LEGENDARY AFFLECK`S EMPORIUM CLAIMED TO BE HAUNTED BY STAFF

Legendary Manchester shopping emporium Afflecks has welcomed many famous shoppers over the years including the likes of Debbie Harry, the Gallagher brothers and members of rock band Def Leppard.

But its patronage doesn’t just end with purveyors of eclectic curiosities; it seems that it also enjoys visitors…. from the other side.

Poltergeist activity, spooky silhouettes and time-bending shenanigans are just some of the ghostly goings on at 52 Church Street according to some business owners.

Kate Oakley, owner of Vintage Twists on the first floor of Afflecks, revealed she had an eerie encounter just last month.

“I was in my shop and in the corner of my eye was a dark shape, and one of the Christmas tree baubles started swinging, but all the rest were still,” she recalled.

“The door was shut so there were no drafts of wind coming through, it was very eerie.

“I used to live in a caravan, and at night the clocks used to change – that’s a thing that tends to happen, they set back the clocks.”

Affleck`s - Haunted Emporium?

And it seems that Kate’s not the only one who has encountered all manner of things that go bump in the night.

She explained: “There are loads of people who have seen things. On the top floor, where they have store rooms, lots of people have seen things thrown round – somebody found a deck of cards laid on the floor.”

Raven, a clairvoyant based in Afflecks, claims to have seen ghostly figures perusing the floor near her stall.

She said: “Occasionally I’ll see them I just see people generally walking around, there’s an old lady who I see regularly.

“She wears a dark, 1950s-style coat and hat – I’ve seen her coming in here, walk in and then leave again.”

But not everyone is convinced that Afflecks has spiritual visitors in their midst.

Paul Carter, a security guard at the emporium doesn’t believe the legend, though not through want of trying.

He said: “I walk around here in the dark shouting things to see if anything is here, but nothing replies.

“I’ve not heard or seen anything in here. Other people have, but then if you want to let your guard down and believe it you can do – I believe in science.”

Afflecks manager Tony Martin laughed off the suggestion that Afflecks is haunted and said that the stories are exactly that.

He said: “If anything like that was going on we’d be aware of it. It’s just gossip and rumours.

“If a bag falls off the shelf in this place, it’s a ghost – nothing to do with the fact that they’ve over-stocked the shelves!”

Source: MancunianMatters

MEMORIES OF A HAUNTED HOSPITAL THAT DIED

ALL good things come to an end. Sadly it happened to Cameron Hospital on February 7, 1992 when the bulldozers moved in and removed the once-proud hospital from the Hartlepool
skyline forever. But for one entity, her links to Cameron went on in ghostly form. Chris Cordner reports.

WE have looked at the highs and lows of a Hartlepool hospital in the last few weeks.

In the last of our mini series, it seems only right to pay homage to one character who was there for all of its 80-plus years.

Known only as Maud, she was a ghostly presence who roamed the wards, even after the last of the hospital patients had long gone.

John Davison was one guard who certainly had reason to remember Maud.

In March 1991, he heard someone moving around in an upper corridor and the sound of eerie laughter.

Later, he was told he had been the only person in the hospital at the time.

Further investigation indicated that it was Maud – a young nurse who had died when complications set in after she was struck on the nose by a hysterical patient in 1907.

And when John asked around, senior midwives told him they used to be accustomed to Maud roaming around areas of the hospital.

In fact, Maud’s presence become more common in the last weeks of the hospital.

For decades, Maud’s presence remained a secret among Cameron staff for fear they would be ridiculed if they spoke out.

But when they did pluck up the courage, many admitted they had feelings of trouble brewing when they were doing their work – and it was usually followed by something going wrong.

One nursing sister told the Mail in 1991: “Once when I was on night duty, I was feeding a baby in the nursery when I became aware my nurse was in the doorway, but when I looked up no-one was there.

“A short while later, she came and asked me what I wanted. She said she thought I had been standing behind her and just walked off without speaking.”

