Fright nights at The Flat Tops
SPOOKY GOINGS ON ... the lounge at The Flat Tops.
IT’S been a while since I’ve been asked to investigate an allegedly haunted public house.
Having written one book exclusively on the subject and co-authored another, I think I’ve seen most of the more common phenomena that occur in our region’s drinking dens.
Some of them, of course, are precipitated by spirits of a more alcoholic kind, but not all.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit one of the most interesting pubs in the borough, The Boldon Ale House, or as it’s more commonly called, The Flat Tops.
The Flat Tops is the elder statesman of Boldon Colliery’s watering holes, and although it’s had something of a mercurial history, it’s undergoing something of a renaissance under the guiding hand of landlord Tony Donka.
But there’s been some spooky goings-on at The Flat Tops, apparently.
The sound of someone banging on doors when there’s been no one near them, the echo of eerie footsteps and – to top it all – the sighting of a bearded man floating into the gentlemen’s room.
And so it came to pass, in December last year, that fellow investigators John Triplow, Darren W. Ritson, Mark Winter and I stepped over the threshold to see if we could get to the bottom of things.
The night was relatively uneventful, although we twice heard a door slam even though it hadn’t opened or closed at all. Yes, we were puzzled too.
So, who or what was haunting the Flat Tops? One common theory is that it might be related to the tragic death of Sergeant Matthew Slack, a police officer who was killed during a German bombing raid on the evening of March 12/13, 1943.
He died near his residence, Boldon Police Station, which, as locals know, is not even a stone’s throw from the pub in question. He was only 52 years of age.
It’s an intriguing thought, but other than the fact that Sergeant Slack died nearby in tragic circumstances I can’t find anything to link him with the pub at all.
Still, that doesn’t mean that nothing spooky is going on there, for there is more than enough eyewitness testimony to suggest that there is.
There were two intriguing incidents that occurred during our overnight vigil.
One was the distinct sound of a heavy exhalation of breath which manifested itself as John and I stood and talked to each other near the bar counter. It seemed to come merely inches from our faces.
The other was even stranger. I intended to take a photograph of the bar near the front entrance, but accidentally started to video the scene instead.
Immediately realising my mistake, I stopped recording and then took two or three photographs.
Later, as I analysed the pictures, I went to delete the piece of footage that I’d accidentally recorded, but something stopped me.
On a hunch, I double-clicked on it and let it play. It lasted just over two seconds, and to my astonishment instead of the silence that we all agree filled the pub, one can hear a man and a woman singing without the aid of music. The only lyrics one can hear are sung by the male who, in a distinctly American accent, croons “We are the bad boys ...”
The voices have an echoing, haunting quality to them, and I have no idea what they are, other than that the recording fits comfortably into the “EVP” or electronic voice phenomenon” category – the growing number of such recordings which contain anomalous sounds and voices.
We aim to go back to The Flat Tops soon, and readers will be the first to know if anything happens.
Tony is a genial landlord, his staff are friendly and the pub has a vibrant, lively atmosphere.
It’s also playing host to the ephemeral figure of a man with a beard, whatever (or whomever) it may be.
*Got a spooky tale to tell? Let Mike know at wraithscape@mikehallowell.com
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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