in the centre and kitchen facilities.”

mike.lockley@trinitymirror.com