Photo by Gary Tacagni.

On the 11th of April 2005 an investigation took place at the Lion and Bell pub in Mill street, Congleton, Cheshire, U.K. into reports of a ghostly figure having been seen by the Landlord in the back room of the pub. Myself along with 5 other members of the Congleton Paranormal Society started setting up equipment in the back room of the pub at about 9pm, after we set up a night vision camera linked to a monitor we covered any reflective surfaces which might have given us false readings. It was not long before the camera started picking up many floating orbs which were not visible to the naked eye, but could be picked up as moving balls of light, which according to Mediums and Spiritualists are the first sign of a spirit trying to manifest itself. I personally am not convinced of this explanation and tend to think that it is light reflecting off dust particles. One of the members present had mediumistic abilities and was able to identify the presence of a bald middle aged man who was sitting in a chair watching the group and also a woman of similar age seen in the garden area at the back of the pub where a derelict funeral parlour is connected to the premises.

Other strange related phenomena was that there were odd cold spots detected in the room using a laser temperature gauge as well as equipment malfunctioning for no apparent reason. For many years it has been claimed that ghosts have been seen in the upper rooms and the landing of the Lion and Bell, and they have also been seen in the bar area by the Landlord and the staff, one of the ghosts said to have been seen is that of an old lady wearing an apron with her hair done up in a bun, and another is said to be that of a previous Landlord who hung himself on the premises. If that isn’t bad enough an incident took place about 18 months ago the Landlord who was running the pub at the time had some sort of breakdown and came downstairs and started shooting at his customers, one person was seriously wounded but luckily no one was killed, it seems that bad luck as well as ghosts haunt this place!