One nurse said: “I saw her wringing her hands.”

And if that wasn’t haunting enough, the final moments of Cameron’s demise held another twist for Maud.

Maud had a plaque erected in her memory but in the last week of the hospital being opened, the plaque was removed.

At the same time, a large chunk of plaster fell in the anaesthetic department.

Whether it was Maud’s final protestations, perhaps we shall never know.

But Cameron’s own death throes came in February 1992 when demolition work began. By then, experts estimated that the hospital had helped to bring 20,000 babies into the world.

Its eventual demolition paved the way for a housing estate but the memories live on.

Source: HartlepoolMail

WYMERING MANOR - A 400 YEAR OLD HAUNTED HOUSE IN NEED OF MAJOR REPAIRS

Inspections of what is reputed to be one of the country's most haunted houses have revealed the extent of decay is worse than feared.

The 400-year-old Wymering Manor in Portsmouth has suffered damage by death watch beetle on top of known existing structural problems.

Volunteers hoping to save the building say they are "very confident" it can still be restored for community use.

Portsmouth University students are being enlisted to work on the project.

The Grade II* listed building was handed to a trust in 2012 after owners Portsmouth City Council failed to sell it.

A recent survey unearthed evidence of death watch beetle damaging old oak beams in its frame.

                                            A complete restoration of the house will cost about £2.5m

Andy Mason, of Wymering Manor Trust, said: "It was worse than we were expecting and this has brought us down to earth a bit. It doesn't knock us back - we knew we had a lot of work to do here.

"Even in a relatively short time, I've noticed the house's condition is starting to slide further."

Nevertheless, the trust has started work to develop it as community facility - with ideas including creating a hub for social enterprises, arts performance areas or making it available for wedding receptions or corporate events.

A £50,000 Big Lottery grant is being spent on bringing the Victorian parts of the house back in to use with new glazing and removal of asbestos.

Mr Mason said: "We're starting to deliver solutions to the problems we've got here."

Built around 1581, with various add-ons since, it now surrounded by modern suburbs
Reputed to be haunted by more than 20 ghosts, including a choir of nuns and Sir Roderick of Portchester
Used as a vicarage, home to a Catholic religious order, a family house and most recently was a youth hostel
Unused and in a state of disrepair since 2006. Featured on the UK's Most Haunted TV show
With parts of ceilings in a few rooms held up with scaffolding, the full restoration cost is estimated at £2.5m. The trust is currently investigating possible sources of funding.

Portsmouth University is giving architecture students the opportunity to work on the building as a unique case study.

Lecturer Karen Fielder said she was "very optimistic" the restoration project would come to fruition.

"It's ideal - students get the chance to experience a real life project, trying to find viable uses for historic buildings that are financially sustainable."

"The manor still has a lot of secrets - there is a lot to learn about the history and structure.

"It's such a treasure for Portsmouth, the city can't see it collapse."

Source: BBC

Further reading with video: HAUNTED WYMERING MANOR NOW HANDED TO A TRUST

FOR SALE - A 1901 `SLIGHTLY HAUNTED HOUSE!`

Want to buy a `slightly` haunted home?

A staircase with spooks, a bathroom that goes Boo!, and sparkling finished hardwood floors – this Pennsylvania house has it all, almost.

In the listing for his 1901 Victorian house at 1217 Marion St., Dunmore, Pa., Greg Leeson is asking for $144,000, but he adds that the house is "slightly haunted, nothing serious, though.”

Here is what the prospective buyer will get for his money besides the four walls and roof: The sounds of phantom footsteps, a strange knocking, a "hardly noticeable" scream at 3:13 a.m. (once a week), and "the occasional ghastly visage lurking behind you in the bathroom mirror." That little extra occurs rarely and only in an upstairs bathroom, according to the listing.

If that's "slightly haunted," it's hard to figure out what "very haunted" might be. For sale: split-level ranch packed with poltergeists?

