'Haunted' hotel spooks players

In a bizarre development, several England cricketers have requested a change of rooms, saying their five-star London hotel is haunted.

According to Daily Mail on Sunday, the players’ wives and girlfriends have refused to stay at the famous Langham Hotel during London Test matches this summer after complaints of mysterious goings-on at night.

“During the Sri Lanka Test I had to move rooms,” Stuart Broad was quoted as saying by the British daily.

“It was so hot in the room I just couldn’t sleep. All of a sudden the taps in the bathroom came on for no reason. I turned the lights on and the taps turned themselves off. Then when I turned the lights off again the taps came on. It was very weird.

“It really freaked me out. I ended up asking to move rooms. Bealey (Broad’s girlfriend) was pretty spooked, too, and I know Moeen Ali’s other half won’t stay there because she’s so frightened of the ghosts,” the fast bowler added.

“I’ve slept okay during the current Test (against India) but the Sri Lanka Test (last month) was not great,” added Broad. “One night I woke up in the middle of the night, around 1.30 am and I was convinced there was a presence in the room. It was the weirdest feeling.

“Ben Stokes has had some problems sleeping as well. He’s on the third floor, which is where a lot of the issues are. I’m telling you, something weird is going on,” said the Englishman.

London’s Langham Hotel that opened in 1865 is on the list of one of the most haunted hotels in the world and has been patronised by several literary greats, including Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Reportedly, Room 333 is believed to be the most haunted with the hotel’s own website stating: “In 1973 a BBC radio announcer James Alexander-Gordon awoke suddenly in the night to see a fluorescent ball which slowly took on the shape of a man wearing Victorian evening wear.

The announcer asked the ghost what it wanted and it began to float towards him, with its legs cut off some two feet below the ground, arms outstretched, eyes staring emptily. At this point the announcer got up and fled.”