by Scott Smyth

Created on: September 09, 2009   Last Updated: September 11, 2009

Is there such a thing as ghosts and do I believe in them? If I am honest I will say I don't exactly know how to answer that question. As a student I studied science and always believed in what I could prove, that part of me says ghosts and the paranormal are only in the psychological, the imagination. However, since leaving full time education my personal experiences have muddied the clear running water of my scepticism.

I have managed two businesses in the hospitality trade, both of which seem to have paranormal goings on. Take for instance The Doah Bar in Limavady, strange noises, things apparently moving, even CCTV footage which to this day remains unexplained.

I never believed any of the stories of seeing shadows in mirrors or of calling out to the ghosts and hearing a response, but then I started to experience these things myself. Early on, before opening time, I would have been setting the bar up for the days service, more often than not on my own. Every so often I would hear this rumbling noise which sounded like rolling kegs along the floor upstairs. Not an unusual thing in a bar you may say. The thing is these kegs were rolling in a closed off area of the bar, inside, away from the stores upstairs.

After some time I spoke to the previous owners about it and they told me, in all seriousness, that it was the ghost. It even has a name, Charlie. I was advised to speak to this so called Charlie when entering the building. What the heck? I did it and low and behold I got a response and believe it or not the habit continues to this day when I enter the building, although under my breath of course.

The most surprising thing in this place was the CCTV footage of a fire door being opened then shut by a hazy figure in front of the camera. Don't believe me? Take a trip to the bar and ask the owners yourself, the response from them should be enough to convince you that it happened, whether or not it is a ghost is a different matter.

In another bar, The Station Bar, Eglinton, slightly less obvious but none the less interesting instances occurred. The mirror behind the bar frequently reflects a shadow moving past you and has been seen by several members of staff including myself, an event which never fails to send shivers down your back.

In the portal looking into the restaurant bar, out of the corner of your eye, a figure can be seen walking past, even when there is no one in the building. A regular occurrence at any time of day or night. Perhaps the most spine tingling story is one in the dead of night, the owner, asleep in the flat above the bar, is awakened by the sound of a bar stool banging against the brass foot rest of the bar. I say spine tingling as this was at 5am on a Sunday, when no one is around.

Are all these figments of over active imaginations or am I just going mad in the head? I will leave it up to you, or those of you who visit these places, to decide. I on the other hand seem to be losing my scepticism bit by bit however I am sure that science will one day disprove the paranormal. I hope.

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