Leeson's for-sale-by-owner listing on real estate website Zillow has prompted offers and interest from buyers and would-be ghost hunters.

“When I was writing it, I had been thinking about it, and I went back and forth,” Leeson told Zillow. “The way I worded it — I was trying to keep it light. I have been reading online, and people saying you are supposed to disclose it. I don’t know the laws here, but thought better safe than sorry.”

Leeson was not immediately available to comment to NBCNews.com.

But he clearly believes the haunting might be a selling point — and he might be right.

A recent survey by realtor.com found that more than half of home buyers are open to buying a haunted house and 35 percent of the nearly 1,400 people who took the survey say they have lived in a haunted home.

“When purchasing a home, buyers want to know what they are getting into and that includes anything potentially spooky,” said Alison Schwartz, vice president of corporate communications for Move Inc., which operates realtor.com.

“Our data reveals that while the majority of consumers are open to purchasing a haunted home, many buyers conduct research on a home’s history to be aware of any weird incidences."

But while some respondents "are willing to purchase a haunted home at a discounted price, many say levitating objects, ghost sightings and objects moving from one place to another would deter them from purchasing a home,” she said.

According to Frank L. DeFazio, a real estate agent and former lawyer with the Center City Team in Philadelphia, state law only requires sellers to disclose material defects, such as dry rot or ant infestations.

“There is a distinction between physical defects and psychological flaws, or stigma like murder. Haunting is difficult to prove," he told NBCNews.com.

DeFazio recommends full disclosure to avoid potential lawsuits. And sometimes, if the person who died in a home was famous, such disclosure can even help.

"Especially in a historic district like Philadelphia, where President James Madison died, that can increase the value," DeFazio said.

Some disagree. Randall Bell, a specialist in so-called stigmatized real estate, says the recent involuntary manslaughter conviction against Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, could make it difficult to sell the mansion where the King of Pop died.

The house was designated a crime scene. "That is usually not a good thing in terms of home values," Bell said in a recent interview with a real estate industry web site www.appraisalbuzz.com.

Roy Condrey, who runs diedinhouse.com, a service that researches whether there has been a violent death in a home, noted that singer Amy Winehouse's home in London did not sell for its list price after the British singer died.

The house in a fashionable part of the city sold last year for 1.98 million pounds ($3.2 million) at auction, after it failed to attract serious buyers on the real estate market. The house had been put up for sale in May 2012 for 2.7 million pounds.

Condrey said his service culls information about previous tenants of homes from public records.

"I can basically break down my customers into five groups — people interested in the paranormal, people who want to know their home's genealogy, people who fear ghosts, people who don't care, but don't want the stigma (of a death in the home) and people who want to use a death for leverage to get a better price."

He said only three states — California, Alaska and South Dakota — require an owner to reveal if there has been a death, especially a violent death, in a house.

"But if I invested in a house and moved in and later discovered that a mother had drowned her five kids in the bath, I'd be upset," he said.

Source: NBC

LEONARDO DICAPRIO PLAGUED BY `WEIRD GHOST NOISES`

'Weird' noises come from Leonardo DiCaprio's home

Leonardo DiCaprio is considering selling up and fleeing his home as he suffers sleepless nights in the noisy property.

It's like creaking or something - these weird ghost noises, but I don't believe in ghosts
The Titanic actor is frequently awoken by eerie creaking sounds at his California mansion and has to get out of bed and check the windows and doors to reassure himself burglars are not on the premises.

He admits he has been left spooked by the ghost-like sounds and is now thinking about selling up and moving on.

In an interview on British TV news show Lorraine, DiCaprio says, "(I've been scared) in my own house. My home makes weird noises at times and I have to get up in the middle of the night and check if there's somebody breaking in. It's like creaking or something - these weird ghost noises, but I don't believe in Ghosts. It's like the wind or the way it was built".

Asked by interviewer Kate Garraway if he will move house to escape the problem, the actor answers, "That's a possibility".