The first thing psychic Wendy Vilanou says before we go looking for ghosts is "We have to do a protective prayer. You don't know how an entity is going to react, so it is best we call on some protection."
IS THERE ANYBODY THERE..?
GHOST hunting might not be the first reason you would find a journalist in a Cleethorpes pub, but for Grimsby Telegraph reporter CONRAD EMMETT, it's all in a night's work.
The first thing psychic Wendy Vilanou says before we go looking for ghosts is "We have to do a protective prayer. You don't know how an entity is going to react, so it is best we call on some protection."
Despite the fact landlady and our host Wendy Alderson said her ghosts meant no harm, it's a little unnerving. In the next room, people are unwinding with a pint in the main bar of The Imperial Hotel, in Grimsby Road. But in the otherwise empty "snug" room, with only dim lights and shadows in every corner, that happy-go-lucky world is a million miles away.
Before the dark rooms, the protective prayers and unpredictable "entities" back in the warm glow of the main bar, the landlady had hinted at what was to come. She said: "We have a maid who cleans up upstairs. There is a part of the hotel nobody goes, but the woodwork remains perfectly polished.
"We also have a man in the cellar who moves all the barrels about. The first time I heard him I thought we were being burgled. The room is alarmed, so if someone got down there, we would know about it.
"Staff have also heard crying from the toilets when there was no one there.
"I'm interested in things like this. They don't scare me."
There is, however, one room she won't go in. Upstairs, above the living area.
Back in the dark snug room, with lamps flickering over the bar, the talk of protective prayers is giving me some cause for concern. Our psychic says it is just a precaution. We hold hands and she calls upon higher powers for protection. I begin to hope it works.
Psychic Wendy is no stranger to the Telegraph. We met her when the sign on her new walk-in centre was misspelt as 'Physic' Garden rather a Psychic Garden. She was also a good sport when reporter Matt Johnson challenged her to do an accurate reading. He went away impressed. When the landlady told me her pub was haunted, her name was the first one to spring to mind.
Tonight she brought along a trainee psychic, Kerry Reynolds, who works in a bank during the day. Kerry began meeting people who had passed over when she was 16, but now she has turned to Wendy Vilanou to help her.
She said: "I didn't know how to put all these experiences together, but now I am learning skills like opening my third eye. That's when you get psychic impressions as if on a projection screen."
Our host tells us we are about to head to the living quarters. She said she's not going to tell us which room she dreads going in.
As we head towards the stairs, Wendy tells us she has found something, echoes of the Victorian and Edwardian era: "There is a family here.
"Do you ever get doors slamming?"
Our host says she does all the time.
"It's a man called Edward, a strong figure... he's not bad energy, but he considers it his home. He likes you, and likes your family."
Psychic Wendy gets a tug on her trouser leg.
"There is also a little boy of around four years old here. There is something to do with breathing here. Do you ever get breathless going down these stairs?"
The landlady confirms this.
"There is also a lady here with a white hat.
"She's an old fashioned woman. She would do as she was told all the time. She does a lot of cleaning. She moves things around."
This is before we even head into the living area.
There are two floors above the pub. One part is the lived in, homely part, with TVs on and music playing. Then there are the hotel rooms further above.
This is when we are plunged into darkness. Our torches catch a dramatic carved wooden staircase. The two psychics head up first. Then they stop dead halfway. "They don't like being disturbed. The little boy doesn't go up here. There is a block."
They head on up the stairs. We shuffle up after them, more than a little apprehensive. If something has put ghosts off going up here, I doubted that would bode well for the living.
We are heading down a corridor lined with doors with numbers on, relying on one small flashlight from our video camera. The doors lead to disused hotel rooms. The one torch we have between us catches a spotless banister. Our resident ghost hard at work.
Psychic Wendy stops suddenly at a doorway. "This is it," she says. "This is the room."
Landlord Wendy lets out a victorious "yes!"
We walk across the wooden floorboards into the seemingly empty room. Our psychic says: "There was something which happened to the boy. He was left here because the rest of the family was so busy. I'm getting the breathing problem again. I think he died in here of TB."
It becomes obvious why the ghost of the child would not want to come up here.
As we wander round I feel a pull on my camera bag as I try to head into a room. It's Wendy Vilanou. "Don't go in there."
"Why?" I say.
"It's the energy. You will begin to feel ill."
I decide against going in. I tell myself it's because it would be rude to ignore her warnings.
Landlady Wendy takes us right down to the cellar for our last stop of the night. White tiled and full of glaring lights - that doesn't stop one spirit his presence. The psychic says: "Thomas is here. He's a burley bloke, and may well have made a home brew here in the Victorian or early Edwardian times. This is his domain. He's over there."
My heart pounds - for a second I think about the possibility of seeing something just standing there. Not in the dark, but under the florescent lights... Nothing. And contrary to the spirit of the expedition, I'm almost glad.
With the investigation over, I ask our psychic Wendy about the ghosts she met tonight. "They all were from the same time. Very much like stepping through to a day a long time ago. They were all connected. My feeling is this tuberculosis affected them all.
"There's nothing unfriendly here. I think they are happy to share the hotel."
The landlady of The Imp said it put a lot of things into place.
She said: "I was impressed by Wendy. She picked up on the rooms I thought were haunted. I would have been surprised if she had picked up on anything unpleasant, because I know they are not. I was surprised about the little boy, because I thought it was a baby.
"It's nice to know who I'm sharing the pub with. Let's hope it doesn't scare people off!"
Note: You can click the source link below to watch a video
http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/displayN ... K=20395474
